Duck me!!....I'm a witch! (York Dungeon)

Member Name: MandyMinx

Product:	York Dungeon
Date:	24/03/04 (1329 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Educational, Fun , interactive

Disadvantages: expensive, long

Ok, I admit it. I watch Most Haunted. I am one of those sad people who spends far too much time watching the live weekend show and then sits there and announces that it was rubbish, only to settle back down for another dose as soon as the opportunity arises. I wonder what it is that makes being scared such a great feeling? I am the worlds biggest coward, but I love scary films and spooky places. One of the recent live shows was centred around the beautiful historic city of York and one of the locations visited was The York Dungeon. I have to say I don't need an excuse to visit York, it is to me one of this countries treasures, but when my son asked whether we could go visit the dungeon I jumped at the opportunity of a day out.


Situated on the corner of Clifford Street in York, not to far from the majestic Clifford's Tower I have to say that my first impression of the place wasn't that good. The building itself made me think of some of the old banks that we have here in Nottingham, boring and official looking. There was a queue of about 20 people outside the building and there was a young man dressed as a zombie entertaining the crowd as they waited to enter the dungeon.
He was funny. He was having a joke with the people waiting, regardless of age and any doubts I had about standing in the queue went completely out of the window. " Who's here for the bondage experience?" He asked those waiting " Who's here to be whipped and chained?" You haven't met my husband, but he's a strange guy and his hand was up like a shot.

We waited in the queue for about 15 minutes as people were let in in groups of about 12. As we followed everyone into the building it occurred to me that this experience was either going to be very good, or very tacky.

I
;t was quite dark inside. We paid at the desk and bought a very well presented glossy brochure which cost us three pounds fifty. There was a sign above the desk that said that if we weren't offered the opportunity to purchase a brochure by the staff we would receive one free, an effective reminder to the staff to remember the suggestive selling training they had obviously received and I remember secretly hoping that the young girl manning the till would forget.

We were ushered forward to the first 'experience' and I have to say that experience is the right word to use for this place. There were displays depicting the plague, not the rats and the fleas, here the emphasis was on the gory side of living during the plague, the boils, the puss and the horror of it all. We were at the front of our group and as we passed one area there was an almighty scream and the grotesque head of a boil laden woman appeared at a window. No, it wasn't a mirror. It certainly made us jump though. Each area of the dungeon has it's own interactive area and for the plague section we were ushered into a doctors surgery where a man who looked a lot like the guy with the withered hand in Scary Movie 2, told us all about the torturous healing techniques that were used back then. At one point he demonstrated on a very realistic dummy how blood letting would occur and as he touched the 'victim' a squirt of water shot out and made us all jump back.

Our next journey took us to a time when the superstitions of witchcraft were everywhere and people lived in fear of being accused. Again there were displays and exhibits and then an interactive area. We were ushered into a dark area where above us there was a bridge with a dummy leaning over looking into the water where you could see the body of a woman, submerged below the ripples. I thought it looked pretty boring, I have to say, and

made for the door to the next area, anxious to move on. I jumped out of my skin when the 'dummy' on the bridge shouted "Halt"

He then began to tell us of his job as a witch hunter and pointing down at me I was accused of being a witch and dancing naked in the moonlight. (Mental note to self to get the height of the front fence raised) I held my hands up. I admitted being a witch, apparently I would then be burned at the stake. The poor women who protested their innocence were subjected to the ducking stool where they would be held under water for long periods of time. If they drowned, they were innocent. If they didn't they were witches and died anyway. Comforting thought isn't it!

As we moved through the Dungeon we came across many experiences including the Romans, the Vikings, a clever optical illusion called The pit of Despair and my hubby's favourite The Torture Chamber.

In The Torture Chamber there were gadgets to make your eyes water. Suspended on the wall, as you entered the chamber was a man on a wheel that was being turned and stretched, mercilessly. My son got a lot of pleasure out of turning the wheel as fast as he could, I can see he resembles his father.
We had to stay in this area for a few minutes as the group in front were still in the interactive room that accompanied the chamber. A stately looking gentleman, with a regal wig and walking stick wandered the room talking to himself. At one point he shouted "Mercy" out loud and when the crowd laughed he shook his stick at one of the children and screamed "I'm not insania" which made us all laugh again.
The waiting between sections wasn't too much of an inconvenience, but it could have been better and I would have liked to have moved on a little quicker.
T
he experience that accompanied the Torture Chamber was the story of Guy Fawkes and although I know he has a connection with York, I didn't actually feel that the story belonged in the experience. I noticed some of the children got a little restless by then and when we moved into the final experience this didn't get any better. The final room is dedicated to Dick Turpin who was hung at York. The was a very clever camera set up that projected moving facial images onto a model that depicted Turpin. I have to say I was impressed but even I had started to feel a little restless by this point. The final part of the tour was to witness the hanging of Mr Turpin and the little guy in the wig appeared again and tried to encourage us to become the watching crowd "Everybody jeer!" he shouted. There were a few half hearted boo's but most people just looked at him blankly.

After the hanging there was nothing more to do than follow everyone into the obligatory shop that all these sorts of exhibits seem to add to the exit of every tour. The shop was expensive but it was very nice to see that most of the stock was relevant to the tour and there were trick displays and fake blood rather than Carebears and Barbie Dolls.


As we had walked the experience I had noted toilets and corridors that provided not only alternative access for people in wheelchairs but also a get out clause for those of a nervous disposition. The was a sign at the start of the tour that gave a warning for nervous people but although I could see very young children getting upset, I think most others would be fine.

I have to say that parts of this experience did make me jump and the effort put into the costumes and the exhibits were really appreciated, it just felt like some parts of the tour, especially the Guy Fawkes area
just didn't fit in. I did see a sign that said they were going to add a vampire section soon. I would love to see what they could do with that story.



The whole experience took just over an hour to complete and as I have said before we were in the queue outside for 15 minutes. Had it been a cold wet day I doubt we would have waited as there is little room to queue inside.


The York Dungeon is by no means a cheap thrill.

Adult Tick
et GBP 10.45 Ch
ild Ticket (5 - 9 years) GBP 7.45 Child Ticket (10 - 14 years) GBP 8.45
Family tickets and fast track tickets are available and you can book online.

I definitely enjoyed my visit to York Dungeon, it was fun. I can see why they hike the price up though, it's not the sort of place you would visit twice, after all it's the element of surprise that makes it so exciting. All in all a definite reccomnedation, but a pricey one. If you have bloodthirsty children or like me a strangey sadistic husband, I would give this place a go.


Thanks for reading

Mand xx

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