Delco Man To Lie In A Coffin For 30 Hours At NJ Six Flags

RIDLEY PARK, PA — Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey has brought back its 30-Hour Coffin Challenge for the second year, tasking six brave contestants with spending 30 hours in a fully-covered wooden coffin. Among the contestants is a Delaware County Halloween fanatic.

The second annual contest will begin Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2:30 p.m. with a "Laying to Rest Ceremony" and will finish at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 14 with a "Raising from the Dead Ceremony," Six Flags spokeswoman Kristin Fitzgerald said.

Delco will be represented by Michael Markawicz, 32, of Ridley Park. He and his five other coffin dwellers were chosen based on the creativity of their submission essays.

Markawicz and the other will lie in a fully-covered wooden coffin for 30 hours, receive brief bathroom and phone breaks every three hours, eat their meals in their coffins, endure creepy challenges and receive unannounced visits from Fright Fest freaks and live critters like snakes, spiders and skunks.

A self-described Halloween fanatic, Markawicz was inspired by a strange happening in his youth. While attending a family viewing and paying respect to a loved one, the body sat up. Death fascinated him and for the last 13 years he has been fighting to saving lives as a paramedic. The 32-year-old Halloween fanatic also survived being lost in the woods in freezing temperatures, so can he survive the cold, lonely coffin?

A new point system will tabulate one grand prize winner and the runners-up. Challenges will offer coffin dwellers the chance to earn points, and penalize them if they waive a challenge.

The contest includes some new rules and will include a special visit from Butch Patrick, better known as Eddie Munster on the 1970s TV show "The Munsters," who will serve as guest emcee. He will host challenges, "The Munsters" trivia and the Raising from the Dead Ceremony on Oct. 14.

This year's Coffin Challenge includes some new wrinkles:

• Fully-covered coffin lid with just a small mesh hole for that ultra-claustrophobic feeling;
• Games that include live bugs, pungent food items and trivia to earn points, penalties and a "Get Out of the Coffin" card;
• Fewer bathroom, stretch and phone breaks: coffin dwellers will only be permitted to leave the coffin once for 13 minutes every three hours to use the restroom or their phones;
• Sleep deprivation with Yacht Rock and songs like "Baby Shark" on repeat during overnight hours;
• Scores will be tabulated throughout the event, and the grand prize winner will receive $600, two Six Flags Gold Passes and two Fright Fest Haunted Maze Passes. Runners-up will receive items ranging from Fright Fest day passes to season passes.

See more information on all the contestants here.