The Haunted Hotel puts the extreme in the screams this Halloween season!
Make no mistake about it when the ticket taker tells you that you are about to enter an “extreme” haunted attraction and that the actors WILL touch you, it is in your best interest to take he/she at his or her word. You may be grabbed, pushed, pulled, picked up, carried off, chained up, threatened and berated during your stay at the one and only Haunted Hotel at 3000 S. 4th Street.
I personally even felt the rumble of a chainsaw as it was thrust up my nether regions during my stay at The Haunted Hotel last weekend. Who would pay to endure this horrific treatment? Lines around the block every night that it’s open are testament to owner/operator Kevin Stich’s proof of concept. Apparently, a lot of you crazy haunt fans are looking to test your physical and psychological limits inside the walls of that ramshackle building on 4th Street.
Video posted on YouTube from last weekend’s haunting revealed the results that occurred near closing time when two customers asked The Haunted Hotel to “do its’ worst.” They escaped the exit in their underwear, one wearing a dog collar, looking dazed and confused. Then they were promptly covered in baby powder. Saturday night I witnessed chainsaw maniacs chasing a poor young man (who had lost his shirt inside) across the street and down half a city block before they let him go.
Trust me on this one. The Haunted Hotel is a singular experience you won’t find anywhere else in town this Halloween.
If you’re still reading, chances are pretty good you already know whether or not The Haunted Hotel is for you. If this sounds like your kind of Halloween thrill, then you’re in luck. The set builders and actors behind the scenes are at the very top of their game this year.
As soon as you check in, the hotel’s owner welcomes you with an original spiel that reveals that none of the characters inside are monsters, zombies, witches or werewolves. Oh no, these are “human monsters” that have been twisted and perverted into what they’ve become. The Haunted Hotel isn’t interested in holiday fantasy, but more in a gritty, grimy exploration of human evil.
Next stop, The Haunted Hotel’s infamous elevator scene where you’ll encounter Gustav, pound per pound probably the scariest, most physically intimidating and talented haunt actor in the local haunt business. Nobody forgets meeting Gustav.
The haunt takes advantage of every square inch of that old house on 4th Street, but really extends the experience in the maze built out back. The maze was completely torn down and rebuilt this year and it helps a lot in making this old dog feel like a sick puppy. So much of the new maze is indoors this year, including pitch dark sections and rooms filled with fog, that it often feels like you’re still inside the house itself and not just running back and forth in a tacked on chainsaw maze.
The Haunted Hotel does include some CGI, high tech effects and animatronics, but this is clearly an actor driven haunt. The human scareactors are who the folks standing in lines around the block are paying to meet and they do not disappoint.
The Haunted Hotel is open Thursdays through Sundays and on Oct. 31st on Friday and Saturday nights from 8 PM until 2 AM and on Thursday and Sunday nights from 8 PM until midnight.
