‘Fangtastic’ support for County’s new hospital from Waring Haunted Hotel

At the presentation of a ‘spooktacular’ donation to the hospital from the Waring House, from left, were: Shannon Coull, executive director of the PECMH Foundation; Briar Boyce, senior development officer with the PECMH Foundation; Norah Rogers, innkeeper at the Waring House and Krista Tevlin, haunted hotel coordinator. – Judy Sanders photo

For staff at the Waring House Restaurant and Inn, getting into the Halloween spirit was about much more than just the scares this year.

Staff transformed the Inn into a haunted hotel Halloween walk-through during the weekends leading up to and including Halloween. More than 600 people – young and not-so-young walking through helped raise $1,250 in donations for the hospital as the tours were free of charge.

Innkeeper Norah Rogers, notorious for her penchant for Halloween décor, and sidekick Krista Tevlin teamed up this year to present a COVID-19 safe, family-friendly haunted inn experience.

“We were so pleased to see the wonderful response,” said Tevlin. “Norah and I spent countless hours get the inn ready for our favourite seasonal celebrations.”

Tevlin produced and staffed the second floor hotel haunting tour, which included The Witches Coven, The Asylum, the Bridal Suite, Creepy CarnEvil and The Cemetery. While awaiting their turn to tour, families and individuals were thrilled by the animitronics and spooky decorations positioned throughout the inn’s pub and dining rooms.

“It was such a great turnout for our annual haunting, with attendance up significantly from previous years,” said innkeeper, Norah Rogers. A medical doctor by profession Rogers attributed this year’s success in part to local concerns for COVID safety of children, and acknowledgement of the Waring House having been awarded the Safe Travels certification initiated by the World Travel & Tourism Council, for having adopted health and hygiene global standardized protocols.

“It’s heartening to know that our community feels safe while visiting with us,” Rogers said. “We have invested heavily in state-of-the-art electrostatic sanitation sprayers, UV lighting for air systems, PPE for staff and have quite rigid COVID protocols in place for everyone’s protection.”

“Ensuring the spirit of Halloween wasn’t diminished under the cloud of the pandemic was a challenge for everyone,” said Shannon Coull, executive director of the PECMH Foundation. “PECMHF sincerely thanks Chris and Norah Rogers, the staff at the Waring House and everyone who walked through the hotel and gave a donation to help build a healthy future for residents of and visitors to Prince Edward County. We are blessed to live in this generous community which is ensuring a new hospital will be built and equipped with the best medical equipment possible for years to come.”