Getting ‘spooky‘ at Castle Island

These days downtown Halloween attractions like Spooky World’s The Fear at Fenway can charge as much as $69 to get in. But this past weekend admittance was free (as it has been for the past 28 years) to the Castle Island Children’s Magical Halloween Castle.

The Castle Island Association (CIA), whose membership includes many Dorchester residents, in cooperation with the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation, produces this, the best attended annual event at Fort Independence. This year 10,022 people came through the gates over two days – and that number didn’t beat the previous record.

Once again the CIA mustered all its forces to transform the National Historic Landmark into a safe and not too scary space for visitors. CIA vice-president Patricia Reid describes the personnel needs: “We have about 50 people on and off for two months previous decorating and setting up the scenery. We need 100 people each day that the Haunted Castle is open to handle the thousands of visitors.”

Long lines of costumed kiddies snaked toward the old-fashioned popcorn carts i nfour corners of the parade grounds. Storytellers, a magician and a temporary tattoo artist all got little rest. Volunteers filled and handed out 10,000 goody bags.

But the biggest draw, as usual, was the Haunted Castle: several normally off-limits rooms in the fort tricked out to look like everything from crypts with corpses rising from coffins to less scary areas with Disney favorites.

For 15 years the Scannell family of Dorchester has been decorating one of the bigger, more awkwardly shaped spaces. Back then patriarch John Scannell started a mummy chamber with live people mixed among the stuffed figures. His son Billy Scannell remembers that even before their Haunted Castle days, it was a family tradition to make a big deal out of Halloween, “We always loved that holiday. Our house on Carson Street was always decked out with different doodads to scare people.”

Some 11 Scannells have been involved in this effort over the last decade and a half. About five years ago Billy’s daughter Erin morphed the mummy room into a tribute to Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” the hit 1993 stop motion animation musical. These days Billy sports a Mayor of Halloweentown costume he snagged on eBay while Erin comes dressed as the heroine Sally.

Billy comes in on weekends in mid-September to start reassembling the room based on photos from previous years. Most of the paranormal paraphernalia is stored at the Fort, but his sound system, the glass items and the pumpkin tree get stowed in his attic until the next time he lets the Oogie Boogies loose.