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pt 3: Midnight Forest by Omar Najam

Writer's picture: 13days13shorts13days13shorts

Updated: Oct 24, 2024

In which guests travel into the heart of the dark forest in the Penumbra Carriage to protect the sole source of light from shadowthings.


Hello all, 


This year I’ll be, over the span of the next thirteen days, describing a Halloween-themed amusement park that I got to develop with Surena Marie, for fun, specifically for 13 Days.

As a big old imagineering nerd, this is a dream project and I’m so excited to share it with you all. Please excuse the shoddy sketches that accompany the overly written descriptions.


Enjoy.



a dark scary forest

Image by Dorothe from Pixabay


Warm amber skies turn dark and moody as guests pass the lush apple orchards and cross into a thick forest. Spindly branches loom overhead with Spanish moss swaying back and forth in the light breeze.


The soundscape changes from chittering robins to hooting owls. And the path transforms from a slightly spongy leaf bed to hard packed dirt. 


It’s dark now, for the forest itself holds midnight. The essence of shadows. But like all things in Pumpkin Park, it’s not all here to frighten you, as guests will soon learn. Lanterns sparsely illuminate the pathways, bringing attention to little shops run by the finest nocturnal retailers. A centipede offers carved out gourds with flickering candles inside. Guests can have their clothes decorated with iridescent paint at a booth run by a friendly skunk and opossum couple. And there’s even snacks for guests to enjoy, such as rice wrapped in banana leaves and scones adorned with plum jam.


But the true draw of the Midnight Forest is the Penumbra Carriage Ride attraction. Guests are approached by a tall Nightjar, tasked with a delivery mission, if they are willing to lend their services. With general notes jotted down on a scrap of brown paper, guests make their way to the rickety carriage where they learn the nature of their assignment: transport a lantern through the pitch black of the deep forest. Upon delivering it to the residence at the far edge of town, they will be greatly rewarded. 


That said, this will be no easy stroll through the woods. For the night hides the most fearsome creatures of all: shadowthings.  As the wheels of the carriage begin to turn, eyes peer out from the trees, red blinking eyes watching guests move through. The coachmen informs guests that according to legend, shadowthings hate the light, it pains them, so keep a weary gaze for anything moving out there in the thick. 


Over creeks and past fallen logs, everything will seem to be going well until suddenly THUMP! something lands on the canvas roof. A shadowthing! The coachman doubles the pace, making the carriage jostle down the precarious pathway! Veering left and right, the coachman tries to dodge the creatures, which guests can make out just so as the lantern swings about, illuminating the shadows against the trees they’re racing past. 


Swerving around tree stumps and boulders, dodging low hanging branches and swooping birds, the carriage does everything to speed along, protecting the precious lamp when suddenly— EEEEERRRRR a wide turn sends the lantern flying into the patch just beyond the carriage. The coachman exclaims, the shadowthings have the lantern! Guests watch as something picks up the lantern, its flickering flame glinting in the eyes of the beast. 


But it doesn’t extinguish the lantern. It doesn’t consume the candle or yelp in anger. Instead it tosses it to another creature, who waves it around before tossing it to yet another creature, who dances and plays with it, until they trot over and hand the lantern back to the coachman. 


It is now that everyone realizes that the legends had it all wrong. Shadowthings don’t hate the light, they need the light, they are just as enchanted by it as we are of the dark. And if we are to play with our frightful fancies, the shadowthings are allowed to do the same. 


The carriage continues, now at a leisurely pace as the shadowthings keep up pace by the side of the vehicle, ensuring the safety of the guests, making little barking sounds at any of the personal lanterns guests might have purchased from the centipede shopkeep. Above, the tree canopy parts, allowing shimmering moonlight to illuminate the floor. The forest is filled with silhouettes, off of which happily welcome the guests on their journey. 


Finally, the lantern is delivered and the coachman thanks the guests for their help. Now dropped off on the other side of the park, guests will find that all the pathways are fully lit with so many lanterns. And underneath them, shadowthings play with the shadows cast by guests crossing by the light. 


A reminder that just because something is scary doesn’t mean it is of ill intent. Sometimes things are just misunderstood. 


Stay as long as you’d like here in the Midnight Forest. Again, time is different in the park. It lingers. It hangs in the air. But whenever you’re ready, we can make our way to the next stop. For the sun is rising in the distance, just on the horizon, and at that horizon is a desert. 


Filled with bones. 


And the wildest wild west adventure you’re ever going to have. 

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3 commenti


durham42
22 ott 2024

Another wonderful offering that draws one into the forest so deftly. And the message it conveys, that we always seem to think we know what others are like and what they like and want and need. We are so often wrong in our judgments ((I do not even feel that I know myself all that well, much less others!).

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Kelsey Thomas
Kelsey Thomas
22 ott 2024

This really hit home for me today. I am, in fact, a shadowthing and often misunderstand myself - I sometimes forget how much I need the light and to delight in the frightful fancies that bring me joy, even though living in the shadows is my natural state of being. <3 I love this journey so much.

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hil hoover
hil hoover
22 ott 2024

Okay, aside from the lovely message - which IS lovely! - the action of this chapter is beautiful! So many amazing verbs at play here! SWOOPING and SWERVING and BARKING and DANCING! There's so much movement here! I love how it flows and moves and shifts, it feels quite shadow-y indeed. And I absolutely adore the detail of mentioning the change in texture of the path, it made me want someone to read this to me before I go to sleep so that I can dream of walking there.

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