Fort Fright opens Friday, September 25th


Fort Henry National Historic Site of Canada, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is poised to launch the second year of Fort Fright - the 'Festival of Fear'. This 6-week ‘scare-attraction’, named Best New Event in Ontario by Festivals and Events Ontario, employs the use of over 50 movie-style, quality animatronics, dynamic and exciting special effects, intense sound and lighting and costumed animators.

Fort Henry has employed the expertise of a Toronto Special Effects company to consult on this project. Paul Hopkins, owner of Boneyard Bargains in Scarborough has returnedto assist with the production. Hopkins is in charge of setting up and testing the animatronics purchased for this attraction. Glen Shakleton, owner of Haunted Walks Inc. who has conducted haunted tours of Fort Henry for several years, says the Fort has several resident ghosts including a poltergeist in the bakery, a child who died accidentally at the Fort, a wandering Royal Artillery Gunner who died in an artillery accident in the 1830’s and our most famous character - Nils Von Schultz - a man hung for treason at Fort Henry after leading an 1830’s rebellion against Britain. Through a bevy of sophisticated special effects, the plan is to bring these characters back to life. Creepy Canada, a Canadian show dedicated to chasing ghosts, filmed a segment at Fort Henry in 2005 and numerous paranormal hunters have pull the blankets up and stayed overnight in the quest to connect with the trapped souls. People have e-mailed pictures they’ve taken with images that were not supposed to be there. Requests to visit keep streaming in. Guests may add a ‘Haunted Walk of the Fort’ to their Fort Fright ticket purchase either at Fort Henry or their downtown location on Ontario Street. Paul Fortier, owner of Jessup Foods has transformed his Officer’s Mess into the Old Bones Bistro and will be serving food each evening. Your casual favourites with a few frightful alterations will be available for purchase each evening of Fort Fright in the canteen. Note: from October 10th to 12th, traditional Thanksgiving Meals will be served. For reservations of 15 or more, contact Jessup Foods direct at 613.530.2550. The Garrison Stores have been transformed into the ”Shop of Horrors” by retail veteran Sandra Cornwall. “We’ve taken an entirely different buying tactic for this event”, remarks Cornwall. “It’s been a fun challenge to look at retail from the dark side and see a whole new world of products including novelties, books, glow products, food and costumes to name a few. You can even get a photo taken with some of our scary prps this year. There's something in our Shop for everyone to enjoy.”

The event opens Friday, September 25th at 6:00 P.M. and runs until 10:00 P.M.and going forward, Fort Fright will run Tuesday to Saturday, 6-10 P.M. for until Saturday, November 7th. Tickets are available on line at www.ticketweb.ca , at the Fort Henry gates or at Haunted Walks on Ontario Street in Downtown Kingston. General Admissions is $9.00; a Fort Fright/Haunted Walk tickets is $18; Groups of a minimum of 15 or more $7; a Military Discount with valid Identification is $7. Special overnight packages have been placed on the www.forthenry.com site, click through to Fort Fright then ‘Internments’. Local hoteliers, inns and bed and breakfast owners have created value-added packages for overnight stays in Kingston found at fortfright.com under 'Internments'. Dare ya - see ya there!