Made in SA: Gordon Wise and Nightmare on Grayson

Nightmare on Grayson's Gordon Wise...and friends

For twenty years now, there’s been one address for Halloween horror in San Antonio — 201 East Grayson Street. Not that you need to be told, if you live in this town, but that’s the home of Nightmare on Grayson, San Antonio’s longest-running, and still the best, haunted house. Director of Operations Gordon Wise gave us the inside dope on what’s inside your favorite Nightmare.

Missions Unknown: What has made Nightmare on Grayson the best for so long?

Gordon Wise: The employees make it the best. Unlike some haunted houses across the country, Nightmare on Grayson is an actor- and theatrical-driven experience. You won’t find any animatronics or high-tech scares here, we rely on an actor’s skill and timing to terrify you. Nothing beats the timing of a real, live actor.

MU: When did Nightmare on Grayson start?

GW: We’ve been in San Antonio under this name for around 20 years. Not a lot of people know, but it actually started out in 1989 as Nightmare on 6th Street, in Austin. The partners who ran that went their separate ways, and one came to San Antonio and Grayson Street. I’ve been a part of it for fifteen years. I was driving from Savannah to San Diego and happened to stop in San Antonio in October. They needed a security guard and now I’m a partner.

MU: How do you keep people coming back year after year?

GW: Nightmare on Grayson has become a staple. Ask a San Antonio twelve-year-old what Halloween means to them, and Nightmare on Grayson will be one of the top three things listed. We do this by marketing every year like it’s the first year. We are always working to get the word out and remind people of the event. It is all due to the hard work of the dedicated staff and employees.

We have children on our staff whose parents worked at Nightmare. And there are people who bring in their kids, whose parents had brought them in years before. We’re on our third generation of customers, and a second generation of staff.

Each year we change about thirty percent of the attraction, usually a little at the beginning and little at the end, changes designed to give maximum impact. The interior of the facility is about a third size of a football field, and we work year-round to maintain it and improve it. We all have to take second jobs to support ourselves off-season, but we’re still working here all the time.

MU: Who designs the creatures and costumes?

GW: Me and Oscar Martinez, full-time. Others come in for short stints to help out. Off-season there’s never more than three or five, but come showtime, we have close to 100 employees, fifty or sixty of them actors. The rest handle tickets, support the staff and crew, sew costumes, handle money…we’ve got runners and people handing out water (it gets hot in there). Virtually any position you can imagine in a movie theater, we have that position in the haunted house. We’ve gotten more and more elaborate over the years, due to the exceptional artists coming through. I learn a lot from every year’s staff, very talented people.

MU: What can people expect to see while waiting in the line to get in?

GW: We don’t have lines anymore. Used to be we’d have a line four city-blocks long, but we’ve got online ticketing now, people get in fast. Very streamlined, when it’s your turn, you just show your ticket and you get in. But we do have some character monsters outside who will give you a scare if you get there early. And there’s card readers and vendors and face painters, we still have that carnival atmosphere.

MU: Is there an age limit? Do you turn anyone away? How do you deal with the faint-hearted?

GW: The show really is not recommended for children under 10, but I’ve seen all ages inside. Some kids can handle it, some can’t, just depends on your willful suspension of disbelief. We even get senior citizens in there. There’s always some who just can’t handle it. Someone will cry, wet their pants or throw up every night, but only a small percentage, probably about the same as for any scary movie. We escort them out and try to make it as dignified as possible, but it’s obvious they’re upset.

MU: What are everyone’s favorites?

GW: For some reason, everyone freaks out on puppets and dolls. Oh, and clowns. Not sure why. I think it might be because of the painted face, and parents force them to get close when they’re young. And anyone’s creepy when they’re always happy.

The Spurs Coyote and Freddy Krueger

MU: Spurs Coyote vs Freddy Krueger: who wins?

GW: Funny you should mention the Coyote. He came out this year and put on the Freddy outfit, still dressed as the Coyote. It’ll show on the screen at the Spurs game Halloween night. If you see it there, come out and visit the haunted house afterward, we’re open until at least midnight.

MU: How have people in the area reacted to Nightmare on Grayson becoming such a fixture?

GW: When we first got here, the neighborhood was derelict, really a disaster area. We’ve been cleaning and fixing the area for twenty years, cutting grass and removing graffiti. Now our new neighbor, the Pearl Brewery, has moved in, and they’ve really done a lot to upgrade the area. We’re trying to update our façade to match. People are really surprised to see the place now, it looks very nice.

MU: What are your favorite sci-fi and horror movies?

GW: I’m kind of embarrassed to admit them, because they’re mostly so silly. One was a drive-in movie I saw as a little kid, The Gruesome Twosome, about a woman who takes in girls to board in her house and gives them to her afflicted son in the basement to scalp with an electric carving knife. That really stuck with me. Another is Trilogy of Terror, with Karen Black being chased around the house by a voodoo doll, that scared the crap out of me! I didn’t see The Texas Chain Saw Massacre until I was an adult, and anyone who pooh-poohs that movie doesn’t know what they’re talking about, it’s great. Can’t stand the remake, though, I love Gunnar Hansen. I far prefer the happy-go-lucky fat guy with a chainsaw to the angry guy with the chainsaw.

Alien is great, hit me at just the right time. And I’ll probably catch some heat from my friends, but The Blair Witch Project really disturbed me. I think it might’ve been the camera-work, though, I was nauseous walking out of the theater.

No one will believe me, but it’s the gods-honest truth — I love big musicals and Bollywood — Grease, Rocky Horror, Hair, anything where people break into dance numbers.