Night Fright Moves to La Grande!

Night Fright, the largest Haunted House Attraction in the valley, drew almost 3000 visitors to Union last year. For 2010, the haunted attraction is moving to the Maridell Center (formally known as the Elk’s Lodge) in La Grande, and creating three haunted attractions – one per floor – spanning 28,000 square feet. The main banquet hall will be an open party area, family friendly, with food, games and events to entertain you as you wait for your turn to enter your grave… uh, ahem… haunted attraction. In turn, this should eliminate those lengthy wait lines of years’ past. Exact dates are yet to be determined, but expect Friday and Saturday of the last four weeks of October for you to meet your bitter end. Bring your date or your family members and friends and hold to them tightly, for you never know what surprises will be in store for you, or what horrors lurk around each corner. With all this new space, our ghoulish imaginations have gone wild, and we have some clever scares in store for you on a scale you might not expect from a small-town event. Will you be brave enough to walk the corridors?

Stay tuned, more information about this year’s haunted attraction will be revealed as it becomes available. After 5 years of haunting fun, this year’s haunt will be by far the largest, and there may never be another that tops it in size and scale in this area ever again. It’ll be the big kick-off that will help fund the remodeling of the Maridell Center, which will eventually bring ice skating, laser tag, mini-golf, and a dance and events hall to La Grande. Mark your calendars – the Maridell Center will be the place to be this October! You won’t want to miss it!

Inside The Museum

From a recent news article on the old Museum located on the third floor of The Union Hotel:

Local Boy Disappears At Old Museum

Jordan Jones, of Union, is missing and believed to be somewhere inside the Old Museum in the Union Hotel.  According to a security guard, a group of teenage boys like to dare each other to break in to the old museum which everyone believes to be haunted.  The boys have gone in several times before, believing it is great fun to take new kids in there to try to scare them. They were forced to come forward and confess their trespassing of the previous night when they had gone in with their new friend, Jordan Jones.  While exploring the dark and dusty rooms Jordan somehow got separated from the rest and, despite calling and searching for him for over an hour, could not be found. Finally the boys began to panic and left. They believe he may still be inside the Museum and volunteers are being sought to help in the search.

Many have wondered about the other strange disappearances at the old Museum in the Union Hotel. Local legend has it that it all started back in 1956 when a new curator, Dr. Frank Stein, took over at the Union Museum. He had an intense interest in death and life after death and preserving the body. He began obtaining items for the museum that related to this so that he could study them. He filled the museum with all kinds of mummies of people and animals, skeletons, and other strange artifacts related to embalming and spiritualism of different cultures.

Although the curator was odd, he did his job well and people seemed fascinated by the mummies so museum attendance was good. Then one day in 1958 two college students disappeared. Friends who had seen them last said they were going to see the mummies at the museum. The employee at the museum front counter recognized their photos and said she remembered selling them tickets. Strangely, when the police went to question Dr. Stein he could not be found. The museum was closed for investigation. The investigation dragged on and the police refused to allow the museum to re-open. After nearly 4 years the museum and it’s contents were finally released, but during that time the roof had began leaking and also dust, mildew and neglect had taken their toll. Most of the museum contents were damaged or ruined so the Museum board decided to start fresh with a new museum down the street.  The old museum and its creepy contents were left and forgotten in the busy-work of opening the new one. What happened to the two students remains an unsolved mystery and most people believe that the old Museum is haunted by their spirits. As for Dr. Stein, he was never seen again after that day.

Fact often gets mingled with fiction in such cases and anyone with further information is asked to contact Museum security. Those wishing to volunteer to help in the search can report to the Museum on the nights of October 9-10, 16-17, 23-24, 28-31.

The Crypt New Haunt at the Union Hotel

The Crypt will be located in the basement of the Union Hotel. The basement was sealed up ages ago with a stone, bearing an inscription, blessing all who lie within to rest in peace and cursing anyone who dared to disturb the remains… but someone has disturbed them. Someone has stolen corpses from the crypt and now the spirits of the dead are searching and looking to have revenge on any living thing that enters their domain.

The Museum New Haunt at the Union Hotel

The Museum has been closed and abandoned ever since two students mysteriously disappeared there several years ago. Strangely, the Museum curator, Dr. Frank Stein, also disappeared about the same time. Dr. Stein had an unusual fascination with preservation and reanimation of life. He had filled the Museum with odd exhibits and strange mummies, which he liked to study. As you wander through the dark and dusty remnants, you will be drawn further into his twisted world in the search for what really happened…