The Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) speculation game functions as a relatively new activity for me. My interest in HHN has grown over last few years. Before that my interest resided primarily in other aspects of Universal Orlando. However, I edited many HHN themed blogs over the years.
A popular scare zone, I heard about, from HHN 26 became part of conjecture to appear in some form at HHN 2022. The “Dead Man’s Wharf” scare zone from HHN 26 featured a large ship as a prop.
In that very popular scare zone in 2016, the spirits of passed away fishermen lost at sea returned to create a “Dead Man’s Wharf. The backstory for this scare zone involved a fishing vessel in the 1930s leaving this harbor but never returning.
Just like in the HHN 26 scare zone, fog covered the area making the rescue of the fishing boat impossible. According to the backstory for HHN 26, this caused the town to leave this wharf empty as a memorial for those lost souls. Over time, the wharf became known as “Dead Man’s Wharf.” According to reports of HHN veterans, the make-up, costumes, and overall scenery of this past scare zone rated as top notch.
Back in early July, Hallowed Out Horror posted a speculation map listing a rumored original house as “Norwegian Harbor: Shipwreck on Ice” for HHN 2022. This increased speculation that a “cold” themed house would be designed building on ideas of the former “Dead Man’s Wharf” scare zone. I started hearing this potential HHN 2022 house might be a prequel of sorts to the scare zone. Would it involve undead fishermen? Would any of this speculation turn out to be true at all?
I even started hearing rumors of a Halloween Horror Nights house sets being built with a fisherman’s boat house and dock. Some rumblings grew about some water effects within a house. Could the water effect be linked to the idea of ice and colder water like a Norwegian harbor? Would we get a type of snow effect?
Another clue flew out when the “leaked” HHN shirt appeared in many places on internet on July 25th. That “leaked” shirt indicated the title of this rumored house would be “Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake.” Not sure that title helped much. Still, that title fits all the speculation up to this point for this house. Of this “leaked” shirt, this title gave me the most pause on it being accurate.
Will the undead be taking over the town or at least this wharf/dock area? How will that work within the rumored soundstage for this house? How much will this resemble the HHN26 scare zone? Will we get a gross fish smell to go with some water effects? These questions remain to be answered.
Yet, like almost all things, we got an answer. Universal Orlando released info on several original themed houses on August 16th. Then, we learned the official name and basic idea of this house.
Universal Orlando said: “There’s nothing charming about this ghostly New England fishing village. A phantom sea captain is summoning undead fishermen from their watery grave, a grisly crew with rotting, barnacle-encrusted bodies. Guests may have escaped their hooks in the “Dead Man’s Wharf” scare zone in 2016 – now they’d better batten down the hatches before they’re reeled in and drug under in “Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake.”
The rumors sound true for this one. May guest enjoy this house as much as they enjoyed the scare zone of the past. May you enjoy the spooky this year.
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