Originally published on January 22, 2024

By Matthew Young, RealWV

For nearly a decade, visitors to Miller’s Nightmare Haunted Farm in Lewisburg were entertained by the one and only Taser Girl, the eerily lovable clown with a big personality. So when she was gone for most of the 2023 haunted season, her absence left a void felt not only by the attraction’s visitors, but also her surrogate family of haunted actors.

Taser Girl needed a break because Anna Knapp – the woman behind the character – needed a break.

“I pretty much took a break,” Anna told RealWV on Friday. “I did work one weekend (at Miller’s) though – the weekend of Friday the 13th. The rest of October I visited other hangouts as I had the opportunity to explore different places for the first time in seven years.”

Anna visited the Haunted Majestic in Huntington and the Haunted Hollows Hay Ride on the grounds of the West Virginia Renaissance Festival, as well as several attractions in Virginia. And for the first time in her life, Anna had the opportunity to experience Miller’s Haunted Farm as a customer.

“I’ll be back at Miller’s this year, but probably in a different way,” Anna said, referring to the attraction’s 2024 season. “I’ll probably still haunt sometimes, but physically it’s getting harder and harder for me. People don’t realize how physically demanding haunting is.”

“I think the one weekend I did it (in 2023), it took me about two weeks to fully recover,” Anna added.

Haunted theatres usually perform in pretty difficult conditions. Pitch blackness, flashing lights, cramped spaces and inclement weather are just some of the obstacles that must be overcome to ensure visitors have an enjoyable experience. And as the season wears on and the adrenaline wears off, things start to get mighty cold.

But for Anna there are also obstacles that very few ever see.

Spina bifida

According to the Centers for Disease Control, spina bifida is a type of nerve damage that affects the spine. It’s usually diagnosed at or before birth and affects an estimated one in 2,500 newborns worldwide. As it turns out, Anna was one in 2,500.

“I was born in March 1995,” Anna said. “That year, there was a really big snowstorm in West Virginia. My parents told me that they left the house without jackets because it was warm. When I was born, around 11:30 a.m., it was snowing heavily outside and a blizzard had come.”

“When I was born, I had nerve endings and stuff hanging out of my lower back,” Anna continued. “I was born in Beckley. They had closed the highway, but they opened a lane that day to get me to Charleston. A few days later, my back was closed.”

In most forms of spina bifida, a sac of fluid protrudes from an opening in the baby’s back. The fluid contains a damaged portion of the spinal cord and damaged nerve endings.

“I have spina bifida myelomeningocele,” Anna noted. “That means my legion is at the base of my back and was completely open when I was born.”

Her illness came with several developmental delays, and Anna did not develop the ability to walk or talk until much later than other children. However, these developments themselves were quite remarkable, as doctors had originally told Anna’s parents that she would never walk.

“With spina bifida, you have nerve damage,” Anna explained. “I wear leg braces that go below my knees and I have no feeling in my feet. I’ve had over 10 operations. I don’t remember the exact number, I’ve lost track.”

“I am very lucky and very blessed,” Anna said, adding that some sufferers are confined to a wheelchair. “No two cases of spina bifida are the same. I take care of myself and will live a normal life.”

While Anna has spent most of her life overcoming the physical obstacles that come with her illness, the last year has been about learning to overcome the invisible obstacles that don’t reveal themselves so easily.

Neurodivergence

“I always knew I probably had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder),” Anna said. “I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was younger, but it didn’t really work.”

Anna’s suspicions were confirmed last April when she received her diagnosis after further tests.

“Life as a neurodivergent person is difficult in general, but having a physical disability has taught me to cope with it,” Anna noted. “Just through the journey of learning how my brain works, a lot of things now make sense that didn’t make sense before.”

“People think that ADHD just means you can’t pay attention and you’re fidgety,” Anna continued. “In fact, we have most of the attention. We just don’t know where to direct it. I can hyperfocus and get things done, but there are a million other things that are more important than what I’m hyperfocusing on. People with ADHD don’t know how to direct that where it needs to go.”

“It’s also just the other problems that come with ADHD and living in a world that isn’t made for neurodivergent people,” Anna added.

Since being diagnosed with ADHD, Anna says it’s been a matter of “unlearning everything I had to learn” in order to cope.

“A lot of coping is wearing a mask in social situations and putting on a facade so you don’t embarrass others,” Anna said. “The most important thing for me has always been eye contact.”

“I find it hard to look people in the eye because it makes me feel physically uncomfortable,” Anna added. “I think more about maintaining eye contact so the other person thinks I’m listening, but in reality, I’m paying less attention to them when I’m looking at them. If I can look away and not maintain direct eye contact, I can pay more attention.”

Taser Girl

Over the past seven years, Anna has turned her coping mechanism into an artistic outlet. The facade remains, but the mask gave way to the creation of one of Miller’s Haunted Farm’s most famous characters – a character for which Anna was named one of the top four haunted actresses in the world at the 2021 ScareActor Spectacular.

“The majority of those in the haunting community are what you call ‘the outsiders,’ the ones who have problems and issues,” Anna said. “They use haunting as a kind of therapy, because in a way it is. When I first started, I could put on this face. Nobody knew who I was – nobody knew I was disabled. They just knew I was this clown girl with a taser, and that’s what gives me strength.”

“The empowerment I feel when men twice my size are scared and run away from me,” Anna continued, barely able to contain her laughter. “I’m a little girl. Nobody knows when they’re going to get spooked – everything rational in their brain just disappears and they think you’re actually this clown and not a real person.”

As for Taser Girl’s future, Anna says Miller’s Haunted Farm will always be her home. And with the attraction’s 10th anniversary just around the corner, owner Berkeley Miller couldn’t be happier about it, even though he didn’t originally think she would stick around.

“At first, she didn’t seem like the type of person who would enjoy it,” Berkeley said of the woman who became one of his franchise characters. “It can be a very physically demanding job, especially for someone with a disability. Now, people always say something about Taser Girl. They ask, ‘Is Taser Girl in there?’ That happens quite a lot.”

“I guess I would describe Anna as an ‘icon,'” Berkeley added. “She’s an iconic figure on the farm and obviously one of the most recognizable faces there. This year she wants to help the other actors more. That will be good because we have a lot of younger actors and she’s going to have a big influence on them.”

As for Anna’s future, it’s a little more uncertain right now. After recently finishing a semester with a 4.0 GPA, Anna realized college wasn’t for her. She loves to haunt, she enjoys writing, and she’s discovering the value of drawing on her life experiences to help others find easier paths through difficult times.

One thing is for sure, though: Anna will not let her obstacles deter her. And just like she did when she created Taser Girl, Anna will no doubt incorporate these experiences into the next great adventure of her life.

“Society has a very damaging view when it comes to disabled and neurodiverse people,” Anna said. “We often hear ‘you’re lazy’ or ‘you’re trying to take the easy way out’ and that’s far from true for most people.”

“If you’re having problems,” Anna continued, “I advise you to be gentle with yourself, because we are not capable of anything. We should not feel like we have to meet the standards of a physically able or neurotypical person.”

“We only have one life,” Anna added. “We should enjoy it, no matter what society says we should or shouldn’t do.”