Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back!

Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back!
Alton Towers Resort
Area	Gloomy Wood
Status	Operating
Opening date	2003
Replaced	The Haunted House
General statistics
Attraction type	Dark ride
Manufacturer	Mack Rides
Theme	Gothic
Capacity	1,920 riders per hour
Vehicle type	Car
Vehicles	35
Rows	2
Riders per row	3 (front) & 2 (back)
Duration	6 minutes 15 seconds
Fastrack available

Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back! is an attraction at the Alton Towers theme park near the village of Alton in Staffordshire. It opened in 1992 as The Haunted House and was the largest ghost-train ride in Europe. 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, with set designs by Rex Studios. The transit system used to take riders through the show was built by MACK Rides; it was specifically designed to allow a high throughput whilst leaving the cars to travel the ride separately, and at varying speeds in different areas to allow the effects to best surprise visitors. Upon opening at the start of the 1992 season, The Haunted House gained much publicity and remained one of Alton Towers' major rides for many years. Some of the ride's larger animations experienced technical problems in the ride's first season, leading to some effects being replaced the following year; most notably a scene in which a phantom flew above riders on an overhead track.

By 2002, the ride's visitor numbers dropped and several of the original animations had been removed. Tussauds Studios decided to add laser guns and a zombie theme to the ride to increase popularity. Towards the end of the 2002 season, a poster was placed outside the Haunted House, advertising the new name and opening date, along with the slogan: "Whatever you do, don't miss! Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back".

A new theme tune was composed by David Buckley, to be played on a loop throughout the ride; replacing the original eight tracks produced by Graham Smart. Changes to the show itself included the replacement of many animated characters with zombies, and the entire swamp-themed ending being replaced by a zombie laboratory scene. Also the paintings displayed in the Entrance Hall and Drawing Room were replaced with new versions, due to plagiarism claims with the originals. The ride reopened with the new laser quest element at the start of the 2003 season.

Halloween

For the 2008 and 2009 annual Halloween 'Scarefest' events held at Alton Towers, the ride became host to "Duel: Live!" This attraction featured live actors situated in different scenes around the ride, to scare riders while in their cars. Also, the laser guns and all the LEDs were switched off, so that riders were not distracted by the shooting and focused on the ride. The music was replaced throughout the ride, with a different, more atmospheric piece used instead of the usual Duel theme.

Duel Live made use of the original outdoor queue line, often with other actors roaming the wooded area. For the 2008 version, the queue featured gravediggers and werewolves creeping up on the guests, though in 2009 this was reduced to one actor in a hooded robe. Guests waited at the door instead of walking straight in, before being greeted by either a maid or a butler (the performers alternated during the 2009 version, but in 2008 only the butler featured) and given a brief talk about what was inside. The TV screens in the Drawing Room were covered with cloth and muted, and the original music turned up; the room being similar to what it was in the original Haunted House.

In 2008 Scarefest, Duel ran as normal during the morning and afternoon, before switching over to Duel Live after 3:00PM. It featured approximately four live actors on ride. The format changed for 2009 in which Duel Live ran all day, with about eight different actors on ride. In 2010 the attraction was renamed "Skelvin's Haunted Adventure", now based around the park's Halloween mascots. In subsequent Halloween events Duel has operated as normal.

The Haunted House (1992 - 2002)

Development

The original ride was designed by John Wardley, Sparks Creative Services and Rex Studios. Wardley decided to start the project in order to expand the area behind the Gardens, which would later lead to the new Forbidden Valley area. This new themed land was originally planned as a haunted swamp, but this was changed to the 'Gloomy Woods' area seen today. The new dark ride opened in 1992 and gained much publicity, staying as one of Alton Towers' major rides for many years.[1] The transit system used to take riders through the 'house' was built by MACK Rides; it was specifically designed to allow a high throughput whilst leaving the cars to travel the ride separately, and at varying speeds in different areas to allow the effects to best surprise visitors. Ride experience Queueline

Guests queue outside the house in a wooded area. Eerie music plays, and many tombstones with often humorous or morbid inscriptions can be seen by the side of the path. The queue heads to the far back of the wooded area, until going through a small tower and coming back out into the Gloomy Wood plaza. At this point the path crosses an access route that leads to an out-of-bounds storage ground, which is blocked by large gates. It then runs parallel to the side of the house, passing blackened windows, before going up the steps and through the front door.

