Ciemnia - a real horror experience in Łódź

Discussion in 'Pointless Fun' started by Bamul, Jun 21, 2016.

  1. Bamul

    Bamul S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
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    During my recent holiday in Poland, on which I took a British friend for the first time, we went to visit a long-time acquaintance of mine who currently lives in Łódź - a large city in central Poland. He came across an interesting idea to take us to this apparently really scary place. We agreed, even though we barely knew anything about it, but that was kind of the point. Now, it's hard to explain what really goes on down there, but if you feel you ever want to shit your pants in an obscure Eastern European place of pure horror and will ever visit Łódź, you might wanna stop reading now as I'm gonna spoil it a bit (however, I would hazard a guess that most of you won't ever go to Łódź, and if that's the case then keep on reading for a hopefully interesting story). :p

    The place is called Ciemnia (pronounced a bit like Tyemnya, I guess that's the easiest way of explaining it in English) - which means "darkroom" or "obscurity" in Polish. My Polish friend had booked it for the three of us at 17:20, so we go to the place - which is in a cellar located at the back of otherwise perhaps the most well known and representative street in the city. At the reception we are greeted by a normal looking young man at the desk... only the walls are completely black, the room is in bad shape and one of the three doors there looks as though someone hacked at it with an axe a few times. We are told that we will be given one flashlight and will have to find our way out of the first room, after that our objective will be to make our way through the rest of the maze-like Ciemnia to the exit. We are warned that the weapons, tools and other dangerous objects used by the Misiaczki ("teddies") inside are all real, we're also advised to take our time and look out for traps/obstacles so that we don't injure ourselves on the way. The receptionist tells us that the Misiaczki are allowed to touch us, however we are not permitted to hit them. Phones and other light sources are forbidden, plus we are told not to take them with us as they may break.

    As all of this is being explained to us, we are sometimes interrupted by screams, maniacal laughter, hissing and other strange noises (real ones - not recordings). At one point someone shouts and hits one of the walls from the other side so hard that the whole place shakes and it's almost as loud as a gunshot, at another point someone's deformed hand shoots out from the door on the left and tries to grab my friend. As you can imagine, before even going in we already jumped twice and started having second thoughts about entering what will apparently take between 15 and 30 minutes. Another thing the receptionist tells us is that the person in front will "see" the most whilst the person at the back will "feel" the most, so my Polish friend who unsuccessfully tried to get through it once in the past decides to lead with the lamp, my British friend insists on being in the middle (he loves horror games/movies, but is very easily affected by them, and so prefers to have the safest position), I go in last.

    Once we're done listening to the basics and we leave our personal belongings on the hooks, we are permitted inside. One of the last things that the receptionist tells us is that if any of us wants to back out during the experience, we must shout "stop" three times. As the door is sealed shut behind us, we realise that we are left in practically complete darkness. The flashlight we were provided with keeps flashing and never projects a continuous stream of light, the light itself is also red in colour and very weak - illuminating only the things right in front of us, meaning that we can't really see ANYTHING until we bump into it anyway. Each person in our group of three holds onto the shoulder of the one in front so that we don't lose each other, as we can't even see our own hands.

    We try to slowly feel our way through the first few narrow corridors, still almost tripping on a few things on the way and occasionally feel something that's hanging from the low ceiling brushing against us. All we hear so far are ominous sound effects as well as occasional, real, weird noises echoing off in the distance. Eventually we walk into a huge pile of mannequin limbs lying on the floor, which we have to kind of swim through to go further, making loads of noise of our own in the process. A few seconds after this we realise we that we've made our way to a larger, more open area. We stick to the wall on the left side so that we don't get lost. Walking through this room I feel someone's hair on my face, my British friend swears that he felt someone's cheek brush against his. We were all quite on edge at that point, but when we bumped into an old empty wheelchair my English friend really started to lose it.

