Halloween actors at Broadwitch Hauntfest speak out about violence against scare actors

Halloween is fast approaching and for many people the spooky season has been just what they’re waiting for. 

With dark nights, trick-or-treaters, pumpkin carving and horror films, Halloween has something that anyone of any age can enjoy. For the majority of people, scare events are on the top of that list. 

Halloween scare events are a staple for the holiday, and thousands of people flock to haunted houses and mazes each year in hopes of being given a fright that will leave the hair on the body standing on end and their adrenaline pumping.

But sometimes, things turn sour, leaving scare actors to be the ones fearing for their own safety.

Broadditch, which changes its name to BroadWitch in October, is located in Southfleet, and has run its annual Halloween Hauntfest event now for many years. It holds the title of Scare Award winner for 3 years, putting it on the map as a major attraction to anyone in the area come October. 

A large portion of the time, actors at attractions such as this enjoy what they do however, Georgie Neilson has said that she’s been intimidated during work due to receiving threats and foul language from scaring paying individuals.

“I scared someone last week and they come right up to my face and put their fists in my face which was quite scary,” the 16-year-old said.

“You don’t really know how to react so you just kind of stand their. When you’ve got a place like this where loads of people come you’ll always get the odd people who try and act up in front of people.”

Other actors, such as 19-year-old Will Webber, have experienced physical acts of violence which have on occasion caused injuries. 

“I had a girl, I was picking on her throughout the haunt, she turned violent,” Will said.

“She turned round, grabbed my hair and pulled me through a window out into the main attraction and was just standing over, screaming and shouting at me.

“People shouldn’t act like that – it’s not fair on us. We’re just doing a job at the end of the day, you paying to come here to be scared…you shouldn’t act that way.”

Majority of the time, reactions such as this aren’t intended to be malicious at all and are instead reflexes, but Will and many of his colleagues believe it could be individuals trying to put on their own show. 

Will added: “Some people it’s genuine fear…but most of the time it’s people just acting up. They’re just here to just do it for a bit of fun and a laugh but don’t realise that it effects our work as well.”

Lisa Harris returns each year to Broadwitch Hauntfest as part of the organising team and puts her best efforts into protecting her staff.

“We’ve got lots of security around, there’s security on every single haunt. we also have customer services that deal with the actors as well. Somebody’s always around for them so we look after them really well.

Broadditch actors try to shake off any outbursts and get back into character immediately but this year, they’re hoping to lessen these incidents by sending out the message to be mindful of THEIR safety too. 

“Please just treat us with respect,” Will said. “We’re doing it for your benefit, not ours. We have fun doing it but at the same time, I don’t want to be beaten up whilst I’m working. Just respect us, we’ll respect you and just have a laugh.”

It’s undeniable that Halloween wouldn’t be the same without the scare-factor that haunted houses and mazes bring to the UK, but no one deserves to be made scared whilst doing their job – even the people hired TO scare. 

Don’t take the fun out of Halloween this year by making scare actors fear for their safety.