Dressed in a white lab coat, a scientist lures a group of kids deeper into a dark room.
“We have to find the fish monster before it destroys the world. Hurry, come, come quickly,” she urges. “The fish monster turned me into this hideous beast.”
She wears a mask with crackly gray skin and a missing eye. Kids and parents cautiously weave their way through the Sitka Sound Science Center gift shop that’s been converted into a haunted house. Rubber gloves dangle from fishing nets draped over stacks of crates. People in creepy costumes jump out from behind barrels and pallets.
Most people passing through scream as they turn every corner. But 10-year-old Stella doesn’t seem super spooked as she giggles at the jump scares. She’s wearing a baggy gray sweatshirt with splotches of green paint across her face. Stella says she’s a zombie rapper.
“I am a zombie. My name is Dan. You don’t think I can rap, but I can, can, can,” she says.
Inside the main building, crowds of costumed children zip from room to room under the warm glow of string lights. Families wander around the touch tank, now home to jack-o-lanterns.
“This one did have a wonderful face with like a whole squid eye, but it’s a little hard to tell now,” says aquarist Matt Wilson.
He points to a slouching pumpkin in the water. Urchins cling to its sides.
“Urchins will kind of eat whatever they can put in their mouth. So if there’s something new around, for example a pumpkin, we have found that they will be absolutely start snacking on it,” Wilson explains.
Kari Paustian, the education coordinator at the science center, is helping kids make potions.
“Let’s do a big scoop of powdered unicorn horn,” Paustian says, a spoonful of baking soda in hand.
The ingredients are things you might not find in your kitchen — goblin goo, witch’s tears, and dragon’s blood.
There’s also stations where kids can dissect owl pellets from the Alaska Raptor Center or create creepy characters from marine debris like plastic water bottles or old buoys. Seven-year-old Magnus turned a scratched orange buoy into a face with a sinister smile.
“Five pipe cleaners, four bottle caps, and one old fishing rope that’s been snapped,” Magnus lists.
He’s aptly named it “Crazy Buoy.”
“It looks like if somebody’s head was a pumpkin and it fell off!” Magnus says.
Magnus’ creation might be a good feature in next year’s haunted house. But for now, he’s bringing it home to decorate for Halloween.
