There’s nothing more true to the spirit of Halloween than putting on a good show. The day is inherently theatrical, the pageantry and the costumes mixed with the seasons shifting around us create the perfect backdrop for freak flags to be flown and creativity to run rampant down leaf-strewn streets. For the residents of New Orleans, however, sometimes the best times are born from the worst tragedies and gain all the more power for it. From the true-life horrors of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, one family in Algiers Point decided to make something new from the wreckage, to put on a free Halloween show for their neighbors, a Samhain Sanctuary bulwarked against the rising tide of tragedy. From this modest yet successful haunt, an annual tradition arose, handcrafted from spare 2x2s and plastic tarps by the combined ingenuity of a couple of married Halloween devotees into something quite special.
This is Bernie Baxter’s Traveling Sideshow.
Jonathan and Crystal Bailey loved Halloween before they ever met. Though the pair had always fostered an affection for Haunted Houses, the opportunity to make one of their own never quite came around. But during the Post-Katrina Halloween, the couple got to work making something of their own, a fright-filled respite for a community in need of a spooky good time.
“I always had the aspirations of doing a haunt,” said Jonathan. “That year, we decided to build something for the kids and got around 400 people to come by. Our porch and front yard weren’t very large, but we saw the potential.”
Moving soon after to a house a bit deeper in Algiers, the Bailey’s had one requirement for their new home; an ample garage, all the better for building their own Traveling Sideshow. Long gone are the tarps and scrap wood. Now, the Bailey’s have graduated to professional haunt standards; four fully themed rooms that are also fire code and ADA compliant. The haunt proper, along with a large yard display that includes a mesmerizing tunnel of rainbow pumpkins, changes yearly but is always centered around being a fun, free time for all.
“We work very hard to make sure that anyone who wants to go through a haunted house can without paying for a ticket or having to drive out somewhere far away,” said Crystal. “It takes over 1000 hours over the course of the year to put everything together but we believe our guests deserve to never see the same show twice.”
The haunt’s decades-long narrative is based around Bernie Baxter, played every year by Jonathan himself, an old-school carnival barker with a penchant for the macabre. This consummate showman brings a new killer or villain from New Orleans history to his Traveling Sideshow each year to the delight of an eager public. While the stories of these characters are fictional, most are based on real-life figures, as New Orleans has more than its fair share of colorful ghouls in its closet. This year, the haunt follows the story of Ivan, a lonely engineer who decided to put his technical know-how to twisted use by building his own family and friends. As guests wander through his workshop, they’ll come face to face with some of his mechanical abominations in a steam-punk horror-land that dares visitors to escape before becoming a new member of Ivan’s collection of clockwork oddities. Through clever use of space and adhering to the “distract and startle” technique, Jonathan and Crystal were able to build the haunt layout tactically, utilizing their four themed rooms for maximized effectiveness and inventive scares.
“We try to keep our scares varied so you won’t see the same one repeated,” said Crystal. “Every year we have kids come through claiming that they know how the haunt will play out. So we work very hard to keep them on their toes by making the most of the space we have.”
Nearing 20 years of providing a symphony of shrieks on cool October nights, Bernie Baxter’s Traveling Sideshow has become not just a community affair but a generational one as well, with parents bringing their own children to the place that terrified them so many years ago. The Bailey’s garage has even evolved into a source of schoolyard legend throughout the community, the finest badge of honor to any home haunt.
“Every year somebody will come up with their Mom or Dad and say ‘This was my first haunted house when I was a kid’ and it’s such a wonderful thing to hear,” said Jonathan. “And the urban legends about the garage are so charming. Some kids will think they know what is coming and say there’s a ‘long way’ and a ‘short way’ through the haunt, only to run screaming from the first room when they realize they have no idea what is in store for them.”
Halloween is, in a lot of ways, the most generous of holidays. Candy is given without anything required in return and nightmares are forged by venturing into the darkened chasms and crypts that were once a friendly neighbor’s home only to return to the waking world somehow more alive. That wonder, that sense of community, is at the bedrock of the season and the Baileys uphold that legacy with aplomb. They will assuredly continue to provide that service for their frightened friends for many Falls to come and Octobers are all the better for it.
“It’s nice to be able to give kids who otherwise might not have much of a Halloween experience something to remember,” said Crystal. “It’s all about having a good time, and the laughter we hear every year is worth every second of work that goes into it.”
Bernie Baxter’s Traveling Sideshow is open and FREE to the public on Oct. 25, 26, and 31 at 44 Vivian Ct., just a short drive from Algiers. Visitors are asked to please not block driveways and remember that they are on a residential street. Visitors without children are recommended to visit on Oct. 25 or 26 as the lines will certainly be shorter than on Halloween Night. For those looking for a less haunted Hallows Eve, the Bailey’s yard display is up for all of October, so feel free to drive by after dusk and witness their skeletal collection of real-life scientists who put the devious Ivan to shame.
To learn more, please visit berniebaxter.com.
See y’all in the moonlight!
