Howl-O-Scream's 11th year

The streets of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay grew dark and barely recognizable, and screams and laughter could be heard in the distance.

Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens began its 11th year Friday night with the theme “My X,” a rock-n-roll band whose lead singer kills helpless men in the audience at her shows. This theme park’s Halloween event lasts from the end of September to Oct. 31, according to to event's website.

This year, the haunted houses themes range from vampires to sorority girls and ghosts to toys. They include "My X: Revenge Rocks," "Taste of Blood: A Different Vein," "Nightshade Toy Factory: Son of Nightshade," "Death Row Vengeance: No Escape," "Trapped in the Walls: Ghostchasers," "Delta Epsilon Delta: Extreme Rush," "Deconstruction: The Dr. is Out of Control" and "Alone."

The haunted houses all have the same themes as past years, but certain changes are made every year. New this year is the "Alone" house, where guests try to escape a lunatic’s labyrinth and must enter alone. For Alone itself the advanced purchase price is $24.95, according to the website.

All of the houses use several scare tactics on guests. Banging on walls, hiding behind them, popping out of windows on the side of the hallway, intense strobe lights, fog and shaking a "shaker box" with beads in it are just a few. The employees at the park who acted as corpses, clowns, vampires, wolves and butchers all had one objective: to scare.

The scareactors, employees at the park whose job it is to scare anyone who comes near them, were not only in the haunted houses but roaming around the park as well.

The scare zones, areas where scareactors frighten the guests who have to walk through to get around the park, included "Road Trip," "Crazed Love," "Xtreme Fanatics," "Light of Doom," and "Spiders and Snakes." The shows the park put on included "My X Live," "Fiends" and "Blood Relations." They also featured a dance club called "Club X" for adults 21 and up.

The roller coasters Kumba, Montu, SheiKra and more were also available to ride.

Chelsey Chynoweth, 22, is a marine biology major at The University of South Florida and has been working at Howl-O-Scream for the past three years. Her scareactor role is a corpse in the "Taste of Blood" house. She lies on the ground to blend in with fake bodies around her and then slams a shaker box on the ground and shouts at the people walking by her.

Chynoweth said it's hard to pick her favorite part about her job as a scareactor because she enjoys scaring but also loves the people that she works with.

"I love scaring people and knowing that they are getting their money's worth, but I love the people I meet and the memories we make," Chynoweth said. "Although, the scaring is quite fun."

The worst part, Chynoweth said, is the bruises and aches she gets after a weekend of working.

"The job may be exhausting, but it's all worth it to me," Chynoweth said. "It's the funnest job I've ever had."

Chynoweth said rangers come around the park to critique and give advice to the scarers to make sure they’re doing their job the best they can. Alterations are made to make the houses flow faster so every guest can go to the house they want.

Scareactor auditions are held every summer, and hundreds are hired every year. According to Chynoweth, those at the auditions are asked to scream as loud as they can, act like a seductive vampire and howl like a wolf.

Holly Rothrock, 21, visited Howl-O-Scream for the first time Friday. She said she has gone to Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando twice, but wanted to try something new.

Rothrock said she had a lot of fun at Howl-O-Scream and actually liked it better because the lines were shorter than HHN’s. The lines at HHN are usually so long I can barely make it to a couple haunted houses, she said.

Rothrock said she always has fun at these types of Halloween events. It’s part of my tradition, she said. I can’t have Halloween without going through a haunted house.

For more information about Howl-O-Scream, visit http://www.myxrocks.com. Ticket prices depend on the night attended and the special offers applied.