Lake Shawnee 2020

Happy Friday! I hope you’re having a great week so far. Today we will be diving into one of my favorite projects that Brendan and I have done together. A few years ago in 2018 after first introducing Trixy Treats to the world, I wanted to change up her look a bit. Unfortunately, 2019 was not a year that allowed that to happen, so in Spring of 2020 I began the process of revamping her costume.

One afternoon I was out exercising when suddenly an idea for a costume popped into my mind (this is usually how it happens). My ideas are almost never forced, and come best to me when I’m not thinking about them, which is often when I’m in the gym. I went home and made notes about what I would like Trixy’s new costume to look like. After months of speaking with multiple costume designers about bringing this idea to life, I finally had someone nailed down and ready to go!

Before sharing my exact design with anyone, a bit of anxiety set in. I spoke to my friend Britney about this and explained the trouble I was having. I worried that what I wanted may be interpreted differently if I don’t have something for the designer to visualize, and that the way I describe it may not translate the same as I was seeing it in my mind. I shared my vision with Britney and told her everything I had in mind for Trixy’s new look, and she said she thought she could draw something up for me. After a few revisions, the costume design looked perfect and was ready to be sent off to the designer.

With all plans and projects, you also take on many disappointments and delays. This new look was originally supposed to be wrapped by August so that we could shoot early September and have everything ready in time for October. The earlier we can have things wrapped up, the less overwhelming it feels to try and complete multiple things at once.

The costume, however, did not arrive until late September, and first debuted in October of 2020 on Trixy’s two year anniversary. Her new look had a truly overwhelming positive response that I was not expecting. As an artist, it can feel scary to try something new and share your work with the world, especially if there’s already an expectation for a project people know is coming. The response to revamping her look was validating. I felt that by creating a new look for Trixy, it gave more dimension to a character that was already loved by so many.

So let’s take a trip back to late September of 2020 shall we? At this point, we were balancing a new character that would later be known as Misty Macabre, while still having difficulty nailing down the perfect location for Trixy 2020. With so many delays racking up, I decided to get back to work in hopes of finding something that really stood out and could bring my vision to life.

Back in 2018 when I began creating Trixy, I looked into many abandoned locations for fun and hoped that one day I would be able to shoot at some of the amazing places I found. Of course with a small budget at the time, I knew these locations weren’t realistic, but it was still fun to look and imagine that maybe one day this could be my reality.

In September of 2020 while continuing my journey of finding the “perfect location”, I once again came across one of those same places that I originally discovered in 2018 when I was looking around for fun. This location is known as Lake Shawnee Amusement Park, located in West Virginia.

I remember loving this abandoned amusement park right away, and as I read more about the property, I had Brendan reach out to the owner, Chris White. Chris was very enthusiastic about the idea of this project and seemed passionate about his job at Lake Shawnee, acting as the tour guide and historian of the property. He was more than accommodating when it came to shooting for this project and his enthusiasm over the phone translated to real life when we met a few days later.

With just days away from needing to wrap this project up, my costume finally arrived on my birthday. After receiving the perfect surprise, all we needed was for one last item to arrive until we could leave for Lake Shawnee. Unfortunately, there was a delay on that item arriving the weekend that followed my birthday, so we spoke with Chris about potentially shooting the following week on Tuesday or Wednesday, just days before October. I was becoming stressed about the fact that if we did shoot on that following week, we would be shooting just one day before October 1st, which would be the date we launched Misty Macabre. STRESS!

On the morning of September 26th, there was a knock at our door. The item we needed ended up arriving on time! I looked at Brendan and said, “Hey, I know this is sudden, but I think we should pack up and drive to West Virginia…tonight”, and so that’s exactly what we did. I spent a few hours frantically packing everything we needed, and then we hit the road!

We arrived at a hotel in West Virginia pretty late that night, and Brendan went straight to sleep. I stayed awake and started doing my hair and makeup for our shoot the following morning. At about 6AM while running on nothing but 2 cans of Monster Energy and a small bag of chips (super healthy), we headed out to Lake Shawnee Amusement Park in hopes of arriving around 6:30AM. Chris suggested we get there before the sun came up, so that you could see fog in the background of the pictures. So, if you’ve ever looked at that photo set and appreciated the extra spooky layer of the fog, you can thank Chris for his brilliant suggestion!

While driving on to the property, we stopped at the entrance to get a few pictures together. I hopped out of the car wearing pajama pants over the bottom half of my “costume” and held my hoodie tightly against my chest. It was freezing that morning, and even began to rain once we started shooting in front of the swings and ferris wheel.

I still remember pulling up to the location in our rental car, feeling so overwhelmed. I was excited, and also nervous, about taking Trixy to the next level with a new costume and a location that was just as, if not more, bad ass than she is. Chris gave us a tour of the property and told us we were free to shoot wherever we wanted, and to let him know if we needed his help. I cannot express enough about what an absolute delight of a human being Chris was. He stayed up late the night before tending to the property, as well as the guests who stayed for Lake Shawnee’s Haunted overnight attraction. After a long night, he still drove there to meet us before the sun even came up, all so that we could get the perfect shot.

If I haven’t said it already, I want to begin my story about shooting at Lake Shawnee (as we’re currently 1,500 paragraphs deep) by saying that this is one of, if not my very favorite, shoots we have ever done. Brendan and I have done many shoots together, and though I have had a tendency of being hard on myself and my work in the past, I am incredibly proud of what we created during this project.