Entrance Hall, Drawing Room and Station

Once inside the house, riders enter the Entrance Hall where they are greeted by disturbing portraits hung on the walls and flickering chandeliers on the ceiling. A slow, menacing tune plays, accompanying the many cobweb-covered antiques that can be seen. Also in this area is a hidden aroma machine that emits a distinct smell to build atmosphere.

After this the queue enters the Drawing Room, a scene decorated with more portraits and featuring many theatrical effects. The lighting is dim and a haunting, music box-like tune plays throughout the scene, and the entire room is slanted at a steep angle. The tiny ghost of a girl is seen playing inside the rooms of an open dolls house, accompanied with the sound of the girl humming along to the spooky music. To the left is a fireplace, with flames from which a ghostly talking head that appears and speaks to the riders. Other effects include: a severed hand in a bell jar that intermittently twitches, using a hidden air pressure mechanism; a book of which has pages that turn themselves; and rocking horse that rocks itself; the eyes of people depicted in some of the portraits that follow you around the room. Once in the station, riders boarded one of the ride vehicles, which moved continuously through the station close to one another, in order to rapidly speed up the throughput. The station features flickering lamps, sinister stone busts and yet more portraits. Poltergeist Room

Riders slowly leave the station and enter a dim area where a portcullis is seen from above, with a skull stuck on a spike. The cars then fully separate from each other and speed up, before turning a corner into the Poltergeist Room. Shattered stone walls move with light flashing between the cracks, accompanied with thunder sound effects.[2]

Grand Hall

Riders turn again into the Grand Hall, where set before them is an inanimate stone bust lit from above and looking like it is bleeding. The car passes a dusty table with rotting food and rats in glasses, with chairs and chandeliers that dance and move by themselves. Around the room are many ornaments and highly detailed wall decoration. The car heads between two pillars, when a large demon flies overhead from the left. Closed doors are briefly seen in front of the vehicle, until it swerves out the way and towards another demon that emerges from darkness, holding a large rat and knife.[3][4]

The Grand Hall uses sets of mirrors to create the illusion that the room is a never-ending corridor. The mirrors also hide the first demon before it is ready to animate, making it seem to materialise out of an apparently empty space. When the Haunted House first opened, this scene lacked the moving dining table effect and extensive decoration that can still be seen today. These features were in fact added several months after the ride's opening, after the room was deemed too bare. The added furniture blocks most views of the mirrors, which make the never-ending room illusion less effective or noticeable.[5]

The bust that is seen at the entrance to the Grand Hall was originally a simple static prop. This was changed at some point to an animatronic, which is lit by a directional strobe light as it jerks out towards riders as the car enters the room, and remains this way today.[6] Furthermore, the second demon originally offered riders some tea, holding a cup in its right hand. However, this was later altered so that it instead had a giant rat on a plate and held a knife in its left hand.[4] Crash Column and Trommel

Then a turn into the Crash Column scene, where UV artwork covers the walls, featuring windows and archways that lead into the distance. This effect was lit with heavy UV lighting to illuminate the image and give the impression it was real. Then riders are at first tricked into thinking they will crash into the narrow exit ahead, before a column blocking the path swings out of the way at the last moment. The sound of crumbling and crashing brickwork is heard before the car leaves the scene.

At some point during the ride's history, the Crash Column effect was removed because it suffered from electrical faults and could be touched from the car. Along with this, most of the UV artwork was removed from the walls or simply painted over with black. The disjointed remains of this scene are still visible today when riding Duel.[7][8] The audio schedule for the Haunted House notes that this scene was meant to have no music, so that the only sound heard was the collapsing stonework. No music was ever played here because additional speakers were not installed, even after the Duel retheme. However, this was fixed in 2010 as the Duel theme music now plays, albeit quite loudly.

