Screams silenced on 'haunted' island at Wichita's O.J. Watson Park

The island at O.J. Watson Park, a destination for Halloween fans in search of a scare for more than 20 years, is no longer haunted.

After years of declining attendance and revenue that didn’t cover expenses, park officials decided at the end of last year to stop offering a haunted attraction at the park at 3022 S. McLean. The island at the park had been overrun with ghouls, ghosts, goblins and chain-saw-wielding maniacs each Halloween since 1991.

“Everyone involved decided to part ways at the end of 2013,” said Stacey Hamm, the marketing director for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

The owners of Prairie Pines Christmas tree farm, who put on a big haunted attraction at their venue at 4055 N. Tyler Road, took over running the haunted island in 2010 and called it “Isle of Screams.” It had other operators in 2008 and 2009, when it was known as “Garden of Evil and Ravenswood Manor.” And from 1991 until 2007, the attraction was called “Haunted Island.”

Kip Scott, who runs the haunted attractions at Prairie Pines, said he met with park officials last winter, and both sides agreed that the attraction – which offered a 25-minute haunted walk plus scary hay-rack and train rides – had run its course.

“They decided they wanted to use the island for something else,” Scott said. “And we were kind of thinking it was getting to be too much for us to do.”

The “something else” is included in a master plan for the park that has been submitted to the City Council and is awaiting approval, Hamm said. It includes ideas for using the island as a year-round attraction, and Hamm said the department also wants to hold more Christmas events there.

It is planning to bring back its Polar Express event, which started last year and offers children a chance to hear a reading of “Polar Express,” make crafts, have hot chocolate and s’mores by a campfire and take a train ride to see Santa.

The future of the 119-acre park – which has a 40-acre fishing lake, pedal boats, miniature golf, train rides and pony rides – has been under review for more than a year. The city’s goal is to make it self-sufficient by 2015 and to be able to cover all of its own costs.

“Isle of Screams” was not covering its own costs, Hamm said, and it was costing the department more to supply the employees it took to staff the park during Halloween than the attraction brought in.

To improve the attraction, Scott suggested bringing some new elements that would require more electricity. But inspectors discovered the island had only one electrical box that wasn’t powerful enough. Another electrical box wasn’t in the budget, Hamm said.

This story was originally published September 25, 2014 at 6:26 AM with the headline "Screams silenced on 'haunted' island at Wichita's O.J. Watson Park."