While Brendan got his camera ready to go, Chris shared a few stories about the property, including one of today's most notable tragedies; the death of a little girl who was hit by a delivery truck while riding the swings, which ultimately lead to Lake Shawnee’s closure in 1967. Her spirit is said to “haunt” the property and brings in many tourists each year who are hoping for a spooky experience of their own.  

Once Brendan and I were both ready to begin, Chris headed out to prepare for an upcoming tour he had later that morning. The first shot we started going for was the “Dark Carnival” photo of me standing in front of the ferris wheel, which we did not nail until a few hours later into our shoot. If you aren’t familiar with any of the photos I reference going forward, fear not. I will include them in the photo gallery I attach so that you’ll have something to help you visualize while I talk about our journey that day.

Unfortunately, the lack of sleep and the anxiety of a new project started to catch up to me, and I began to feel overwhelmed. We tried a few shots by the ferris wheel, as well as the swings, and something wasn’t feeling right to me. In the past when we have “nailed a shot”, I knew it the moment I saw the photo in the camera. Once that happens, it gives me the confidence to carry on with the rest of the shoot.

I took a moment to talk to Brendan about how I was feeling, shed some tears (again, I was exhausted lol), and pulled my shit together. I decided to give the ferris wheel and swings a rest, and do a few shots in the van where I had my little meltdown. I sat resting on the edge of the van while sipping my energy drink, until a spider hanging on the side of one of the doors brought me back to down to reality and somehow gave me a burst of energy that I needed in order to carry on with our shoot. I'm not sure whether it was me screaming over the spider, or me expressing my feelings, but it worked and I felt ready to move on.

The van wasn’t necessarily something I felt we needed to incorporate in the shoot when we originally pulled up to the property, until I saw the inside of it. This was where we brought the “Carnevil” photo to life. I still remember reviewing some of our first few attempts at that shot and immediately falling in love with the way the lighting looked in that photo. The orange and purple tones made a perfect environment for this character to exist in, and seeing that photo in the camera gave me the confidence boost I needed to nail every shot that came after that. After many minutes of trying to not look up and see bugs crawling in my hair while shooting in the van, it was time to move on.

Something pictured in only one of the photos from that shoot is a popcorn bucket that I made for Trixy. I wanted her to have a new totable accessory, other than the hammer that she was known for having in her first three shoots. We originally began shooting some photos by the lake where I was holding the popcorn bucket, but something about them just didn’t seem organic, so we quickly moved on and later nailed the shot with the bucket in the bus.

I’ve been asked before about my experience while shooting at Lake Shawnee, and because it’s known for being haunted, people have wanted to know if I personally experienced anything that seemed “off” that day. To answer the question simply, I would say no. However, If you’re still reading this, you have probably realized that “long story short” isn’t exactly my thing, therefore I will explain why there’s more to it than a simple “no”.

While walking around in front of the ferris wheel and holding the popcorn bucket, I was taking a break to quietly admire the property and see if anything inspired me. While doing this, I felt this feeling as though I was being watched. Now, naturally you may assume this was because I had no pants on, but jokes aside, I couldn’t help but feel like something or someone was trying to connect with me.

Lake Shawnee has been described by many as unsettling and creepy, but to me I felt very at peace while shooting that day and think about going back all the time. It could easily have been the familiarity I once experienced in a past toxic environment (thanks trauma), but jokes aside again, it felt to me like being in a peaceful dream that you don’t want to wake up from. That could have been due to the lack of sleep and excessive caffeine, but either way, I enjoyed myself and did not experience the dark energy that others have previously described.

Towards the end of our shoot, I was completely wiped out, and though I had the best experience, I just wanted to put my pajamas back on and go home. Before leaving, Chris spoke with us briefly about some additional history of the property and asked if I would consider leaving an offering for the Native Americans.

With the perfect item in mind, I asked him if I could please mail my offering to him at another time because I unfortunately didn’t have it there with me that day. He assured me that waiting would be no problem, and we headed home.

As we drove away with the windows down, there was a gentle breeze and the autumn leaves were falling on the ground. The entire day still feels more like a wonderful dream, rather than something I was able to experience. Even with all the delays and stress, it still feels like fate that it ended up the way that it did, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

A couple of weeks later when it was time to launch my new version of Trixy to the world, I mailed a package to Chris White that included my offering to the Native Americans (that I will reveal at another time), as well as a gift for the little girl who died there in 1966. Because I felt such a strong energy while holding the popcorn bucket as I admired the property that day, I decided to send it back to her where I felt it belonged. The feeling of wishing I had left the bucket there that day didn’t go away until I mailed it back to Chris. Trixy’s popcorn bucket now sits on the swings at Lake Shawnee, and though I’m often attached to my props, I felt it needed to be there with her.

Could the feeling of being watched that day while shooting have been the little girl trying to communicate, or was it simply that I had too much of my Monster Energy drink and needed to lay down? Either way, that day was truly magical and I am grateful for such an unforgettable experience.

Thank you all for allowing me to share these stories with you. One of my favorite parts of what I do is traveling and meeting new people. I’m glad I can now share these experiences with you in real time going forward. I hope you all have a great weekend, and I will be chatting with you soon!

Much love,
Angelica