Then the pace changes, while the car passes more stone walls adorned with flickering torches, with the top of the walls appearing to topple over. Often referred to as Trommel's Tunnel or the Tunnel of Doom, this scene presents riders with a massive beast-like creature with red, spinning eyes and a gaping mouth. The car goes through the mouth and into a revolving tunnel, disorientating riders and giving them the illusion that they are turning upside down.[9] Giant's Lair

After exiting the tunnel, bats are seen flying overhead. This effect is achieved using prop bats fixed to spinning mechanisms and lit by misc-shaped strobe lights with UV filters. The stonework architecture and heavy UV lighting continues as the car enters the Giant's Lair. Enormous fingers appear through a set of shattered windows on the left, moving as if trying to grab the car. A second set of the giant fingers crash through more windows on the right. After another turn, riders meet the owner of the fingers when the head of a giant is seen staring at them from behind a large, gothic window that has been smashed.

It was decided in June 1992, only several months after the ride opened, that all references to the giant should be removed due to the effect not being comprehensible to some guests. The fingers were redressed to look like monsters with large teeth based on the Pillar Demon's design, by fixing masks to the props, and hissing sound effects were added.[10][11] The smashed window where the giant's head was previously located stayed empty until the ride's retheme at the end of 2002.[12]

Hall of Spiders

The next scene acts as the climax to the ride, as cars turn corners into further darkness until very large spiders are seen hanging in the distance. Jellyfish-like ghouls shoot up, lit by strobes. Then, a low voice is heard shouting "Are you scared of spiders?", before an enormous, imposing spider comes into view. The car travels straight underneath the spider, as it lowers its head vigorously towards riders below hissing twice. UV paintwork archways cover the walls lit with black lighting, along with large columns decorating the scene at each turn.

The giant spider effect suffered from technical issues during the ride's construction, because the mechanism used to suspended the structure flexed under the weight. The problems were resolved by restricting the animatronic's movement to just moving the head up and down and designing a better mechanism. The spiders in this scene were originally painted with strong, blue UV paints. Soon after opening, the effects were repainted with the different colours, so that they did not glow so heavily in the black light. The large UV cobwebs were removed, until they were brought back in June 2014.[13]

Ghost Corridor

The Ghost Corridor makes a change to the previous scenes of stone architecture, adopting the style last seen in the Grand Hall. Peeling wallpaper and broken plaster covers parts of the walls, with flickering lights in the shape of skulls lighting the path. The only effect in this scene is the Flying Ghost, which jumps from a balcony to the right and swoops overhead, travelling down the corridor. It wails childishly before flying into the side, accompanied with a splat sound effect. As the car reaches the spot where the ghost hit, its dizzy remains are seen against the wall.

The Flying Ghost was achieved by using a mechanism similar to a roller coaster, which allowed the ghost prop to run along a track down the length of the corridor, before ducking to the side and entering a small lift hill that was hidden from view. The prop was pulled back to the top of the hill and released again down the track when the next car was detected. Three props were used to allow the effect to reset between each car: one on the track, one at the top of the lift hill and one at the bottom.[14]

Revision/Creation of the Skeleton Corridor

However, this mechanism failed to work properly because the cars and ghosts always fell out of synchronisation. Only one year after the Haunted House opened, the effect was scrapped completely and the scene overhauled into the Skeleton Corridor. The balcony from which the ghost flew and the hidden lift hill remain in place today, although out of view.[14] The new Skeleton Corridor was designed by Barry Lee and Andrew Howarth, who had previously worked on the design and engineering of the ride.[15] The new scene debuted in 1993 and featured many more gags to make up for the lost effect. Most of the new effects worked using animatronics hidden behind a scrim and only became visible once lit by the correct lighting, allowing the ghosts to appear and disappear.

The Skeleton Corridor opens with a skeleton dressed in formal clothes, commonly referred to as Electric Bill, who laughs as he pulls a lever on an old fashioned fuse box. A spark is seen within the box while the lights around the room flash and cut out, and the car turns a corner into darkness. A skeleton lying in a bed appears on the right, screaming as it sits up and turns towards riders. A window to the left flashes with a crack of thunder, catching the attention of another skeleton, seen above the track, who looks up from his newspaper as he sits on a toilet. Then the toilet is heard flushing and a farting sound effect plays. To the left, another skeleton appears with a bomb with a lit fuse, resulting in a loud bang and a flash of light as the car passes. After the explosion, the skeleton on the toilet is seen again in an exploded mess of rubble.[16][17] Screaming Room

