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Date: 10/10/2018
AGAWAM – With the start of October comes frightening haunted trails, houses and theme parks. Among these is Six Flags New England and their famous Fright Fest. The park hosts two months of haunted happenings, scaring park guests with a series of spooky activities. Six Flags is taking scary entertainment to a new level this year with the Fright Fest Coffin Challenge.
The Fright Fest Coffin Challenge invites participants to spend 30 hours in a coffin, from October 13-14. The rules are simple: No leaving the coffin. Those who do not comply will be immediately disqualified. Participants will have a six-minute bathroom break per hour. Food will be provided by the park, but must be consumed inside of the coffin. Phone charging stations will also be provided, so every scream and fright can be documented on social media during the course of the event. Participants may bring along one guest, but they must leave the park after operating hours.
In the spirit of Halloween, costumed scare actors will occasionally stop by to frighten challengers during their evening in the coffins.
The event is not for the faint of heart, and Six Flags is keeping that in mind. Participants must be 18 years or older with valid identification and they cannot have any medical conditions that would risk their wellbeing. The Six Flags website states “Must be able and willing to lie comfortably in a claustrophobic-sized 2 x 7 coffin.” While Six Flags may have trouble finding guests who are comfortable in confined spaces, finding able and willing participants has not been a problem.
Initially, the event was scheduled to take place exclusively at the Six Flags St. Louis location. After going viral online and in the news, Six Flags realized there was a much higher demand for the challenge than they had thought. Over 28,000 people signed up for a chance to participate in the event at Six Flags St. Louis alone.
In a tweet from the Six Flags, the company shared that they were “buried” in requests to participate in the challenge. Fans were disappointed to find that only one theme park would hold the event, and Six Flags saw the perfect opportunity to make this a frightening Halloween.
In a press release, Chief Marketing Officer Brett Petit said, “No one does Halloween like Six Flags and this year is the biggest and scariest ever. We have added more zombies, more ghouls, and more haunted mazes to make this the most talked about Halloween event in the industry. And this year, the 30-Hour Coffin Challenge has taken the country by storm…everybody wants in.” The 30-Hour Coffin Challenge will now take place at Six Flags St. Louis, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Six Flags America, Six Flags Great America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Great Escape, Six Flags Darien Lake, Six Flags New England, Frontier City, Six Flags Mexico and La Ronde.
Everybody wants in, with good reason. There is a grand prize pack for the winner who makes it the full 30 hours in the coffin. If more than one person remains at the end of the challenge, there will be a drawing for the grand prize. All participants who stay to the end will leave with a 2019 Gold Season Pass to the park and two Fright Fest Passes for the Haunted Houses. The grand prize includes $300 cash, two 2019 Gold Season Passes, two 2019 Dining Season Passes, two Fright Fest passes for the Haunted Houses, and the option to take home the coffin.
Six Flags New England will select six people to participate in the Fright Fest Coffin Challenge. Registration for the event concludes at midnight on October 7.
Fright Fest is an annual event held by Six Flags parks in North America since 1986. Starting at the end of September, the park transforms with spooky Halloween decorations, spine-chilling scare actors and scream-worthy haunted attractions such as trails and houses. Fright Fest will conclude on October 28 at Six Flags New England. New attractions for 2018 include Terror Tales in the Wicked Woods and Slaughter Hollow.