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1996 .. we discovered our love of Halloween, and decided to decorate the front doorway, have a woman hanging in the closet with an axe in her head, and lots of cobwebs and pumpkins. 1997 .. we were busy with our costumes, and the kids, so the door got neglected. Someone came by before dinner, trick or treating, and remarked they had looked forward to coming and seeing what we had done this year. As a result, we then ran around and did the quickest display we had ever done. The axe went into the tree stump at the door, and the slumped body of the woman in her wedding dress, with her head in a basket soon appeared. Crime scene tape, O.J.'s bloody glove, gravestones and cobwebs were also added, and the reaction from people was great. This is what inspired us to create our yearly event, with the "Brinkworth Dungeon". 1998 . . we thought we'd have a Halloween party, and decorate our home, inside and out, to look like a haunted house. The basement was empty, so we decided to creating a "public display" for Halloween night. Experimenting with the use of Styrofoam, we developed an incredible simulation of random stone, which prompted us to switch our thoughts again, to a "dungeon atmosphere" instead of the haunted house. We built winding, stone lined passages throughout the basement, with displays like the "Doctor" with his open heart patient, Phantom of the Opera, The Fly, The Mummy, The Forgotten Prisoner, The Headless Bride, a torture chamber, and our corner piece ... Elvira, one of our favorites. Not wanting to charge admission, for something we considered a hobby, we asked people to bring donations for the local food bank, which is desperately needed at that time of the year. We had approximately 4000 people enter and exit our front door that weekend. All of the great comments from visitor after visitor inspired us to go even bigger next year. 1999 .. Saw the addition of a 1400 sq. ft. temporary structure at the rear of the building, to house our new displays, and solve the enter and exit problems, of people traffic. 2000.. 65 feet of tunnel was added to the walk through, giving the illusion that you were beneath the graveyard, and looking up at the sky through an open grave. With this, and other additions, we increased our display space another 1000 sq. ft. 2001 .. We introduced our New Chamber of Horrors, with it's Torture Chamber, the Breathing Bride, and Linda Blair's Exorcist, and many other changes to make your visit memorable. 2002 .. The entrance was completely rebuilt and repositioned, and new additions were added to the Torture Chamber, Witches Kitchen, and throughout the display in general. The 2002 season was a great event with plenty of visitors, media coverage, and as usual, a large contribution to the local food bank. 2003 .. Our domestic situation changed, and the Youngmore Road location was no longer available to us ... result ... no Dungeon Party for that year. 2004 .. We were invited to join the "Barnyard Phantom's" haunt in South Surrey, and we worked frantically to put together an exhibit in a very short time. It was a great location ... in a old barn, on a large piece of farmland. The atmosphere was fantastic, and we jumped at the opportunity to help fill up half of the OLD BARN, with some NEW Dungeon displays. Elvira, Dr. Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, The Headless Breathing Bride and many more of our Halloween friends were there ... in brand new settings, along with a few new friends too. Barnyard Phantoms, had their Corpses, Skeletons, Pirates and all the usual creepy and ghostly characters that you expect to meet on those dark nights during Halloween. 2006 .. Although some of the characters were the same, the settings were all new. The Breathing Bride had now come out of the attic and was on the stairs, and the Mummy display was all completely brand new, and very impressive. The Fly, Dr. Frankenstein's Monster, and Elvira were there too. Our location was back in Richmond, on #4 Road just South of Cambie Road. 2007 .. We were not able to open at the #4 Road location due to other business commitments. 2008 .. We moved our other business premises from Richmond to Surrey, which gave us the space to build our Dungeon walk through once again. However, Richmond by-laws and Surrey by-laws differ considerably, and to comply with the local regulations required a complete rebuild of just about all our displays. The styrofoam material used in the basic construction was the problem, as it did not meet the fire regulation standards at this new location. It was impossible to open the almost completely finished displays we had prepared for the 2008 season. 2009 .. Once again we are not able to offer the attraction this year either. The amount of work needed for the complete rebuild, and our family "bread and butter" businesses, prevented us from resurrecting the "New Dungeon" in time for 2009 Halloween festivities. We do have every intention of returning, but unfortunately it will not be this year. Thank you for all you kind thoughts, encouragement, and support you have, and are still giving us, and we look forward to seeing you all again very soon. Sincerely, Barry and Aurora Brinkworth |