Curse at Alton Manor

The Curse at Alton Manor is a dark ride at the Alton Towers theme park near the village of Alton in Staffordshire, England, opened in 2023. It originally opened in 1992 as The Haunted House. In 2003 it received a reworking as Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back! with the addition of interactive laser shooting and a zombie overlay, before closing in September 2022. The ride reopened in 2023 as The Curse At Alton Manor. There is a minimum height restriction of 0.9 metres. Guests under 1.1 metres must be accompanied by an adult.

Development
After an initial teaser, Duel closed on 6 September 2022 and its replacement was announced as The Curse at Alton Manor the following January. Later details revealed that the ride's new premise would revolve around a character named Emily Alton (played and voiced by Imogen Turner), based on the little Victorian ghost girl that inhabited a dollhouse in the queue area of both the Haunted House and Duel. A main theme of the ride is that her spirit seeks revenge for being left alone and neglected in the house.

As part of the renovation, the laser guns and targets were removed and the ride vehicle capacity restored to six passengers. The attraction officially opened to the public on 18 March 2023.

The Haunted House
The original Haunted House was designed and built by the Sparks Group for developer John Wardley and was the largest haunted attraction in Europe at the time of opening. The bespoke ride transit system was built by MACK Rides and designed to allow a high throughput whilst leaving the cars to travel the ride separately, and at varying speeds in different areas. Opening in 30 March 1992, the Haunted House gained considerable publicity and remained one of Alton Towers' major rides for many years.

Duel – The Haunted House Strikes Back!
By 2002, many of the original scenes had been altered by the park on an ad-hoc basis. The park decided to revamp the attraction through the addition of light guns in the ride vehicles, which allowed guests to interact with the ride's scenes by aiming their guns at infrared targets scattered throughout the ride. Each target hit by a rider would add to their individual score shown on a display in each car. Towards the end of the 2002 season, a poster was placed outside advertising the new name and opening date, announcing: "Whatever you do, don't miss! Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back!".

A new soundtrack composed by David Buckley played on a loop throughout the ride with two different channel halves being placed in different zones, replacing the original eight zoned tracks. Other changes to the ride included replacing many characters with zombies. To make room for the on-board electronics for the laser guns, one seat in the back row of each ride vehicle was removed, reducing the capacity of each ride vehicle from six riders to five. The revamped ride reopened in April 2003.

For the 2008 and 2009 Halloween 'Scarefest' event, the ride opened as "Duel: Live!" featuring several live actors around the ride. Guests waited at the door, before being let in by a maid or a butler. Inside, the laser guns and targets were switched off and the music replaced with a more haunting soundtrack. In 2008, Duel ran as normal during the morning and afternoon before becoming to Duel Live after 3:00PM, but ran all day in 2009. In 2010, the overlay was renamed "Skelvin's Haunted Adventure", themed to the park's Halloween mascot 'Skelvin', and the ride soundtrack was replaced by the Beetlejuice title music.

The Haunted House (1992–2002)
Guests queued past gravestones in a wooded area, before entering through the front doors of the house. The interior queue meandered through themed rooms, depicting a darkly-lit Victorian vestibule and drawing room. These scenes featured a number of illusion, themed aroma and haunting music. The second room was also slanted at an angle to disorientate guests. On the left side of the room was a doll's house which used a Pepper's Ghost illusion to show the ghostly image of a little girl named Emily Alton (who would later become a core focus of The Curse at Alton Manor) and her pet cat called Snowy playing within it.

In the station, riders boarded the ride vehicle. Once beyond the platform, the vehicles accelerated away from one another to take riders into the scenes individually. The first scene took riders past cracking stone walls that appeared possessed. This led to the Grand Hall, which looked seemingly empty before a large demon appeared overhead between two columns. This effect was originally achieved with parallel mirrors and timed lighting. The car then swerves right into a dark corner, where the demon re-appeared offering a teacup (later changed to holding a knife and giant rat).

The car traveled into a stone chamber and towards large skull-shaped effigy into skull's mouth. Inside, a large rotating trommel tunnel gave riders the sensation of turning upside-down. The ride continued into a stone corridor with large Gothic windows either side. Large ghouls lurched from windows towards riders, before the car passed the largest window with a giant staring face.

The next scene took riders weaving past large spiders and webs, beginning with a voice whispering 'Are you scared of spiders?' and past increasingly large spiders, ending with a giant-sized spider suspended overhead. Riders then entered a corridor where a skeleton pulls a lever on a fuse box, turning out the lights. This scene originally featured a large ghost that flew overhead down the corridor. This was removed after its first year and replaced by a new scene featuring skeletons in 1993. In turn most of this scene was also removed in later years. The car then turned through a series of tight bends in the dark, as screaming heads fly overhead using a UV-strobe effect.

Riders then traveled into a sinister garden at night, at which point the car slowed down. A crashed hearse could be seen ahead, with an undertaker gesturing you to come closer and ghosts flying out of an open coffin (using a Pepper's Ghost illusion). Further into the garden, a troll-like ghoul leapt out from rocks on the right. A statue of Death stood at the end of the garden. Behind an archway, a stone column suddenly turns to reveal a tall, thin demon before the cars accelerated onwards. The finale then traveled further into the garden, where riders traveled through a possessed rocky swamp as various monsters, serpentine creatures and ghouls appeared.

