Families attending a Willy Wonka-inspired event in Glasgow, Scotland, were promised “optical wonders” and “extraordinary props” for a £35 ($44) ticket, but when they arrived they found a sparsely decorated warehouse and were told They offered a quarter cup of lemonade. – or lemonade when supplies ran out.
People there became so angry on Saturday that they called the police, Police Scotland confirmed to CNN, the event was canceled and the story went viral on social media.
“There was a crowd of angry people outside,” Paul Connell, one of the actors hired to perform at the event, told CNN on Wednesday.
“I saw people screaming, the people organizing the event were crying… It was absolute chaos. There were people walking all over the set at that point, control had been completely lost.”
On Facebook, Illuminati House organizers said: “Today has been a stressful and frustrating day for many and we are very sorry.”
“This was an event gone wrong,” another post read. “The house of the Illuminati will NOT be holding any other events for the foreseeable future.”
House of Illuminati had promoted the event with an extravagant website, filled with fantastical images and lengthy descriptions of an “Enchanted Garden,” a “Laboratory of Imagination,” and a “Twilight Tunnel.”
The 15-page script given to Connell the day before said there were “all these special effects,” but when he asked the organizers for more information, they “kept saying don’t worry about it, do whatever you want, we’ll do it.” “. solve it (on the day).”
However, when he showed up the next day, the warehouse was still “virtually empty, except for some plastic mushrooms,” a far cry from what had been advertised.
Jack Proctor and his family were among those attending the experience and arrived once the event was open for a couple of hours, he told CNN on Wednesday.
“We were greeted by groups of families leaving the event, looking completely bewildered,” he said. “We were directed upstairs and came to a large makeshift prop door that said ‘Factory.’ “A partition blocked our view, but we knew it wasn’t going to be good… it was even worse than anticipated.”
It took Proctor and his family three minutes to see the full experience for which he had paid a total of £95, he added, and they left shortly after as security turned people away.
“Two Oompa Loompas were handing out candy…Each child received a jelly bean and a lollipop, and the adults were told not to touch the candy.”
Videos Posted on social media showed a cloaked and masked figure emerging from behind a mirror, with children looking on, sounding increasingly horrified.
“Almost all the kids who saw it ran away crying,” Proctor said.
People swapped stories in a Facebook group created by those who were disappointed, one person saying her kids had received two jelly beans and a quarter can of lemonade, another saying her two kids “really had fun” (bless them, we were pleased!) easily!)”.
The actors were “mortified by the whole thing,” Connell said, and “tried to make it as enjoyable an experience as possible… but the person running the event said I was spending too much time with the kids and needed to help them get through it.” the best possible”. as fast as possible.”
CNN attempted to contact House of Illuminati for comment via email addresses available on its website, but the emails were recovered.