Reporter’s Notebook: Facing -- and conquering -- fear of the dark

There’s not much I’m afraid of when it comes to the Halloween season.

I’m the type of twisted person who thrives on all things demented, gory and frightening. I love horror movies, and I don’t get scared at any of the haunted attractions that I frequent each year. (I mainly go to them because I appreciate the costumes, makeup and props.)

But I hate being isolated in the dark. Therein lies my fear. So when I learned about Sinister Pointe’s new attraction, Fear the Darkness, which opened earlier this month in Brea and requires participants to be in complete darkness as part of the experience, I knew I had to challenge myself.

Perhaps accepting the fear is Step 1.

As soon as I walked into the dark hallway with one of my best friends, Andrew Burnell, who would act as my partner, I clutched his arm so he could help guide me.

Our host joined us in a “safe control room,” which was small and contained only a microphone and television monitors, and told us our duties.

One at a time, Andrew and I would go into the darkness for 10 minutes to recover objects while the other watched the action with the aid of infrared lights and solved puzzles that would offer clues in the search. The information gleaned from the puzzle-solving would be conveyed over the microphone to the person in the dark. Then the roles would be reversed.

From the outset, we had to choose from among these frightening options: clowns, zombies or demonic possession. Despite Andrew, a Christian, informing me that the idea of the devil taking over a body terrified him the most, we went with possession. As a frequent haunt-goer, I thought clowns and zombies were overdone.

Individual rooms were decorated in these themes, and scare actors soon joined in to round out the experience.

Andrew and I had agreed that he would go through the dark room first while I manned the control room. Naively, I thought the control room would be the easier part, but the puzzles proved difficult, and therefore I had a hard time telling Andrew — who was essentially blind — what he should be looking for.

As Andrew navigated through the room, a young actor who looked strikingly similar to Regan from “The Exorcist” vomited in a bed as the devil took over her body. Andrew could only hear the goings-on, but from the control room, I had a full view.

When it was my turn to go through the darkness, things didn’t get any easier for me. I had to put all of my trust in Andrew. I considered this a real test of our friendship.

At least three scare actors were in the room with me. They were yelling so I couldn’t hear Andrew and blocking my path so I couldn’t maneuver around the room as easily as I had planned.

In the darkness, my nerves were shot. I have long been proud of being a tough 5-foot-3 chick, but Sinister Pointe was poking holes in my self image. I succeeded in finding six items, while Andrew retrieved three.

Andrew, who attended Sinister Pointe’s maze attraction last year, said he thought the experience was innovative.

“This was a lot of fun,” said the 27-year-old Garden Grove resident after our time was up. “I liked that it used a lot of puzzle-solving and you had to rely on your partner. It kept you on your toes. I have a fear of the dark. I was really nervous beforehand, but I kept telling myself these were just people in costumes.”

Sinister Pointe has been a growing staple in the Southern California haunt community since 2008, when its first maze, based on the “Saw” film franchise, introduced a new idea: interactivity. Attendees had to stick their hands in mysterious dark holes to open passageways.

Founder Jeff Schiefelbein said the company usually produces mazes each year but wanted to try something different for this holiday season. The Brea location is its first brick-and-mortar site.

“We were just looking at all the new trends, including escape rooms, and thought we could merge a little bit of horror into that,” said the 40-year-old Brea resident. “We knew it wouldn’t cater to everyone, but we knew it would be different enough to attract these haunt-goers who like going to attractions.”

Schiefelbein, who noted that demonic possession is his greatest fear, said Fear the Darkness has been sold out every night since it opened Oct. 8.

He said many participants take the game very seriously and friendships are tested.

“We have had a lot of teams who do escape rooms come in and see this as another challenge,” he said. “They would set up their game plans and come up with their strategies. It’s funny because the whole Halloween aspect is out the window for them. They’re just so focused. The actors don’t bother them. They’re just like, ‘Get out of my way, I’m playing a game.’”

Luckily, the strength of Andrew’s and my friendship survived, although he did say he considered me a “sloppy” partner because my directions were difficult to understand.

On the ride home, we were exhausted from all the mental work and fear that had coursed through us. In the spirit of that tiredness, maybe we’ll try the zombie room next.

IF YOU GO

What: Sinister Pointe’s Fear the Darkness

Where: 797 West Imperial Hwy., Brea

When: Thursdays through Sundays until Nov. 8. Time slots available between 7 and 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 7 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays. Reservations are required.

Cost: $22.50

Infomation: sinisterpointe.comhttps://www.sinisterpointe.com