A man whose day job is to scare tourists at London Dungeon has from a phobia of Halloween, which prevents him from working on the most ghoulish day of the year.
Frankie Spires is employed to recreate chilling scenes from history to inform and scare tourists at one of London’s most famous tourist attractions .
However, he suffers from a condition called samhainophobia, which he says makes him feel sick and break out in cold sweats in the run-up to Halloween.
Frankie, who’s happy to recreate gruesome scenes from history throughout the rest of the year, explained: “I think it’s the paranormal aspect of Halloween, the idea of restless spirits entering the waking world that I find disturbing.”
His boss and performance manager at London Dungeon, Richard Quincey, said: “Frankie went pale and visibly trembled when preparing for Halloween. Now the rest of the team realise he is not faking it and are happy to cover for him.”
London Dungeon offers a range of spooky Halloween experiences including Jack’s lair – a ‘mirrored labyrinth’ full of other horrific goings on – and Stingy Jack, the evil mythical character from Irish folklore who will be stalking the ‘hellish’ corridors of the gruesome attraction ready to give visitors a scary surprise.
There’s also three chilling rides for visitors to enjoy; the Vengeance, billed as the ‘UK’s first 5D laser ride’; Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom; and a chilling water ride called ‘Traitor: Boat Ride to Hell’.