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ABOUT
At age 10, David Calamari was registered for his first summer as a camper at Discover Camp, a popular summer hobby program in Hawthorne, NY. One of the classes he was registered for was called "Halloween in July," being taught by David O'Neil, an elementary
school technology teacher, avid home-haunter, and long-time New Rochelle resident.
During the class, O'Neil taught campers how to create foam tombstones and other Halloween props. Calamari quickly became obsessed with making his own props, and continued taking the class each summer that he went to Discover Camp. At the time, O'Neil operated a home haunt in New Rochelle called The Haunting of Westwood, which consisted of a graveyard in the front yard, and a walk-through haunted house in the back. Calamari would go to O'Neils house on October weekends to help him put the haunt together, and at the same time, Calamari had started his own home haunt called Barry Road Manor.
The haunt started with just a few tombstones in his front yard, but the more Calamari learned, the more the haunt expanded, until it became a full-fledged haunted house production that came to be a staple in his hometown of Scarsdale, just like The Haunting of Westwood had become for New Rochelle.
O'Neil (left) and Calamari (right)
before opening the haunt for the first night in 2023.
In 2023, O'Neil, who has had a life-long passion for gardening and agriculture, became involved in discussions about the greenhouse. When it was mentioned that the greenhouse would need a large annual fundraising event, O'Neil had the perfect idea- a haunted house.
The idea quickly gained traction. O'Neil told Calamari about the news and the two began planning immediately. Because of complications with the construction of the mansion and new greenhouses, it was unclear if the haunted house would open in 2023. Regardless, wall panels for the haunted house started being constructed in September 2023, along with new props to add to O'Neil and Calamari's collection. Finally, on October 11th, 2023, the Certificate of Occupancy was granted, leaving just 10 days to put together the haunted house. This included assembling over 100 wall panels, painting, placing props and set pieces, installing lighting and sound equipment, to name just a few items from the checklist.
On October 21st, 2023, The Haunt at Wildcliff Mansion opened to the public for its first night, with David O'Neil (executive producer) playing the finale character, Dr. Wildcliff, and David Calamari (creative director) operating the technical elements of the show. We cannot thank our dedicated team of volunteers enough for all of their hard work to bring this vision to life, and we cannot wait for an even bigger, better, scarier season in Fall of 2024. We'll see you then.
Calamari's love for haunting developed into an interest in technical theater in high school, which he ultimately studied at the University of Connecticut, where he graduated from in 2021 with a BFA in Design and Technical Production, with focuses in scenic design and technical direction (since haunting wasn't a major, this was the closest he could get). Since graduating, David has been working building and painting scenery for Broadway, television, and film, but his hopes of opening a professional haunt never went away, and has been in discussion with O'Neil since starting college.
After a few years of searching southern Westchester for a good location, the goal seemed to be getting further away. Until 2023.
Wildcliff Mansion was built in the 1850s in the midst of New Rochelle's transformation from a rural farming community to a residential suburb. After the initial owner's death, the home was purchased by Julius and Clara Prince in 1914. In 1940, Clara Prince donated Wildcliff Mansion to the City of New Rochelle with the hopes that it would become a natural science museum.
The fully renovated Wildcliff Mansion
On the evening of November 26th, 2018, Wildcliff Mansion was destroyed by a fire. Since then, it has been a mission to revitalize the once vibrant property.
The Hudson Park Greenhouse has a long history, dating back to the late 19th century, when the City of New Rochelle purchased the land now known as Hudson Park in 1886. The greenhouse supported the City’s parks and beautification programs for several decades, but over time, the condition of the greenhouse deteriorated. In 2009, the City closed the greenhouse due to concerns of its structural integrity.
The Greenhouse committee had been working towards rebuilding the greenhouse for about a decade. After the fire at Wildcliff Mansion, the hopes of rebuilding the greenhouse and revitalizing the Wildcliff property merged. The committee, spearheaded by founder and President, Milijana Radonjic-Ilich orchestrated the development of a brand new greenhouse facility on the Wildcliff property. The Hudson Park Children's Greenhouse is a 501(c)3 non-for-profit organization that now provides environmental education for the children and community of New Rochelle, with an emphasis on horticulture, ecology, gardening and agriculture. The mansion was also revitalized by turning it into an event space, adding a steel support structure for the stone facade, a concrete slab in the middle, bathrooms, and a catering kitchen.
The brand new greenhouse facilities on the Wildcliff Mansion property.
Some of the dedicated cast and crew of the first ever haunt at the end of the first season in 2023.
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