2006 – NETHERWORLD Haunted House Year 10

2006 featured Cursed, Shock O Rama in 3D and Freakpit – The 10 year anniversary of the haunt heralded the return of Maximillian Colber from the depths of the NETHERWORLD telling of the nightmares soon to unfold in the Cursed places of our earth. Lots of classic icon characters were featured in this show, a sort of a greatest hits of the previous decade. Shock-O-Rama in 3D delved into the craziness of pre-comics code “funny books” and Freakpit featured Dr. Bile’s collection of twisted circus performers taking up residence in Mann’s Slaughterhouse. If you look carefully you can still find cans of “Manns Meat” scattered around the haunt! NETHERWORLD appeared nationally on CBS this Morning, Halloween this year in a story on haunted attractions around the country, part of one of the first every National PR campaigns promoting the positive aspects of Haunted Houses. Once more thrust into the National spotlight, NETHERWORLDS fame continued to grow!

cursed web

CURSED

There are places in the earth where foul deeds have ripped a gaping maw to the very world of the dead, and unseemly things have escaped from nighted pits. Such places are Cursed; blasted barren landscapes were no sane man should go. Enter now into the deserted Colber Estate, After 60 years, rogue inventor Maxmillian Colber has returned from the void to warn us of the end of the world, but does he seek to help mankind, or make sure that we are all CURSED forever?

“There are places in the earth where foul deeds have ripped a gaping maw to the very world of the dead, and unseemly things have escaped from nighted pits.

Such places are Cursed; blasted barren landscapes were no sane man should go”

S.M. Arthweight – Cursed Places – a Tome of Sorrows 1873

Thank you all for coming here this night! Before you enter this Cursed place let me explain why you are here. You and your friends must enter the deserted mansion and discover the foul secrets that lurk within. Then you must escape the grounds and tell the world what you have seen! Only then will mankind believe… Only then will they be willing to confront the evil that threatens us all!

But before you enter, a little history…

The Nameless Hollow

The land on which the house was built had never been settled. Local Indian tribes had shunned the area, marking its borders with cairns of stones so that none might venture there. The place was a home for fell creatures, the site of an ancient war between the elemental spirits who protect our world and the foul things that seek to enter it. Early settlers to the area fled after their dreams were haunted by visions of violence and agony – of a struggle between the natural and the unnatural. The land was never good for much anyway; its gray chalky rock filled soil useless for growing naught but vines, brambles and stunted trees. Much of the place was given over to stinking bogs, and prone to sudden flooding. So it sat for hundreds of years as the modern world grew around it.

The Colbers

In 1903, a wealthy industrialist named Archimedes Colber acquired the land and built a sprawling mansion there. Fascinated by the occult he sold his companies and settled down, filling the place with mysterious artifacts and burial stones from cultures around the globe. In digging the foundations he made a gristly discovery – strange flooded catacomb filled with weird bones and ancient monoliths, seemingly the site of a prehistoric slaughter. He believed he had found a nexus, a weak point in the veil between worlds, a place to finally discover the secrets of life and death. It was to this place that he brought his sickly wife Elizabeth and young son Maxmillian.

The First Incursion

In 1917, while his son was off at boarding school Elizabeth passed away. She had never taken well to the place, the foul vapors from the swamp or the odd dreams and visions that plagued her. Distraught, Archimedes put into motion a plan that he had been working on for 14 years. He dragged her stiffening corpse down to the excavations beneath the house and placed her before the ancient stone monoliths. Using odd tomes studied for decades he called on primeval forces to bring her spirit back from the Netherworld. When Max returned home days later for the funeral there was no sign of his parents or the household servants, only the evidence of a bloody massacre! Police claimed it was the work of escaped convicts – apparently there were many other people that were savagely murdered that same night in a twenty mile radius of the place.

The Second Incursion

Max, now a young man, quit school and poured over his father’s books to solve the mystery of his parents disappearance. For weeks he studied the journals in horror, as strange things moved around the house at night and slunk just out of sight at the edge of the swamp. With a butchered pig he repeated his father’s final experiment in the basement and for a moment succeeded! Weird energies coursed around the bizarre monoliths as he caught a glimpse of swirling corpses and hideous creatures! The vision ended seconds later even as a horrible mass made its way towards him from the other side! Before it could escape the gateway a massive stone creature emerged from the cavern wall to block it, then turned on Max! He fled in utter terror, not to return for many years.

The Mobius Device

Max worked hard on his studies for decades and became a student of Nicholas Tesla. In addition to advanced electrical theory and physics, he continued to follow in his fathers occult researches, coming home only occasionally to acquire books and journals. Finally he returned to the rotting mansion for good in 1943 and began building a machine that would finally solve the mystery of his parents’ death – The Mobius Device! Max theorized that modern science would provide a control that arcane spells could not. He would create a gateway of his choosing, opening and closing it as he saw fit! Key to his plan was binding in iron chains and powerful spells the now immobile stone guardian.

The Third Incursion

In mid October 1946 he activated the device, and was far more successful that he ever could have imagined! The ancient stone guardian re-awaked, struggling helplessly against the massive chains forged by modern science as the Mobius Device opened the swirling gateway to the NETHERWORLD! He gazed in terror at hideous creatures and spirits of the dead but was unable to close the gateway before a host of them emerged and dragged him screaming into the void. The house sat empty once more, decaying alone in the nameless hollow.

