It’s time to open the box and see what’s in it.
But before that, some background on Isaiah; and before that, what is going to be my standard disclaimer for this series.
- This all pre-Herschend, and may have played a part in the decision to sell, considering the published words after the 2021 talks were: “Gary Norton made one thing clear: Silverwood Theme Park is not for sale.” Link. I would also venture to say that Herschend is very unlikely to have known.
- We love Silverwood and what it brings to the area, and more specifically, what it’s brought to Evanna since we moved here. It still is one of her favorite places, though decreasingly so since the changes post-2023 season.
Brief background on Isaiah. Isaiah grew up in Spokane, and was brought to Silverwood often by his family. Even at an early age, he was enamored with magic, and began working at Silverwood in the Theatre of Illusion as a teenager, and left following the 2024 season. He moved to Denver and began working and performing there.
His departure from Silverwood was unexpected, sudden, and without explanation. For someone who had been prominently featured for nearly a decade, it was shocking.
Then on July 19th, 2025, Isaiah posted to Facebook:
Wondering why I left Silverwood Theme Park?
I think I’m finally ready to begin sharing my experiences working for the Nortons. But before I dive into my own story, I invite you to listen to the voices of others who have had challenging experiences with them as well. Their stories deserve to be heard. Please share. It’s time to rally everyone with experiences to tell.
He had linked to this post on Reddit, in which several people had commented on different aspects of not only Scarywood, but Silverwood as a whole. But there was a recurring theme, and that was the experiences people had with Nick Norton, Isaiah’s mentor.
Unfortunately, Isaiah had a big Halloween show in Denver to plan and prepare for, so writing his story was put on the back burner, and then he passed away in January of 2026, before he could complete and share it.
He and I had many chats between his FB post and his passing, and the information from those chats–the parts I have been able to verify–are the foundation of what I will be sharing.
I have intentionally been very careful with the information, even when there were times I did not want to be. I will be publishing only what I’ve been able to verify with multiple sources or from outside third-party sources. I’ve taken a step further and have certain individuals who have stated they would be willing to provide notarized affidavits of their experiences and/or the information they provided.
One of the things Isaiah and I discussed was the format of how to allow other people to share their stories, publicly or anonymously, and how to emphasize that people should share only what they personally experienced or witnessed, and why that was important.
This reflects one of Isaiah’s main thoughts from our chats: that his story would be the catalyst for others to share theirs, because there has been, even in a chat I had with someone last week, a reluctance to speak out despite the experiences of many over a long period of time. The reasons for that I’ll share in a future post.
We didn’t always agree, though it was never acrimonious at all. His thoughts on the issues were very focused and narrow, whereas I saw a much wider systemic issue.
The next posts in the series (subject to change) are an introduction to me and how I found myself in the middle of this story; then, an introduction to the characters that will be discussed.
–S.
PS My contact info is at the bottom left of each page in the About section in case you have information to potentially add.
