Fairgrounds fright: Haunted house veteran takes a stab at Mineshaft Mayhem drive-through event

Who knows what evil lurks beneath the Gold Country Fairgrounds? What creatures may be awakened this Halloween season? What horror may await? (Cue evil Vincent Price laugh.) Curious to take a haunting adventure? Then take a drive through Mineshaft Mayhem – if you dare! (Cue frightening music, moaning ghouls and a howling wolf.) It has taken an "alignment of the planets," he said, but four or five years after initially talking to the fairgrounds, Robert Schaider of Auburn is bringing Mineshaft Mayhem to the Gold Country Fairgrounds for 15 days of Halloween fright and fun, starting Saturday, Oct. 17. Legend has it a mineshaft has been discovered on the grounds, and there's no telling what will be exhumed from its deepest, darkest depths: bones, bodies, maybe even eight-legged terrors of massive proportions. There's also no telling what will appear during the drive-through event that totals from 15-20 minutes. Schaider has been a software engineer for 30-plus years and recently began doing consulting work for Disney Imagineering research and development. In recent years, Schaider was known for his Fright Factory haunted houses at his home in Roseville and later in Carmichael that included considerable high-tech action, including movable rooms. "It's a lot of work, but I enjoy a lot of work. That's my thing. I live to work," Schaider said. "I love to create and see something born. I love to make things into reality that pop into my head." While Schaider and wife Michelle are doing a drive-through haunt for the first time, never before until Halloween 2020 did they have to secure permits, including one from the Health Department. "Never in my life would I have figured we'd have to do that," Robert Schaider said. They are, of course, under strict rules because of the biggest ghoul and goblin of the year: COVID-19. People must stay in their cars, and the actors can't touch people. Actors? Yes, there are actors, and a script. The Schaiders are still seeking actors for roles (visit mineshaftmayhem.com). For customers, a time slot is purchased on the website, vehicles enter the experience and stop at each of four sections while a scene plays out through the vehicle's audio system before moving on to the next section. The story is loosely based on Hawver Cave, discovered by an Auburn dentist in 1906. The premise, Michelle Schaider said, is the fairgrounds tapped into a mineshaft, "but maybe it connects to a vast underground cavern system that connects to gosh-knows-where." Or as Robert Schaider put it, "What did we pull out of that mine? There's more down there than dinosaur bones. What do you think they sealed this place off for?" "Hopefully, we can entertain some Auburn folks, and maybe some folks from outside Auburn," Michelle Schaider said. What can participants expect from the shadows when they creep into the dark of the fairgrounds? Well, two important things to consider: 1. The website notes certain vehicles aren't allowed on the tour, including convertibles. 2. Robert Schaider has been doing this professionally since 1998, including motion simulators, animatronics and other special effects, all controlled by computers. Perhaps there could be water involved, such as a "hydraulic mining exhibit in there that might have something fun happening," he said. While there won't be physical contact between the actors and visitors, the whole show will be broadcast live through an audio system that will be heard on the vehicle's radio, including dialogue from the cast, a soundtrack and sound effects. "That way, you can get the full experience," Robert Schaider said. Prices are $59.99 per car on Monday through Thursday during the event, with bookings from 6 p.m. to 9:30, and $69.99 from Friday through Sunday, also from 6-9:30 p.m.