Loud wailing noises are heard getting closer, as the cars turn into complete darkness. A ghostly head flies over the car, with a howl following it. An ugly face merged in the wall suddenly screams appears followed by a several flying howling banshees. Riders continue to turn sharp corners through the darkness, as another ugly head appears in the wall followed by another flying head, before leaving the scene. The flying heads operate on arm mechanisms above the track that swing out towards the cars, and like the bats they are lit up by misc-shaped strobe lights with black light filters. Sinister Garden

The car travels outside the house and into a small, walled garden at night. As the music used for Gloomy Wood plays, riders pass foliage and rocks on the right, and a set of cloisters to the left, where a hooded figure is seen standing still. Straight ahead a hearse lies, crashed into a wall, with a wheel still spinning. The undertaker of the hearse stands beside it with his top hat and smart uniform, beckoning with his hand for the riders to come closer. A ghost is seen flying out of the open coffin inside the hearse (using a Pepper's Ghost effect). The car turns through a U-bend and travels on the other side of the rocks, with flickering windows seen on the left. A troll-like monster, with its hands reaching outwards, swings out from a rocky cave on the right before disappearing again. A statue of Death in robes stands to the right, as riders pass under an archway and away from the rest of the garden. More flickering windows are seen on a wall to the house, and a half-broken pillar stands alone in the centre of the area. Suddenly the pillar turns around, revealing a tall, thin demon with long teeth emerging from the other side. A scale model of the house is seen in the distance, to give the effect that the car has gone far out into the gardens. A new piece of faster paced and more dramatic music plays, as cars pick up speed and enter the Finale scene.

The music played throughout the Sinister Garden is the same score used around the exterior of the Haunted House, in the outdoor queueline and in Gloomy Wood.[18]

Swamp/Finale

The cars travel deeper into the garden and into a swamp area, passing large rock-faces and foliage. A face is seen etched into a rocky wall that wails at riders as they pass. One end of a small, collapsed bridge is seen ahead, when a demon with outstreched claws appears from underneath the broken path. Then the car turns another corner towards a creature with a long neck that rises up from rocks. Then, a large stone face is seen, which opens up at a crack down the middle, revealing numerous glowing, green faces underneath. The car quickly passes a wobbling wall and travels through a violently shaking structure, when a branch suddenly falls from above and narrowly misses riders. A two-faced ghoul flies overhead (similar to the effects seen in the Screaming Room). When the ride nears its end, riders weave around various tombstones and rockwork, until the car slows down and bunches together with the others in front, ready to enter the offload station. In this area, two large, open-mouthed, stone gargoyles are seen on one of the walls to the house on the right, accompanied with flickering windows. From the mouth of the furthest gargoyle, a large, fanged creature lurches out down towards the car, creating a dramatic end to the ride. The cars enter the offload station and riders exit their vehicles.

The bridge monster in this scene started to cause problems shortly after opening, since the weight of the prop strained the mechanism used to operate the effect. The monster was therefore reprogrammed so that it simply tilted forward, as opposed to rising up from a horizontal position, and moved to the end of the Screaming Room where it still operates today in Duel. A new effect was installed in the monster's former position, consisting of a witch that stuck her head through a crack in a wall and screamed. The long-necked swamp monster was also failing to operate properly and was scrapped shortly after opening.

Sometime during the mid 90s, the splitting face effect from this scene completely changed its appearance. The green faces inside the face were replaced by a large fleshy, bloody skull with human-like eyeballs. A tongue with teeth at the tip that moved forward out of the skull's mouth was also added in the change. The exterior part of the face was repainted in skin tone colours and had eyeholes and a mouth cut out, so that the eyes and tongue inside could be seen before it split open, meaning that the effect now gave the impression that it was the face's skin being torn open to reveal the skull beneath.[19]

The gargoyle monster was also changed at some point, after the original prop was too heavy for the mechanism. A new, lighter prop was therefore installed, this time depicting a dragon with the severed head of the Undertaker, earlier seen in the Sinister Garden, in its mouth. However, this prop also put the mechanism under pressure, resulting in the effect being completely removed in the Duel retheme.[20]

The bridge monster that was briefely positioned in the Swamp was commonly nicknamed "Tigger" by Alton Towers staff because of its similar appearance to the A. A. Milne character of the same name. The two-faced head that flies over the car was named "Rod Stewart" because of its wild, red hair.[21] Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back! (2003 - present) Refurbishment

