Miss-Delectable
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Columbian.com - Serving Clark County, Washington
Nancy Sinkovitz leads a tour with the unaffected confidence of a real estate agent. Not that you'd want to live here.
"Here's the dungeon," Sinkovitz said. "Here's a ghost who comes out. He's really scary."
Now in its 16th year, the Washington School for the Deaf's haunted house is a Vancouver institution. As in "mad house."
There's the mad scientist's lab, the deranged doctor's office. And then there's someone sitting on a toilet. Reading The Columbian.
Not scared? Look closer: She's reading about North Korea.
Scary!
Actress Maya Ingram, a student at Washington School for the Deaf, finds the bathroom the scariest room in the house. That's saying something, coming from a 12-year-old on death row.
"Yesterday, I was in prison," she signed. "Today, I'm going to be electrocuted."
Amanda Tolle is 19 and also a student at the school. She doesn't get scared when she's working in the haunted house.
In fact, she gets a good laugh when she sees terror on someone's face. That could explain why she's wearing the straitjacket.
While some haunted houses rely on technology for the scare factor, Washington School for the Deaf sticks to the basics: a black-walled maze, plenty of glow paint and enthusiastic student actors.
"It's all just pulleys and wires," Sinkovitz said, scooting a fat volume of the World Book Encyclopedia through the air. But children will recognize it as the floating embodiment of homework.
Scary!
Beth Descloux, 19, harvests souls with a scythe. Even after four years of reaping, she still gets spooked inside the haunted house.
"I know my area," she signed. "But if I go into other areas, that still scares me."
With many of the residential school's student actors going home for the weekend, sign language learners from other local high schools fill in. "They get a background check, so we don't get some psycho killer in there," Sinkovitz said. "We don't want a real crazy person in there."
Shawn Deaton, 18, passed the test. The Skyview High School student started taking sign language last year.
"I can't talk without using my hands," Deaton said. "So I might as well really talk with my hands."
For Deaton, volunteering is more about hanging out with friends and practicing sign language than giving a good fright. It makes the haunted house seem downright quaint.
And who knows? Maybe people can look past the brain in a jar, past the arm in the blender. Sure, there are a few cobwebs.
But that sofa is starting to look comfy; that fireplace gives off a warm glow. Maybe Sinkovitz, the school's residential program supervisor, isn't such a bad real estate agent after all.
"It's an old-fashioned haunted house," she said. Just waiting for someone to make it a haunted home.
Justin Carinci covers neighborhood news and issues. He can be reached at 360-737-4006 or justin.carinci@columbian.com.
If you go
What: Washington School for the Deaf's 16th annual haunted house.
Who: Students at Washington school for the Deaf and other school volunteers.
When: 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
Where: 611 Grand Blvd., Vancouver.
Cost: $6, $4 children ages 4 to 12.
Nancy Sinkovitz leads a tour with the unaffected confidence of a real estate agent. Not that you'd want to live here.
"Here's the dungeon," Sinkovitz said. "Here's a ghost who comes out. He's really scary."
Now in its 16th year, the Washington School for the Deaf's haunted house is a Vancouver institution. As in "mad house."
There's the mad scientist's lab, the deranged doctor's office. And then there's someone sitting on a toilet. Reading The Columbian.
Not scared? Look closer: She's reading about North Korea.
Scary!
Actress Maya Ingram, a student at Washington School for the Deaf, finds the bathroom the scariest room in the house. That's saying something, coming from a 12-year-old on death row.
"Yesterday, I was in prison," she signed. "Today, I'm going to be electrocuted."
Amanda Tolle is 19 and also a student at the school. She doesn't get scared when she's working in the haunted house.
In fact, she gets a good laugh when she sees terror on someone's face. That could explain why she's wearing the straitjacket.
While some haunted houses rely on technology for the scare factor, Washington School for the Deaf sticks to the basics: a black-walled maze, plenty of glow paint and enthusiastic student actors.
"It's all just pulleys and wires," Sinkovitz said, scooting a fat volume of the World Book Encyclopedia through the air. But children will recognize it as the floating embodiment of homework.
Scary!
Beth Descloux, 19, harvests souls with a scythe. Even after four years of reaping, she still gets spooked inside the haunted house.
"I know my area," she signed. "But if I go into other areas, that still scares me."
With many of the residential school's student actors going home for the weekend, sign language learners from other local high schools fill in. "They get a background check, so we don't get some psycho killer in there," Sinkovitz said. "We don't want a real crazy person in there."
Shawn Deaton, 18, passed the test. The Skyview High School student started taking sign language last year.
"I can't talk without using my hands," Deaton said. "So I might as well really talk with my hands."
For Deaton, volunteering is more about hanging out with friends and practicing sign language than giving a good fright. It makes the haunted house seem downright quaint.
And who knows? Maybe people can look past the brain in a jar, past the arm in the blender. Sure, there are a few cobwebs.
But that sofa is starting to look comfy; that fireplace gives off a warm glow. Maybe Sinkovitz, the school's residential program supervisor, isn't such a bad real estate agent after all.
"It's an old-fashioned haunted house," she said. Just waiting for someone to make it a haunted home.
Justin Carinci covers neighborhood news and issues. He can be reached at 360-737-4006 or justin.carinci@columbian.com.
If you go
What: Washington School for the Deaf's 16th annual haunted house.
Who: Students at Washington school for the Deaf and other school volunteers.
When: 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
Where: 611 Grand Blvd., Vancouver.
Cost: $6, $4 children ages 4 to 12.