Moxley Manor Haunted House in Bedford to open for Valentine’s Day

by Alexandria Byrd of North Texas Daily, Corrisa Jackson of North Texas Daily

The cast and crew try to make the visitors feel as though they are on the set of an actual horror movie.

“Blood, Chainsaws and Valentines”— Oh My!

Valentine’s Day cynics and those wanting something unusual to sink their teeth into can visit the Moxley Manor Haunted House. For $12 on Saturday, thrill-seekers can anticipate interactions with actors in costumes throughout the eerie home as if it is an alternate reality.

“Moxley Manor emphasizes the use of our actors to make our show as realistic as it can possibly get,” said Richard Alvarado, owner. “We want our visitors to feel as though they are on the set of an actual horror movie as they enter the Manor.”

Bloody Valentine

This bizarre twist on Valentine’s Day is loosely based off of the 2009 motion picture, My Bloody Valentine. Alvarado said he was inspired to create an event with the same morbid and playful theme from the movie. The actors did not want to wait for Halloween to get into character, he said.

“Some people aren’t too keen on Valentine’s Day,” Alvarado said. “So we offer this as kind of an alternative.”

Alvarado described the “Blood, Chainsaws and Valentines” event as a “love scene gone wrong.” There are a few haunted houses across the U.S. that have done a “Bloody Valentines” event, he said.

“I didn’t want to go that route,” he said. “Obviously there will be blood, a few chainsaws throughout Moxley Manor, and this is our original twist on a Valentine’s Haunted House.”

About Moxley

Alvarado said the idea for the story behind Moxley Manor came from an East Texas mystery about a nurse named Lillian Marshall. According to the legend, Marshall was mysteriously surrounded by the Knox family deaths, according to the event’s website.

Donald Harvey, the general manager and a UNT alumnus, said his interest in working for the haunted house came from his love of horror movies and his experience with technical theatre.

“You see these people coming out and they’re laughing and screaming –– that’s what I do it for,” he said.

Moxley Manor opened its doors for the first time on Halloween last year, Alvarado said. The money the haunted house receives is donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, he said.

“That’s our main objective, to get you aware of that,” Alvarado said.

Alvarado said the cast and crew try to make the visitors feel as though they are on the set of an actual horror movie.

“We want our guests leaving Moxley Manor with a sense of relief that they made it out in one piece,” he said.