By 2002, the Haunted House's visitor numbers had dropped and many effects had since ceased operation or become unreliable. It was decided that a re-theme was needed to promote the ride and keep it fresh in visitor's minds. After the success of Tomb Blaster, a similar dark ride at Chessington World of Adventures, Alton Towers settled on the idea of adding laser guns to the ride to increase popularity. Towards the end of the 2002 season, a poster was placed outside the Haunted House, advertising the new name and opening date, along with the slogan: "Whatever you do, don't miss! Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back".[22]

A loose pre-show video was added to create a back story for the new ride. The video starts with a mock news report on the disappearance of "Dr Nicholas Roodyn", a genetic surgeon who supposedly lived in the house and experimented on the dead. This then changes to a video depicting zombies emerging from a cemetery and walking into the house, in the style of Michael Jackson's music video Thriller. A new theme tune was composed by David Buckley, to be played on a loop throughout the ride, replacing the eight different pieces composed for the Haunted House by Graham Smart. The new music is more upbeat than the previous themes, consisting of instruments such as electric guitars, harps and synthesized sound effects, intended to encourage the riders to fight back. The riders also hears two different mixes as they go round the ride, depending on the scene.

Changes to the ride included the removal of many effects from the Skeleton Corridor scene and the overhaul of the finale. The Swamp scene was almost totally scraped for the new zombie ending. Furthermore, the ghostly paintings displayed in the Entrance Hall and Drawing Room were all replaced with new versions. This was due to copyright issues involving the artists who originally painted them, as they had been used without permission. The replacement pictures were created by partly altering and painting over the features of existing images that were bought at an online ghost prop shop.

The refurbished ride opened at the start of the 2003 season, described as "new". Duel received little promotional attention, with the only advertisement being on the park's website. Ride experience

Entrance Hall, Drawing Room and Station

The Entrance Hall remains mostly untouched since the Haunted House's closure, with the only changes being the replacement portraits. However, several props such as a tea set and a set of velvet curtains had to be removed after they were vandalised. In the Drawing Room, the pre-show and insturctional video is presented on a loop to riders through several television screens set into the wall, in spaces previously occupied by the moving eye portrait effects. Few original effects remain operating in the Drawing Room, many had to be removed after their mechanisms stopped working and were not repaired. Riders pass the haunted doll's house, still in working condition and a projected fire flickering in the fireplace. The rocking horse can still be seen rocking itself to the left, before riders enter the station and board their ride vehicle. Recent refurbishments of the ride saw the re-installation of both the severed hand in the jar and the witchcraft book. More recently, the singing of Emily Alton was restored.

The original music for the Drawing Room scene was restored in around 2008 after being removed during the Duel retheme. At around 2010 the Entrance Hall music was also restored. Poltergeist Room

The Poltergeist Room remains the same, with the exception of the sound effects and red lights for the skull portcullis section. Riders pass the cracking walls as their blasters turn on, before turning into the Grand Hall. Grand Hall

The Grand Hall begins with a jump scare, as the now painted white stone bust seen ahead suddenly jumps forward, lit by a strobe light in a can. The car quickly turns to the right, past the haunted dining table, and travels between two columns. From the left, the demon flies out, accompanied with the sound of deep evil laughter. The car sways to the right as the second horned demon swings towards the car, accompanied by a loud creaking sound effect.

Both demons were repainted during the Duel retheme and now feature greener skin, whiter horns and yellow eyes in order to fit John Wardley's 'spooky but friendly' rule. In addition to this, the stock sound effects mentioned above were added to replace the demons' previous audio. Crash Column and Trommel

Riders then turn into the Crash Column scene, of which only the archway and a section of UV painted scenery on the wall remain, before heading into the Tunnel of Doom. The car turns a U-bend, passing flambaux hanging against the stone walls, until the demonic entrance to the tunnel comes into view. Suddenly a short blood-soaked zombie with no legs comes out of nowhere and screams through a gap between the tunnel and the wall to the right, before riders travel into the revolving tunnel itself. At the end of the tunnel, situated against a wall to the left in a small area previously unused, the splitting face appears and opens up, illuminated by a red non-flashing light as it does so.

