Museums at Night October 2015: Horrible atrocities in a Fright Night for adults at Butser Ancient Farm

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Short, moonlit shocks are in store at the archaeologically-important Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire this Museums at Night. Expect the unexpected

Ryan Watts, the resident archaeologist at Hampshire’s Butser Ancient Farm, imagines himself as an explorer longing to bring back the dead. When the unethical research programme his plan entails goes horribly wrong, the affable exorcist is left facing a government trial rather than a rendezvous with Britons living thousands of years ago.

Most Museums at Night outings use the words “spooky” or “scary” as gentle enticement – but this is the real deal, and Watts says visitors will be the only independent witnesses to the “horrible atrocities” involved. “My research was trying to implant the memories of dead ancestors into living people, to better understand how people lived in the past,” he reflects, sounding scientifically reasonable.

“But it kind of went horribly wrong in that two minds, together, don’t really work, so obviously that set everything awry. The evidence from the project had to be destroyed. We’re asking the guests to come to the farm to get it.”

These 30-minute tours, encountering actors working off the cuff and ending with a stiff one “to get over the whole thing” in the visitor centre, are perhaps the only trails of this month’s festival to have been sharpened by a research visit to Thorpe Park. “I’m still trying to get that back through expenses,” sighs Watts, whose trip to the theme resort also gave him new ideas for design and health and safety.

The farm has some notable advantages over such larger attractions. “We’re not far off the A3 but we’re far enough for it to be very quiet. We’ve got some of the best night skies in terms of stargazing and stuff.

“It’s really high quality – there’s no light pollution which means it’s very dark and there are lots of shadows around if the moon’s out. It’s a really eerie place anyway. We’re just building on that to enhance the experience.”

A quick-fire interactive horror show and a short work of immersive theatre, Fright Night is in capable thespian hands, with three stages playing host to a series of free-flowing tours, each of which will be unique. “It’s not all going to be as it seems,” says Watts. “I can’t let too much on but as people go on through the tour stuff will start happening and hopefully they’ll start getting more scared as they go on.

“For the actors, if it’s rehearsed and you’re told that’s the only thing you can do, you’re stuck if it doesn’t work. I love Halloween and horror movies and things, so I’m always thinking about these things. In the moment you realise what scares people.”

Fright Night takes place at Butser Ancient Farm, Waterlooville on October 30. Timed 35-minute slots available between 7pm-10.05pm. Tickets £10, book online. Over-15s only, 15-16 year-olds must be accompanied by an adult.

• Museums at Night October 2015 runs October 30-31. Visit museumsatnight.org.uk to find an event near you.

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Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/historic-buildings/art540306-museums-at-night-2015-butser-ancient-farm