1996

50 Years from the date of his disappearance Colber’s machine sprang back to life! Was it a long forgotten timer or an activation from the other side? None can say for sure, but what is known is that a host of horrible things escaped from the house once more to plague mankind. For 10 years these creatures sought dark and lonely places to stalk their prey, as the modern world refused to accept the truth – that horrible monsters were among them! The land itself became unstable, shifting between this world and the next, becoming more active as October of each year approached!

2006

Ten years later those of us who understand the truth have followed Colber’s studies. We realize that he did not seek our doom, rather he strove to understand the forces of evil that lurk just outside mans domain. We guard the mansion, permitting none to enter and we study his work, to prepare for what is to come. But now the veil between worlds has ripped completely asunder – the entire Mansion and surrounding grounds exist fully in our world and in the next! We have erected a Mobius Device of our own with a negative polarity – designed to keep the creatures at bay, to keep the rift from consuming our entire world.

There are those who have said Colber has returned, that they have seen him in the house working on his machines once more. He has warned us of the doom of our time, of the foul forces gathering in the

darkness. He speaks of the servants of the Dark Ones, of The Harvestman, The Collector and The Abomination. He has asked us to allow people into the mansion once more that they might warn the world of what dwells inside. That is why YOU are here…You must enter this haunted place, survive the horrors that lurk within and tell your fellow man what you have seen ere the entire world becomes Cursed!

SHOCK-O-RAMA

In the 50’s Pre-Code Comics got a little crazy! Gibbering Ghouls, Savage Space Monsters, and Hungry Zombies ripped victims limb from limb in a frenzy of ghastly gore! But the vilest comic of all was Shock-O-Rama, a “funny book” that some said was based on real life occurrences…

In the 50’s, Pre-Code Comics got a little crazy!

Gibbering Ghouls, Savage Space Monsters, and Hungry Zombies ripped victims limb from limb in a frenzy of ghastly gore! But the vilest comic of all was Shock-O-Rama, a “funny book” that some said was based on real life occurrences.

When the authorities came to shut down the publication of the comic, everyone in the production offices had vanished: writers, artists, and the infamous publisher, J. Fred Bostwick.

Some say they fled to escape prosecution, but others have a more sinister explanation. They claim the success of the comic was based on a deal Bostwick made with the Devil, and that one final issue was due before the pact was sealed.

Step now into the pages of issue 13 of Shock-O-Rama, and live the tales of terror man was not meant to know!

FREAKPIT

At first no one cared when new owners purchased the abandoned Slaughterhouse. But when Dr. Bile’s Freak Pit and Museum of Oddities opened for business, it definitely turned a few heads…

While many visitors enjoyed the weird displays and creepy funhouse, some noticed aspects of the operation that could not easily be explained. Missing persons, strange smells and rumors of ghastly experiments in the dark bowels of the building began to concern local law enforcement.

Does The Freak Pit have a real dark side?

Step right up my friends and see for yourself!

Wave goodbye as you step beneath the two-story-tall evil clown, and don’t say I didn’t warn you!

REVIEWS From 2006

Featured Nationally on NBC’s Today Show, CBS’s Early Show, CNBC, and in USA Today
Named #2 Haunted House in the country by Hauntworld.com and AOL Cityguide

“A kaleidoscope of sensory shocks”
– The Sunday Paper

“As slickly produced a spookfest as you’ll find just about anywhere”
– Ledger-Enquirer

“This is serious spookiness”
– AOL City Guide

“Georgia’s premier Halloween attraction”
– The Sunday Paper

“If peeing your pants in terror sounds like your idea of a good time, slap on some Depends and head over to the Netherworld Haunted House”
– Creative Loafing

“Be sure to bring a change of underwear!”
– STAR 94’s Hot Gay Joe

“One of the best houses of horror in the country”
– Event Guide Atlanta

“One of the top haunted houses in the country”
– Atlanta Parent

“Gigantic monsters, flying Gargoyles, flesh-eating worms, ghastly experiments gone wrong and blood galore”
– Atlanta Parent

“Brings screams, goose bumps, and unthinkable horrors”
– AOL City Guide

“Incredible monsters”
– Georgia Magazine

“Amazing special effects and incredible monsters”
– GoCityKids Atlanta

“Widely considered to be one of the best Haunted Houses in the nation, this intense, cutting edge, multi-themed haunted attraction is full of intense detail and chilling scares!”
– INsite Magazine

“Run for your life!”
– Points North

“It will send you home with nightmares that will last until next Halloween”
– Points North

“A mega-plex of horror”
– VOX

“It will turn your hair white”
– Where

“Netherworld’s live actors and special effects are not to be missed”
– Newcomer

“You’ll be scared silly!”
– ajc.com

“Netherworld is famed for coming at guests from every angle”
– ajc.com

“A terrifying house of terror where zombies lurk in the parking lot, the savagely hungry undead roam the halls, flying gargoyles loom overhead, and screams can be heard in the distance”
– Atlanta The Essential Guide

“Taunts nonbelievers into submission”
– ajc.com

“Every year, the No.1 Haunted destination in my book is the Netherworld Haunted House in Norcross”
– Forsyth County News

“It’s the most fun you can have and live”
– Forsyth County News

“Everyone is in for a scare”
– Gwinnett Daily Post

“A whole new level of scream-eliciting entertainment—this place is not for the faint hearted”
– The Sunday Paper