Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back

The Curse at Alton Manor is a dark ride at the Alton Towers theme park near the village of Alton in Staffordshire, opened in 2023. It originally opened in 1992 as The Haunted House. In 2003 it received an overlay as Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back! with the addition of interactive shooting and a zombie theme, before closing in 2022 to be redesigned. There is a minimum height restriction of 1.1 metres for younger riders unless accompanied by an adult.

History

The Haunted House was designed by The Sparks Group and John Wardley and was the largest haunted attraction in Europe at the time of opening. The bespoke ride transit system was built by MACK Rides and designed to allow a high throughput whilst leaving the cars to travel the ride separately, and at varying speeds in different areas. Opening in March 1992, The Haunted House gained much publicity and remained one of Alton Towers' major rides for many years.

Duel – The Haunted House Strikes Back!

By 2002, many of the original scenes had been altered by the park on an ad-hoc basis. The park decided to revamp the attraction through the addition of light guns in the ride vehicles, which allowed guests to interact with the ride's scenes by aiming their guns at infrared targets scattered throughout the ride. Each target hit by a rider would add to their individual score shown on a display in each car. Towards the end of the 2002 season, a poster was placed outside advertising the new name and opening date, announcing: "Whatever you do, don't miss! Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back!".

A new soundtrack composed by David Buckley played on a loop throughout the ride, replacing the original eight zoned tracks. Other changes to the ride included replacing many characters with zombies, and reducing the capacity of each ride vehicle from six riders to five. The revamped ride reopened in April 2003.

For the 2008 and 2009 Halloween 'Scarefest' event, the ride opened as "Duel: Live!" featuring several live actors around the ride. Guests waited at the door, before being let in by a maid or a butler. Inside, the laser guns and targets were switched off and the music replaced with a more haunting soundtrack. In 2008, Duel ran as normal during the morning and afternoon before becoming to Duel Live after 3:00PM, but ran all day in 2009. In 2010, the overlay was renamed "Skelvin's Haunted Adventure", themed to the park's Halloween mascot 'Skelvin', and the ride soundtrack was replaced by the Beetlejuice title music.

The Curse at Alton Manor

After an initial teaser, Duel closed on 6 September 2022. The new attraction was announced as ''The Curse at Alton Manor'' the following January. Later details revealed that the ride's new premise would revolve around Emily Alton, the little ghost girl that inhabited the dollhouse in the queue area, as she seeks revenge on her neglectful parents. As part of the renovation, the laser guns and targets were removed from the attraction and the ride vehicle capacity was restored to six passengers. The attraction officially opened to the public on March 18, 2023.

Ride experience

The Haunted House (1992–2002)

Guests queued past gravestones in a wooded area, before entering through the front doors of the house. The interior queue meandered through themed rooms, depicting a darkly-lit Victorian vestibule and drawing room. These scenes featured a number of illusion, themed aroma and haunting music. The second room was also slanted at an angle to disorientate guests. On the left side of the room was a doll's house which used a Pepper's Ghost illusion to show the ghostly image of a little girl named Emily Alton and her pet cat playing within it.

In the station, riders boarded the ride vehicle. Once beyond the platform, the vehicles accelerated away from one another to take riders into the scenes individually. The first scene took riders past cracking stone walls that appeared possessed. This led to the Grand Hall, which looked seemingly empty before a large demon appeared overhead between two columns. This effect was originally achieved with parallel mirrors and timed lighting. The car swerved right into a dark corner, where the demon re-appeared offering a teacup (later changed to holding a knife and giant rat).

The car traveled into a stone chamber and towards large skull-shaped effigy into skull's mouth. Inside, a large rotating trommel gave riders the sensation of turning upside-down. The ride continued into a stone corridor with large Gothic windows either side. Large ghouls lurched from windows towards riders, before the car passed the largest window with a giant staring face.

The next scene took riders weaving past large spiders, ending with a giant-sized spider suspended overhead. Riders then entered a corridor where a skeleton pulls a lever on a fuse box, turning out the lights. This scene originally featured a large ghost that flew overhead down the corridor. This was removed after its first year and replaced by a new scene featuring skeletons in 1993. In turn most of this scene was also removed in later years. The car then turned through a series of tight bends in the dark, as screaming heads fly overhead using a UV-strobe effect.

Riders then to traveled into a garden at night, at which point the car slowed down. A crashed hearse could be seen ahead, with an undertaker gesturing to come closer and a ghost flying out of an open coffin (using a Pepper's Ghost illusion). Further into the garden, a troll-like ghoul leapt out from rocks on the right. A statue of Death stood at the end of the garden. Behind an archway, a stone column suddenly turned to reveal a tall, thin demon before the cars accelerated onwards. The finale then traveled further into the garden, where riders traveled through a possessed rocky swamp as serpentine creatures and ghouls appeared.

Duel – The Haunted House Strikes Back! (2002–2022)

With the exception of the doll's house, many of the effects in the preshow room were removed or altered in the Duel revamp, including the optical moving-eye portraits, to be replaced by TV screens playing a pre-show video. A screaming zombie was added before entering the tunnel, as well as the splitting head (originally from the finale) at its end. Zombies were also added to the windows and spider scenes. The original swamp ending was entirely replaced by an industrial basement where zombies appeared from barrels, windows and overhead walkways.

The Curse at Alton Manor (2023–present)

Guests queue through the same graveyard used for Duel, but with new theming elements such as tombstones with epitaphs that reference to previous attractions at the park, old toys such as dolls, stuffed animals, building blocks, and plaques displaying short poems placed around the queue that introduce riders to the story of the ride. Guests enter the mansion where an open house is being hosted. The first room features a real estate listing for the house priced at £1,992,000 (a reference to 1992, the year the Haunted House opened).

Moving into the second room, a pre-show plays further explaining the backstory of the ride. A scale-replica doll's house based on the mansion sits at the center off the room. An unseen narrator explains that in 1892, the Alton family hosted a lavish gala in celebration of New Year's Eve, but at the stroke of midnight, a violent storm ravaged the mansion killing the Altons and all of the guests in attendance. However, young Emily, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Alton, mysteriously disappeared and remains unaccounted for. Suddenly, Emily's voice is heard whispering "Let me show you what happened", and the ghostly images of Mr. and Mrs. Alton during the fateful night appear inside of the parlour of the doll's house. Emily enters and begs her father for permission to attend the party. Mr. Alton cruelly dismisses Emily to her room in the attic, calling her a "wretched little creature". Emily appears in the attic of the doll's house crying. Angered, she picks up a doll and "snaps" its neck. A now-possessed Emily begins to glow with violet-coloured supernatural energy which spreads to the rest of the doll's house causing her parents and the party guests to vanish. The entire room becomes bathed in ultraviolet light and reveals manic scribblings by Emily written all across the walls.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Duel (ride)
Haunted attractions (simulated)
Dark rides
Buildings and structures completed in 1992
Animatronic attractions
Alton Towers
Amusement rides manufactured by Mack Rides
Amusement rides introduced in 1992
1992 establishments in the United Kingdom
Amusement rides introduced in 2003
2003 establishments in the United Kingdom
Amusement rides introduced in 2023
2023 establishments in the United Kingdom