This month the screams coming from South Broad Street are not those of the bland Halloween hay ride or haunted house.
During the month of October, the Wachovia Spectrum is hosting the Nightmares X-treme Scream Park, a 90-minute haunted maze filled with snakes, scares and former NFL linemen.
Philadelphia resident Blake Miller had her share of screams and white knuckles after her visit to the Spectrum.
"You go into those things thinking you're not going to be scared, and then you go through it, and now you have a heart condition at 29," Miller said.
A centerpiece of the maze is a freezer turned jail, in which strobe lights and hockey masked ghouls climb fences around their terrified guests.
This is where former NFL lineman Bill Duff -- fresh off of the set of Invincible on Franklin Field -- uses his size to scare.
"I would say that a majority of our scares are high-school or college scares," Duff said.
He also said that while the maze was for all ages, it was not a show for the faint of heart.
"We've had some unscheduled bodily releases in the freezer," Duff said.
College of General Studies student and Spectrum spokesman Lee Lobue has also been through the maze and has seen college kids lose their cool.
"There were guys 20 to 25 years old who were screaming and running," Lobue said.
He said guys had come up to him after being through the maze and said, "I have claw marks on my shoulders from the people behind me."
Although the maze promises many scares, Lobue said that all would come away from the event with a laugh.
"It's one of those things where you scream, and then you laugh," Lobue said.
In addition to a NFL lineman, former TV star Butch Patrick -- known best for his role as little Eddie Munster on the classic horror TV show The Munsters -- plays a part in the maze.
He said that while most Halloween events can be short scares, this maze is worth a trip down Broad Street.
"Mostly hay rides and haunted houses are twenty minutes and a couple of people jump out at you, and it's over with," Patrick said, "This is an event."
The show returns for its second year and this year it boasts a larger cast and a bigger production.
"They've added a couple more attractions this year, and they just made it bigger," Lobue said.
Fright fest - What: A massive indoor haunted maze, featuring a former Munsters cast member and a Halloween version of Ben Franklin - Where: Wachovia Spectrum3601 S. Broad St. - When: Every night until Halloween, except Oct. 24
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