Duel – The Haunted House Strikes Back! (2003–2022)
With the exception of the doll's house, many of the effects in the preshow room were removed or altered in the Duel revamp, including the optical moving-eye portraits, to be replaced by TV screens playing a pre-show video. Many features in the ride were changed and targets added to the scenery. Zombies were also added to the trommel, giant windows and spider scenes. The original swamp ending was entirely replaced by an industrial basement where zombies appeared from barrels, windows and overhead walkways.

The Curse at Alton Manor (2023–present)
A large crypt outside the ride which used to showcase a zombie holding a laser gun when it was Duel has been repurposed into a tomb for Emily Alton and the top section of the crypt has been moved to mark the rides entrance sign. Guests queue through the same graveyard in Gloomy Wood used for Duel, but with new theming elements such as new tombstones with epitaphs that reference to previous attractions at the park, old toys such as dolls, stuffed animals, building blocks, and plaques displaying short poems placed around the queue that introduce riders to the story of the ride. Guests enter the manor house now repossessed under mysterious circumstances, where it is up for sale, and that an open house is being hosted. The first room features a real estate listing for the house priced at £1,992,000 (a reference to 1992, the year the Haunted House originally opened).

Moving into the second room, a replica doll's house based on the mansion sits at the centre of the room. An unseen narrator explains that in 1891, the Alton family hosted a lavish party in celebration of New Year's Eve, but at the stroke of midnight, a violent storm ravaged the mansion killing the Altons and all guests in attendance. However, 11 year-old Emily, the only child of Henry and Elizabeth Alton, mysteriously disappeared and remains unaccounted for. Emily's voice is then heard whispering "Let me show you what happened", and the ghostly images of Henry and Elizabeth Alton during the fateful night appear inside of the parlour of the doll's house. Emily enters and begs her father for permission to attend the party. Henry cruelly dismisses Emily to her room in the attic, calling her a "wretched little creature". Emily appears in the attic crying. Angered, she picks up a doll and "snaps" its neck. A now-possessed Emily begins to glow with violet-coloured supernatural energy which spreads to the rest of the doll's house causing her parents and the party guests to vanish. The entire room of the ride now becomes bathed in ultraviolet light and reveals manic scribblings by Emily written all across the walls.

The guests enter the boarding station which is adorned with New Year's party decorations. Guests board the ride vehicles and they turn a corner, passing a painting of Emily and her parents; the latter of whom disappear as Henry can be heard calling his daughter a "wretched little creature". They then approach a stone archway, as purple energy fills it and Emily whispers "This is my house."

The vehicle then enters the dining hall, approaching a stained glass window of the Manor which then smashes with a purple energy. The corpses of the party guests are seen sat at tables and Emily herself appears levitating at the other end of the room in a seemingly endless hallway before vanishing in a flash of light. After guests encounter a demonic figure suddenly appearing above their heads, they then pass by Emily's nursery, as her footprints and handprints are seen all across the walls of the corridor. They then approach a large painting of Emily's parents, and as this happens Emily says "Along the walls, down the hall, way up high, time to die!". As she says this, a purple bolt of lightning flashes across the painting of Emily's parents.

The vehicle then turns a corner and encounters a giant fireplace. Emily's voice can be heard saying "You're mine!" as the riders are dragged into the smoke filled fireplace and pass through a trommel tunnel, with sinister messages scribbled all over the spinning walls and a giant clock face spinning at the end of the tunnel further disorientating guests.

The vehicle turns a corner and enters a dimly lit room with a small figure of Emily who tells the guests "Let's play hide and seek." A demonic shadow rises behind Emily as the guests turn the corner into complete darkness. Emily taunts the guests as she hides around the dark corridors, appearing as a corporeal apparition (achieved using Pepper's Ghost) before disappearing and then being seen hiding around a corner through a window. The guests then encounter a large puppet show with marionette figures of Emily and her parents, which Emily describes as her "perfect family". Suddenly, Emily's giant hand appears reaching for the riders as she shouts "Found you!".

The vehicle then enters the attic, encountering various possessed eyeless dolls. Emily then asks the guests if they're afraid of spiders as her shadow can be seen on the wall transforming into a spider. The guests then encounter more dolls and spiders before coming face to face with Emily, who has transformed into a giant spider which the guests pass underneath. Emily can also be heard singing a creepy rendition of The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

The guests then enter a long corridor of mirrors; guests can see themselves as they pass the mirrors before their reflection disappears. Emily appears in the reflection of the empty ride vehicle, sitting in the front row. Suddenly another doll appears before guests encounter a projection of a demonic skull which screams at the guests. The vehicle then enters complete darkness with spirits passing over the guests' heads and even breathing smoke onto them.

The vehicle then enters the Manor's gardens on a stormy night, where they encounter various voodoo dolls as well as a hearse. Emily can be seen sat on a swing and vanishes as the vehicles pass her. The guests are then shrunk down by Emily and enter her giant doll's house, which is filled with various toys, dolls and Easter eggs for various attractions at the resort in the past and present. Emily frantically searches for the guests as her hand can be seen reaching inside the doll's house and her eye can be seen peering through a window, which turns to a sinister black as she yells "There you are! You're mine!" Guests turn the corner as a giant-sized Emily reaches for the guests and screams (the on-ride photograph is taken here) before the ride then turns around the corner and enters the unloading platform, where guests disembark the vehicles.

Guests exit into the ride's dedicated store "Attic of Antiquities", where guests can purchase their on-ride photos as well as various gifts and souvenirs.