I bet you’re wondering how I ended up on the 11 o’clock news being legitimately terrified of two kids wearing pig masks. I know I was.
Given a chance to shadow Taylor O’Bier, I got to go, as she would say “on the scene,” to help out with a shoot at Spooky Acres, a long standing haunted house in the area.
However, what started out as a quick run through of a haunted house turned into a much bigger story.
After getting lost a grand total of four times (haunted houses are surprisingly hard to find), the shoot finally started. Getting some quick interviews from costumed workers about the house, Taylor and I could see that there was something more to the house.
But we continued on, getting the shots we came for, getting coverage of a walk through of the house.
Most internships don’t require (or allow, depending on your frame of mind), you to walk through haunted houses, but WAVY isn’t like most internships.
What I assumed would be a run of the mill haunted house, turned into something much more terrifying, and, well, the picture of my face says it all.
But that wasn’t where the story came from. If this haunted house was just a haunted house, scary though it might be, it wouldn’t have ended up on WAVY. And it wouldn’t have ended up on WAVY if Taylor hadn’t pushed harder against that question she had at the beginning of the night.
At this point of the night I got to see an important lesson– stories are always right around the corner if you talk with people.
Not comfortable with leaving the house just yet, Taylor decided to talk with the owner as a reporter and as community member too. Talking casually about the house, the owner opened up and revealed its importance. She shared that it helps the at-risk volunteers stay safe and gives them a “family to rely on”.
This haunted house was doing something newsworthy. And we found it out by talking with people, by being “on her side.”
Although, it was cool to go through the haunted house, and to see my face on the news, the cooler thing was seeing how connected to the community WAVY can be.
