Hex - the Legend of the Towers
| Hex – The Legend of the Towers | |
|---|---|
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| Alton Towers | |
| Coordinates | 52°59′08″N 1°53′34″W / 52.985478°N 1.892736°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Cost | £4,000,000 |
| Opening date | 2000 |
| General statistics | |
| Manufacturer | Vekoma |
| Model | Mad House |
| Riders per vehicle | 78 |
| Rows | 4 |
| Duration | 5:25 |
| Height restriction | 90 cm (2 ft 11 in) |
Hex – The Legend of the Towers is a walkthrough dark ride experience at Alton Towers. The ride is based on an interpretation of the local legend of the Chained Oak Tree and is set within the restored ruins of the Towers themselves.
Hex tells the story of the Chained Oak Tree, a legend based on the towers themselves. The story has been a local legend for years, but was slightly altered in the ride to make the attraction more appealing.
The legend says that the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury was cursed by an old beggarwoman to suffer a death in the family every time a branch fell from the old oak tree. Hex's version embellishes the end of the 'original' tale with the Earl experimenting on one of the fallen branches in a vault deep within the Towers themselves, and it is this vault, with its entrance bricked up behind a bookcase, that has supposedly been sealed up for two centuries and only recently discovered during renovation work. This is explained in several scenes during the experience.
This attraction was closed for the 2016 season for cost-saving reasons and reopened for the 2017 season after some restoration work.
The attraction starts in the real armoury of the Towers, decorated with scaffolding and artefacts, which starts to tell the story of the renovation and the discovery of the vault, through video screens found along the twisting atmospheric queue-line. Statues draped in dust sheets decorate plinths high up near the darkened ceiling and sound-effects of chiselling can be heard to give the suggestion that this renovation is currently ongoing and unfinished. At the end of the queue line is a large painting of the Earl hung on the wall, and visitors hear a short narrative which gives a brief introduction to the legend before they are shown onwards into the cinema area (still part of the real building) where visitors watch a short film which dramatises the legend and makes it clear that they will soon be visiting the recently discovered vault where the original branch is located.
From the cinema area, guests are let through into the Octagon (still part of the real building) - a large dimly lit eight-sided hall containing more scaffolding and dust-sheets, draped curtains and a whirring generator high on a wall - and are led to believe that the story will be told further through more video screens. However, the generator suddenly 'blows', causing the lights and the video screens to fail and the room is plunged into semi-darkness. A wind picks up, causing the drapes to billow, and the ghostly cursing of the beggarwoman can be heard, along with the loud crash of a falling branch and the sound of horse's hooves. An apparition can be briefly seen in an alcove. To add to the suspense, the noise of the crashing branch is synchronised with a light water spray falling from the ceiling onto the guests below. The generator restarts and the lighting comes back up to allow guests to move up a small staircase, past the bookcase and into the next section of the attraction.
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Wikipedia