    Continuing further along the wall, we find an opening in the lower part of it. We try to decide who should first check what's in there, but as we discuss this a horrifying figure brandishing two large knives starts to crawl out of that very hole in front of us. It cackles like a psycho and sharps the two knives against each other, sending sparks flying all around. As soon as we get a glimpse of the strange humanoid, we panic and run together into the open space to get away from it - which was of course a huge mistake, as another horrible creature tries to get us from the other side of the room with what appears to be a stun gun. We manage to evade them for a while, but we're lost in the open area here and they keep lunging at us from the darkness, grabbing us every now and then - the room is filled with the strange sounds they make.

    Then my British friend decides he can't take it anymore and shouts "stop" three times, as instructed to do so at the start. Nothing changes though, as we continue trying to avoid the Misiaczki chasing us, only coming across more unpleasant sights on the way (a silhouette of a hanging corpse, among others). My friend has to repeat "stop" about twelve times instead of three when we finally see some bright light coming from behind a curtain on one side of the room - the game is stopped for literally a few seconds as the receptionist comes to get the person that wants to quit, after which me and my Polish friend are quickly yet again surrounded by complete blackness.

    We eventually find our way back to the opening in the wall and it seems clear now, so we crawl into it and then realise that we have to climb up into what seems to be a ventilation shaft. This leads the two of us to a maze-like section of tunnels; we come across a few steps that take us lower down. We roam about this next area, trying to find the way through, sometimes having to rapidly change our course and hide from the people stalking us that seem to come out from nowhere. The maniacs with the knives and the stun gun seem to still be following us, but we also come across another hostile person with a working drill. When not quite sure of where we are at, we can hear them calling for us in the same way you call cats in Polish by continuously repeating "kici kici"... in this scenario, it sounds incredibly creepy. In the thick darkness of these small tunnels we have to backtrack numerous times, checking for things we missed and finding openings where there were none earlier. We try to stay as calm as possible so as to not trip and hurt ourselves. On a few occasions we find a dead end and are met with a madman who spots us, forcing us to quickly sprint back out and look for another path. Once someone even stole our flashlight and then used it as bait to lure us towards more wackos waiting for us in the shadows, but we managed to get it back and run away.

    Eventually we make our way past an old, rusty, grated gate and notice some natural light coming from the top of a set of stairs. We realise this must be the exit and sprint up the steps, at which point the heavy metal door is sealed right in front of us and we start to hear the man with the drill running from behind to get us. We both frantically slam the door a few times with our bodies and it eventually budges, just as the guy is right next to us, and we are hurled with force back out into the street from where we entered the reception. We made it! We were lucky enough to have finished it completely without any cuts and almost no bruises - I only ripped my t-shirt at the shoulder a little bit and had a few marks on my arms, my Polish friend had ripped some skin on his elbows.

    I tried to describe it as best as I could, but it doesn't really do the place justice. You can barely see anything and have to rely on other senses too. It really is amazing and fills you with utter fear. The adrenaline rush you feel when you try to get away from someone chasing after you with long blades or a drill is fantastic, and the first time you see the sparks coming from those knives is absolutely petrifying. They change it round a bit during the game, as new passages are opened when you're looking elsewhere, and of course it's really fucking unpredictable coz you're dealing with real people here and not things running on algorithms. My British friend later regretted that he backed out so early - something like that is practically impossible to find in England, at least legally, due to all the health and safety violations that it clearly and purposefully violates (the London Dungeon and things like that are more like tours, better illuminated, much less nerve-racking and nowhere near as dangerous).

    Has anyone here been to something like this in other countries? Or would it be illegal in your place of residence too? :p I've heard of at least one more place like that in Poland - in Kraków.
     
    #1 Bamul, Jun 21, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 21, 2016
  2. I doubt that I will ever participate in something as physically engaging as this, but I'm glad this kind of entertainment is getting some publicity. There are a few similarly themed events in my city as far as I remember.
     
  3. Stalker Bar

    Stalker Bar Well-Known Member

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    Where I currently live, there are no such things as that, but I look forward toward something similar.
     
  4. Bamul

    Bamul S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
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    Yeah, it'd be awesome if they could modify the layout of one of these for you slightly (then again - maybe the ones in Piter don't all have vents and crap like that, so it might be ok for you as it is), it's really something worth giving a go. The one in Łódź doesn't allow people younger than 16, pregnant women, those with epilepsy, suffering from heart conditions or claustrophobia/nyctophobia, but other than that I think pretty much everyone is allowed. They do have a so-called "hardcore" version I heard about, which takes place in a larger abandoned building somewhere on the outskirts of Łódź, so I guess they probably make even better use of the space available there (though it is also more expensive and requires a separate booking by a slightly larger group).

