Hex:Legend of the Towers

Hex: Legend of the Towers, sometimes shortened to Hex, is a Madhouse in Alton Towers, UK

Ride Statistics
Full name: Hex: Legend of the Towers.

Park: Alton Towers.

Country: United Kingdom.

Capacity: 78 Person(s).

RPH(riders per hour): 864.

Rough Duration: 5mins 25secs.

Cost: GBP 4,000,000.

Top Speed: 7.5 RPM.

Manufacturer: Vekoma.

Designer(s): John Wardley, John West (Artist and Designer), Drew Wilson (Conceptual artist).

Status: Open.

Opened: March 2000.

Music: The Hex

Composer: Crispin Merrell

Story
Hex: Legend of the Towers story is an extension of the story of the Staffordshire Chained Oak.

It was an overcast day in the year 1821 when Charles Talbot, 15th earl of Shrewsbury, was riding home from a party. He was exhausted and was eager to get to his bed. Partway through his journey his carrage suddenly ground to a halt. The Earl looked out of the window to see what had caused the sudden halt of progress and saw a haggard old woman. Palm outstretched, She begged for the charity of a Farthing. The Earl wasn't known for his generosity, he refused and ordered the driver to continue to his home, Alton Towers. Outraged, the beggarwoman screeched a curse at the departing coach: 'For every branch of the old oak tree that falls' she wailed 'A member of your family will die!'. The Earl dismissed the curse as mad ramblings of a troubled mind and left nonetheless.

Later that evening there was a terrible thunder-storm and, with a mighty crack of lightning, a branch fell from the Oak Tree near the Towers. As the old beggarwoman predicted a member of the earls household suddenly, and mysteriously, died. Dismayed and Infuriated with this event, the Earl ordered the Oak trees branches chained, so no more deaths could occur in the family.

After the completion of this, the earl personally dragged the fallen branch to a secret vault within the towers, which he sealed behind a bookcase. There the Earl experimented on the branch, building a machine to temporarily draw the curse from it to the pillars in the vault, by hitting it with a massive bolt of electricity, simulating a lightning strike. The Earl sealed the Branch and his experimentations in the vault, and its location died with him and was forgotten for almost 2 centuries.

Recent restoration work at Alton Towers revealed the entrance to the vault and the cursed branch within, the proof of a curse with which the Earls family are burdened till the end of time...

Waiting line
The Waiting line is placed in the former Armoury of the towers. It extrudes out of the entrance for particularly busy days. The disabled and Fast Track entrance is at the end of the queue.

Preshow(s)
When Hex opened, it had a different first preshow than the one currently used. It showed Professor Nicholson near the Chained Oak, Explaining its story. The Professor then (on the video screen) tours the interior of the towers, the Octagon and the Entrance to the Earls Vault. He Enters, But Before the visitors see anything, the camera cuts off. The Current preshow shows a dramatization of the Earl getting cursed and the Oak being chained. The Second Preshow is set in The Octagon, the visitors enter the room, and see, on televisions, further explanations of the Legend of the Chained Oak and of the finding of the Earls vault. Partway through the video however, the electricity generator in the room 'blows' and the visitors are subjected to darkness, 'wind' blowing through the covered windows, 'thunder' and at one point a small shower of 'rain'. the generator re-activates and the lights re-illuminate. the visitors leave the octagon and go down a corridor where they meet the opened bookcase leading to the vault. everything past the bookcase was added to the towers, but through a careful continuation of theming, the visitors won't notice the difference between real and synthetic.

Mainshow
Video: Hex: Legend of the Towers: Mainshow

The Mainshow is set in the Earls vault. Wooden benches line each side of the swing, with the Fallen Branch laying on a plinth in the middle. The walls of the drum are lined with the Earls artifacts, separated on each side by 2 sets of pillars which conjoin on the ceiling. On the floor under the swing is a mass of tree roots, formed in the shape of a face.

Music
Hex's Theme Music, The Hex, was Composed by Crispin Merrell.

Trivia

 * It is worth noting that on the 9th of April 2007, another branch fell from the tree, and since then, over a third of the weakened tree has collapsed. However the Earls direct family has reported that, as of yet, there have been no deaths that were directly linked to this event.
 * A Film based on the legend of the chained oak, created by Dean Maynard, is in the middle of production and has not been released.