The stage crew staff, students and alumni from West Aurora High School have built "The Crypts of Campana--A Factory of Fear," at Route 31 and Fabyan Parkway in Batavia.
The Crypts of Campana is open at 7 p.m., Oct. 15-17, as well as Wednesday through Saturday of the following two weeks (Oct. 21-24 and Oct. 28-31). It closes at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.
Ticket cost for this scary tour of this National Historic Landmark building is $10, if purchased online at
www.factoryfear.com, or $13 at the door. Proceeds beyond expenses will go to West High auditorium projects.
“This has turned into the largest project West’s stage crew has ever undertaken,” says Tom Lorenz, West High auditorium technical director.
Several students have helped plan and construct the Crypts, with Carl Patterson and Matt Perrin taking the lead, Lorenz said. All Dressed Up Costumes of Batavia is providing costumes to accompany the large array of special effects.
Guests enter the original Campana lobby doors and ascend to the second floor where scripts for Campana's radio program, "The First Nighter," were written. After receiving a brief history lesson about this remarkable building, guests descend into the lower level via the 80-year-old freight elevator.
In the "Crypts," popular Campana factory areas have been "reassembled" into somewhat of a factory tour, including the "Board Room," "Employee Decapateria," 45,000-gallon "Cooling Tower," "Products mixing Area" and "The Secret Lab."
