It was a fairly mild evening when we turned up at the Salt and Pepper Pots, a non-identical pair of water towers in Goole, Yorkshire. Goole is not far off the M62 close to Hull, and not too far east of Leeds. Other participants had travelled from as far afield as Scotland and London to attend. The setting was great for an overnight scare event with lots of buildings, random equipment as well as the towers themselves looming over you.
The site had ample parking a short distance from camp. Once parked up we walked to a patch of grass on a raised area under the imposing shadow of the Salt and Pepper Pots. It was here we waited for the others to arrive before the evening really started. At 8:30pm, as the last of the daylight disappeared, we were greeted by the organiser, and given a very clear overview of the rules as well as the waiver to sign. It was evident from this intro that any rule breakers would be dealt with appropriately and that safety and safe-guarding were massively important from the get go.
It is worth noting that the whole experience started a couple of weeks before the event as all the participants, and some of the team were entered into a group WhatsApp chat. Mostly as a way for people to get to know each other a little bit beforehand. The information shared freely in this chat may have also been used for more interesting purposes. We had a few simple questions that we had to answer, but it was clear that we would also need to try and remember other people’s answers on the the night
First task of the night was to pitch our tents (these tents were helpful for keeping our belongings together, clean and dry, but sleep, that is something you will not be getting). We would recommend bringing a simple pop up tent to events like this in the future, perfect for storing belongings as size isn’t really needed if not sleeping.
The Camp
Just before the set-up we were also introduced to our two fun camp leaders for the evening, whose back story evolved throughout the night. For example we learnt that one of the camp leaders had quite unfortunate experiences with their other halves, in that they kept turning up dead. Our camp leaders kept the participants entertained throughout the night between the main tasks. This was great fun and gave us an opportunity to meet the other campers, learn a bit more about them while playing some fun and at times silly games. It broke the ice, warmed us up and got us ready to work together throughout the night. Since there were two camp leaders, the first ice breaker task also ended up splitting us into two teams to compete for points. There would also be a prize for one member of each team at the end of the night
The Tasks
Throughout the night we would be taken off to partake in a number of team tasks. We’ll try not to spoil these as we’d expect similar tasks to be used in the full run of the event but these tasks would push you. The best way to explain the activities is a combination of ‘I’m a Celebrity’ style with a darker more sinister theme. They were a mixture of fun, exhilarating, scary and at times frustrating. Each task centred around one of the characters which was a nice touch. We enjoyed the idea of each character running a task and leading the direction of what and how they happened. There was one final task for everyone at the end that involved all the characters as well, the name of the event might give you a clue as to the theme of this finale.
The Characters
As well as the camp leads the characters made the night, each bringing their own style and element of creepy and scary. You had Chuckles, a clown character who didn’t speak much but came across curious, fun and energetic. You had the Butcher and his sometimes assistant Blade. Chainsaw Jack with his gruff demeanour and, well, a chainsaw unsurprisingly. You also had Bolt with terrifying teeth and samurai sword and last, but not least, the leader of the group of misfits, Loopy Lou. The actors worked hard all night making sure to push us as a team and kept the energy levels going even when the Sun started to come back up again.
One to Ones
In addition to the team tasks at the end of the night we had the opportunity to sign up for some 1:1 experiences. There were 4 in total, 1 each with The Butcher, Chainsaw Jack, Chuckles and Loopy Lou. One was included in the ticket, and the other three could be purchased individually or as a discounted package for a small upcharge amount.
Each of the aforementioned characters had special activities for us each to endure. They were mostly short, scary, more personal experiences which were fun and would push you that little bit further at the same time. We felt that the shorter length worked well and they were good value. We would have preferred it if these experiences were somehow sprinkled throughout the night rather than being kept to the end as everyone was pretty tired after the main group activities and by taking people off for an impromptu 1:1 throughout the night would add a bit more apprehension and fear as you wouldn’t quite know when it was going to happen.
Summary
Overall this was a great attempt at an overnight scare experience, we had ‘fun’ and the time absolutely flew by. There are definitely things that could be tweaked to improve the night but the actors all worked extremely hard to keep us engaged throughout and we would recommend attending this event if you like your scares a little more towards the intense/extreme side.
Thanks to the Purge at the Pots team for inviting us along to this preview event to help test the waters and get feedback. We have to say they did a great job. A fun tiring and exhilarating night that we would be interested in attending again for the full run next year.
Keep your eyes out on the Purge at the Pots social media for the next event and any announcements as to what may come next.
