Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau is disturbed when she finds intruders in her graveyard. As an act of vengeance, she summons an otherworldly being, The Baron, who has the power to raise the dead. After a sacrifice is offered, hoards of zombies, vampires and ghouls emerge from their final resting places to terrorize the living.
This spooky tale is what occurs at local haunted house 13th Gate’s outdoor attraction, Necropolis 13, opening Friday.
Necropolis 13 opened its ghastly gates last year to those looking for a unique scare experience.
Dwayne Sanburn, owner of 13th Gate, said the cemetery is 40,000 square feet of undead fun, equipped with more than 400 crypts and underground passages, or catacombs, for thrill-seekers to explore.
The boneyard has another enticing feature — a live performance by fire dancers. The actors take part in the ritual of necromancing with fiery flair. The group performs a dance with batons and fans aflame while eerie voodoo chants and erratic drumming echo through the tombs.
Having an inferno mere inches from her face doesn’t seem to bother local actress Lauren McCallum. McCallum said she has been fire dancing for six years, and this is her second year performing at Necropolis 13.
“One of the reasons that I came back to work again was because of the owner Dwayne, he’s great and keeps the experience fun,” McCallum explained. “We’ve also grown a lot over the years as a fire troop.”
Corey Williams, another member of the troop, also decided to return to play with fire.
“I’ve always loved fire, and Necropolis allowed me to find a place and people who share my interest,” Williams said.
Sanburn ex- plained Necropolis 13 was created to showcase his love for all things Louisiana.
“I wanted to incorporate something that’s from this area — voodoo, the above-ground crypts and zombies are all a part of Louisiana. So it was just a natural fit,” Sanburn said.
Sanburn said Necropolis 13 also came as a way to offer audiences more variety and to break up waiting time in lines. He said the voodoo fire show is meant to keep audiences entertained while they wait.
Sanburn said he and his team work year-round to make 13th Gate and Necropolis 13 the best of the best.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but I do this because I love it,” Sanburn said with a grin. “Halloween is in my blood. It’s very rewarding to see people laughing and screaming when they come out of the attraction.”
He went on to explain that 13th Gate and other haunted houses are helping to keep Halloween alive.
“You used to be able to go trick-or-treat down any block, and it was safe. There were Halloween parties. Halloween was, like most holidays, innocent,” Sanburn reminisced. “Nowadays with crime and everything, it’s just not the same. Halloween, without the haunted house industry, would have suffered quite a bit.”
Those wanting to keep the spirit of Halloween alive can get started Friday at 6:30 p.m. when 13th Gate and Necropolis 13 begin the season of screams.
