Besides the grandiose title this mini-documentary introduces you to Britannia Manor, home of Austin Texas’ most elaborate haunted house from 1988 to 1994. In the DVD, you’ll get up close and personal with Richard Garriott, owner of the mansion, as he talks about the mansion and his life long interest in Haunted Houses and Halloween.

Richard Garriot, in case you don’t know, has been a major figure in the video gaming world. Born in England but raised in Texas with an astronaut for a father, Garriot dipped into the computer programming world in high school by taking self-directed courses. He published his first game in 1980 titled Akalabeth. Mr. Garriot later went on to develop the famous Ultima series which had such a huge following he started his own company. It was during this time that he built his great haunted house/museum, “Britannia Manor”. The name comes from the game Ultima where a character named Lord British ruled Britannia.

The manor was designed with a medieval theme to reflect Garriott's interest in the era. The house was adorned with various medieval items such as crossbows, swords, and armour. It featured traps and a network of secret passages and rooms. A secret room in the basement contained some of Garriott's most treasured artifacts, including dinosaur fossils, a coffin with a human skeleton inside it, and an authentic 16th century vampire hunting kit. The house also featured other collections such as hairs from the Glacier snowman, a brick from the Great Wall of China, a Russian spacesuit, and three stained glass windows retrieved from an abandoned church.

Garriot spent a great deal of money around Halloween to pay for makeup, tools, construction materials, special effects, and costumes for his haunted house. The actors as well as the techs were all volunteers, donating their hours of their time for the honor of being part of the show and a free t-shirt. The event became so famous people camped out in front of the estate for weeks to be able to enter the Haunted mansion.