Brad Helm has some experience working with scary attractions.

He spent two years developing ways to terrify visitors to Eastern State Penitentiary’s annual haunted tour, “Terror Behind the Walls” — an attraction at the historic prison in Philadelphia which draws thousands of Halloween lovers every year.

And now, this set designer from Philadelphia, takes his knowledge of all things haunted to a new Halloween-themed event, “Haunted Poe,” a haunt which puts the spotlight on horror writer Edgar Allen Poe. 

“It’s a combination between a haunted house and 13 little one-act plays,” Helm said of the show in a phone interview. “It’s a walk-through haunted attraction with different themes and events that are all related to Poe.”

The show-haunted house marriage was the brainchild of Michael Alltop, producing artistic director for Brat Productions, an underground theater group based in Philadelphia.

Alltop wanted to create a unique attraction with a theatrical take on the traditional haunted house, and with the help of Philadelphia director and playwright, Greg Giovanni and Edward Pettit, the “Philly Poe Guy,” the show got under way. There are actors dressed in “gorgeous” period costumes, masks, puppets, hidden passageways, magical lanterns, optical illusions, music and video — all of which are designed to entertain and scare visitors.

The show is housed in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in South Philadelphia, the perfect location for this creepy experience.

“It’s not your run-of-the-mill haunted house ... it walks a fine line between haunted house and a show,” Helm said. “It’s 75 percent theater and 25 percent haunted house.”

And the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth and 160th anniversary of his mysterious death definitely provided some good timing for this attraction, Helm said.

“It’s a visceral and interesting experience that’s nice because it’s also educational,” Helm added.

Philadelphia, along with Baltimore and Boston, lays claim to the famous author of creepy tales. He was born in Boston, and lived in Baltimore and Philadelphia. While living in Philly, he penned “The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and each story is featured in Haunted Poe with scenes adapted from these chilling tales.

“I would say the show is probably a six or seven on the scary scale ... there are really a lot more intellectually creepy things happening here then in other haunted houses,” Helm said.

Helm, who works in Glassboro full time at Proof Productions, Inc., was thrilled to be a part of the team that put this attraction together. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Temple University in set design and met several Brat Productions workers who also studied there.

He has worked on other projects for the theater company, including, “Once” and “A 24-Hour The Bald Soprano,” a show that played non-stop, 24 hours a day.

Working on “Haunted Poe,” as a side job, has “been a lot of work,” he said. The team at Brat Productions started working on the concept last year, “investing a lot of time and money into the project.” And it may become an annual staple for the theater group. The horror-themed show could definitely be a huge draw for Halloween fans every year, Helm said.

But making a huge profit was never the main goal for this creative theater group.

“Brat’s known for strange, unconventional and really zany stuff ... and they don’t have huge ambitions to be known as a big theater company, they like to stay within the artistic bounds ... they are much more interested in art then profit,” Helm said.

If you go: “Haunted Poe,” shown in a warehouse at 38 Jackson St. in Philadelphia, opens Oct. 2 and runs through Nov. 1. A preview of the show starts on Thursday, Oct. 1. Open Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays in October and Wednesday, Oct. 7, Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 27 and 28. Tickets are $15 to $25 and can be purchased by visiting www.hauntedpoe.com.

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