The splitting face effect was saved from being scrapped, and relocated to the Tunnel of Doom from its previous location in the Swamp scene. This was done in order to make way for the new zombie cellar. Unfortunately in this location it is visible from within the Tunnel, and lessens the disorienting effect of the rotating walls by giving riders a fixed point of reference. The outer prop was repainted in blue, UV colours whilst the inner skull was painted with more vibrant pinks as well as oranges.

Bats and Window Zombies

Since the original giant sequence was scrapped shortly after the Haunted House's opening, little consistency in this scene remains. The theming and stonework decoration was unchanged during the Duel retheme, but the monsters in the windows replacing the giant and fingers, were replaced by zombies and ghosts.

Riders turn to the left under archways as bats flutter overhead, before coming out into the UV-lit, stone walled corridor. A window is seen ahead, before two formally dressed finger zombies hiss and lean out of the smashed glass. The cars quickly turn right where four more windows are seen, with three colourful finger zombies leaning forward, accompanied with a hissing sound effect. The cars turn behind a wall and pass the large three-arch window, now with glass intact (previously the location of the giant's head effect). Three smartly-dressed apparitions suddenly appear out of nowhere behind the frosted glass in front of the ambiguously stormy back drop and sway from side to side, accompanied by a rumbling thunder clap. Suddenly a zombie with a grossly deformed face with holes in him and glowing eyes appears groaning to the right in another, smaller, smashed window lit by a currently purple LED Strobe.

Hall of Spiders

The car turns a corner into darkness, weaving around heavily lit UV columns and archways. A blood-soaked zombie with a stripey T-shirt and no legs swings out from the right, accompanied by an evil laughter sound effect and a blue-filtered LED strobe light, before disappearing again. This is followed by another zombie with a torn open shirt that swings out from the left, accompanied with again a green-gelled strobe light and a long, eerie scream. Meanwhile, the voice shouting "Are you scared of spiders?" (now played on a loop) gets louder. The car turns a corner when several large wobbling spiders and lots of cob webs come into view and the scene builds to a climax. As the pace slows to a crawl and as the banshees in the screaming room become more audible, a blood-soaked zombie is swung out on a frame from the right using the same scream used for the tunnel of doom zombie, followed by a low moaning zombie on the left both lit by bright coloured LED strobe lights. Whilst this happens and as the Skeleton Corridor variant of the Duel music gets louder, the infamous Giant Spider lowers its head at the riders accompanied with a low level green misc strobe and a loud hissing sound effect that is audible from all over the Hall of Spiders, the Giant's Lair remains and the Skeleton Corridor.

Corridor

The majority of the Skeleton Corridor was scrapped during the Duel retheme, meaning only few effects and little decoration remain. Since all the skull lamps and lighting effects were removed, most of the scene is now carried out in pitch black, except for the lighting on individual effects.

The pace then quickens and the carriages pass Electric Bill to their right (now wearing a black hooded robe) and as he would do in the Haunted House, pulls the lever causing a flash inside the fuse box as the music gets really loud at this bit. This cuts out the lights in his area but not the whole corridor. Riders then pass a bed with a skeleton in it on the right which is illuminated when Bill messes with the switch. Another skeleton appears in an upright coffin before a female vampire appears on the left (replacing the skeleton with the bomb), that sometimes holds a cross in her arms or has contorted arms. This effect uses the same cackling sound effect previously used for the Garden Witch in the old Haunted House. The destroyed toilet and rubble can still be seen on the right before leaving the scene.

Screaming Room

The car turns to the right and then far to the left, as exactly the same effects as when it was the Haunted House with the screaming heads that fly around or are merged in the walls. Then two more heads appear screaming, then wailing ahead of riders, before the horned demon is seen leaning forward lit by an LED UV strobe; the car dodges them and turns into the Sinister Garden.

Sinister Garden

The pace slows down as the car enters the Sinister Garden. The monk, previously a static prop, can be seen moving from left to right in the cloister. Ahead the crashed hearse can be seen, with its wheel still spinning, as the undertaker laughs and beckons to riders. The car turns back on itself and passes a small cave, from which the Lunatic jumps from, lit by a green-filtered light and cackling incessantly. After passing the statue of Death with two notable LEDs in his eyes, riders pass under an archway and towards a pillar, that suddenly swings around to reveal the screaming Pillar Demon on the other side, lit up by a red strobe. The music changes again as the pace then quickens, as riders head between two large industrial doors and into the new Zombie Laboratory scene.

