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Blue Ridge Nightmares is ‘immersive theatre’ at its best and a potential economic powerhouse for the Roanoke Valley. And you won’t hear ‘Boo!’ anywhere.
It had been a tough stretch for Anthony Giordano, one framed by multiple COVID deaths of family and friends, overwork, exhaustion and, frankly, a loss of interest. The death of his father, two aunts, an uncle and two friends weren’t the end of it. “Even the cat died,” he says wistfully.
That’s when his aunt, who worked with Dr. Paul Dallas of Carilion, came to the rescue. She mentioned to her nephew that Dallas had initiated the Christmas season’s wildly popular Illuminites program at Explore and that he was aiming for a spectacular Halloween show. Giordano, as it happened, had owned the largest Halloween Industry (yes, it’s an industry) program in New Jersey, only to sell everything off during the difficult circumstances.
But the 46-year-old listened and was convinced that this offer could be a bailout for him, emotionally and physically. He’s a diabetic and all the swirling negativity had pushed him into bad habits. He needed to turn it around. Blue Ridge Nightmares showed up just in time.
And it didn’t just “show up.” It has, over the past few months, grown like amoeba in a petri dish, filling a 65,000-square-foot warehouse at the old American Viscose Plant with a Roanoke replica on top of its Halloween celebrations, which aren’t so much fright-night as a walk through history with a few spooks, a smattering of gore and a lot of “Oh, wow!”
“I came to Roanoke and Dr. Dallas wanted to meet,” says Giordano. “I wasn’t in that space, but he showed me the possibilities. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. I’m dealing with depression and diabetes and I find this place.” From that moment, the evolution began.
“I had an idea for a street scene, a little city,” says Giordano. Then the sponsors started pouring in with goods, services and money. Businesses like the Hotel Roanoke, Charles Lunsford Insurance, the Little Chef, Grand Piano and others got involved and some with replicas of their old storefronts. Real signs and other paraphernalia began to show up along the Roanoke set street.
“It was a bit of history, not blood and gore,” says Giordano. But there was “the creepy ghost factor, the fantasy aspect” that would appeal to entire families. There was even a special tour for small children.
Giordano is geared for this type of entertainment. He has been in the movies, TV and theater as a makeup artist (David Bowie, Spider Man, The Last Samurai, Disney and even an Academy Award credit) and knew what he was doing. Melissa Webster, creative director, calls it “immersive theatre.”
Giordano points out that “people have a perception of what a haunted house is, but this changes it. We set a high bar for a haunted attraction. It’s not just black painted walls and boo masks. We train our actors, each with 10 one-liners” during the course of the tour. Problem being, “We are extremely short on actors” and other professionals at this point, partly because of COVID. “There is no shortage of things to do here. But it is hard to find people to help. We’ve had to cut some good ideas because we simply don’t have enough help.” Among the many volunteers is Giordano’s significant other, Angelica Jimenez. There are seven core staffers, but outside Giordano, Webster is the only full-timer.
Blue Ridge Nightmares is not just a Halloween show. It is an event location, one that recently has been home for the Addy Awards and RAMP’s annual meeting. It has become something of a soul mate with the new and spectacular Virginia Fire Museum, the Commonwealth’s largest, located a few buildings away and filled with old fire trucks and equipment.
The potential economic impact of these two attractions, occupying a lot of space in formerly empty buildings, has not escaped Giordano’s overall vision. In fact, the potential is almost scary.
The story above is from our September/October 2022 issue. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!