    You should, it is so much better than a horror film or game - you're right there in the suspense and action, but there is no pause button. Plus when you're there in suffocating levels of darkness, hearing strange shit and catching glimpses of people dressed in some really convincing costumes with real hardware trying to catch you, your survival instincts kick in and it makes for a helluva ride.
     
  5. Stalker Bar

    Stalker Bar Well-Known Member

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  6. Skaara Dreadlocks

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    This sounds amazing, but I'd never ever do something like this, I can't even play Amnesia! :lol:
    The place you've described sounds very sketchy and not very legit, haha. In Norway, if there ever even was something like that, the walls/floor would be soft so you couldn't injure yourself on it, or you'd wear safety protection all over :p

    I was almost creeped out just by reading about it, to be honest. In the middle of the reading, I realized the lights in my room was off so I had to walk over to turn it on and close my door :embarassed:

    I've been to two "Ghost house" places in my life, when I was younger, but even back then, they didn't really scare me. One was a haunted pirate-ship you had to walk through. I can't remember much of it other than some curtains in a half-dark room.... and that pirate. When I walked around a corner, there was a life-size plastic figure of a pirate on the wall just beside the corner with a motion sensor or something so it popped out in front of you and screamed. I can remember that I jumped, but I just laughed afterwards :lol:
    The other was just a small carousel at a fair, going shortly through a dark room with flat plastic figures on the wall lighting up and making really fake screaming sounds, and then a pair of hands hanging from the ceiling that brushed through my hair :p
     
  7. Bamul

    Bamul S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
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    You know, even though Poland has much fewer health and safety regulations than most of Western and Northern Europe, I think this place may have actually been bordering on illegal even for Eastern European standards. :lol:
     
  8. Bamul

    Bamul S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
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    Looks like there's actually a really similar place to this in my hometown too. Their website can be found here. It's in an old underground shelter that was apparently used previously by the SB (security service of the PRL) for interrogations and shit. I'll have to check it out next time I'm in Warsaw.
     
  9. NuclearWastE3

    NuclearWastE3 The Toxic Avenger
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    Oi blat! That sound like a real cheeki breeki experience!!! I really liked the part where the "monsters" took away your lantern and then lured you and your freind, into a trap, with it. Super cool.

    there are actually places like this over here where I live. They open, for buisness, during the entire month of October (for Halloween). Local radio stations are the ones who hold the best "haunted houses" (thats what they're referered to). Other organizations have them too; such as schools, shopping malls, etc (but those are intended for little kids). As I understand, these things are all across the U.S.. They're basically a single path maze and people in costumes jump out and go after you. And there.is always a guy, who chases you out, witha chainsaw, at the very end... Always. I have had several experiences with these and they are quite thrilling; especially if there are a group of girls since they scream and scare more easily :p I remember, the first time i went to one of these, i was 8 years old. I cried and didn't end up going inside. Hahaha.
     
  10. Bamul

    Bamul S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
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    Since creating this thread I have actually heard of a few similar places in the US, but I had no idea they were this widespread. Then again, from your posts (and after watching that American Nomads documentary), I've come to realise that you live in a really interesting part of the States. :)
     
  11. NuclearWastE3

    NuclearWastE3 The Toxic Avenger
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    That's interesting how they had it going on in the summer time, though. I assume it a year long event? Over here, the theme, of the haunted houses, are changed every year and are often based off of psychiatric wards, asylums, prisons, and other hellish dungeons. And the locations are usually changed as well. The radio stations will (I guess) rent out abandon buildings, that will soon be demolished, and set up their props there. They've been quite expensive to get into recently, though. I think a single ticket, for admittion, cost 20 USD; so I'll only end up going to one
     
    #11 NuclearWastE3, Aug 24, 2016
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  12. sprite

    sprite New Member

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    Do Widzew fans get a discount there? :)