During Scarefest, a blue-faced, larger-than-life doll may appear to the right after the column and attempt to attack the car with a spade accompanied by a 'thud' sound effect.

Zombie Laboratory

The Swamp scene was demolished during the Duel retheme to make way for a new, zombie-based finale. The scene had previously been fairly open, with the car passing large rock faces and foliage. However, the new scene included the addition of tall, themed walls on either side of the track, since the scene was set in a laboratory. New effects included several zombies, similar to those added to previous scenes in the ride, and several laser light effects.

The car travels towards a set of leaking chemical drums and crates placed against the wall, when a zombie lit by a red-filtered strobe rises up from an open barrel and screams. UV and gelled lighting is seen here as the car turns left past a large wall on the right, from which another appears in a high window and laughs. On the left, a zombie in front of a now moving white sheet with a grossly melted face is seen through a hatch in the wall, lit to look like it is in a "furnace". Above the car, zombies stand on gantries, firing lasers at riders below. A vault opens up to the left to reveal a similar looking zombie with a melted face inside, using the same scream previously heard on the final window zombie, lit brightly from behind. The car sways to the right as another laughing zombie rises up from a barrel lit up by an orange LED strobe, before turning left behind a wall. Rusted pipes and a smoking barrel decorate the area, when a large half-skull, half-demon creature rises up from behind a smashed window, scaring riders for the photo point. The same scream used for the Tunnel of Doom zombie and the second to last Hall of Spiders zombie accompanies this effect. The car turns a corner, past another armed zombie firing from a platform above, when the station comes into view. As the car slows down, riders pass a large open-mouthed gargoyle to the right, from which the dragon effect would previously appear; the only remains of the Swamp scene. Riders' guns automatically switch off while the car enters the offload station, and the ride ends.

Scarefest

Duel: Live!

For the 2008 and 2009 annual Halloween 'Scarefest' events held at Alton Towers, the ride became host to "Duel: Live!" This attraction featured live actors situated in different scenes around the ride, to scare riders while in their cars. The laser guns and all the LEDs were switched off, so that riders were not distracted by the shooting and focused on the ride. The music was replaced throughout the ride, with a different, more atmospheric piece used instead of the usual Duel theme.

Duel Live made use of the original outdoor queue line, often with other actors roaming the wooded area. For the 2008 version, the queue featured gravediggers and werewolves creeping up on the guests, though in 2009 this was reduced to one actor in a hooded robe. Guests waited at the door instead of walking straight in, before being greeted by either a maid or a butler (the performers alternated during the 2009 version, but in 2008 only the butler featured) and given a brief talk about what was inside and why the guns were switched off. The TV screens in the Drawing Room were covered with cloth and muted, and the original spooky music turned up; the room being similar to what it was in the original Haunted House. During the 2008 event, the maid jumped out at guests as they entered the Drawing Room.

In preparation for when the attraction when it was introduced in 2008, much of the lighting and many effects were reprogrammed or repaired for the first time in many years. Notably in the Trommel's Tunnel scene, where the reflective eyes of the tunnel entrance were completely cleaned. Work was undertaken in the evenings in the run up to the 2008 Scarefest event over the period of a week. However, sound and hydraulic effect systems were left untouched by the team during this, excluding the soundtrack which was altered for the event. The vampire effect was also switched off in the Skeleton Corridor.

In 2008 Scarefest, Duel ran as normal during the morning and afternoon, before switching over to Duel Live after 3:00PM. It featured approximately four live actors on ride. The format changed for 2009 in which Duel Live ran all day, with about eight different actors on ride. Skelvin's Haunted Adventure

When Alton Towers released details for the 2010 Scarefest event which took place that July, it was notable that Duel Live was absent from the attractions line-up.[23] Instead, the attraction was renamed "Skelvin's Haunted Adventure" for the 2010 event, and it was based around the park's Halloween mascots, particularly the character 'Skelvin'.[24]

External links

• Duel at the official Alton Towers website
• Haunted House history, research and archive detail at Hauntedone.co.uk