By Parker Newman
Looking for a scare this Halloween?
Why not go to a haunted house? They’ve been a part of Halloween fun for ages, and with the new season of terror now here, it’s a great time to revisit this timeless staple of the season.
The first, and cheapest option at $17 per person, is Field of Corpses. This haunted house, or if we’re being honest, a haunted field, hosts many well-orchestrated scares and scenes centering around the mysterious disappearances of the White family in 1801. The designers have even gone so far as to use real meat in “the butcher’s room” which adds an excellent pungent smell of terror. There are also quite a few kids from Wheat Ridge working there, so you might even bump into a friend or two.
Spider Mansion is frankly my favorite, located in Heritage Square. You can make an entire day out of all the attractions there, which include go-karts, the alpine slide and many shops and other forms of entertainment. The haunted house in and of itself isn’t very intuitive. It offers little in the way of intense scares, but it has a very sinister atmosphere and an odd construction. You’ll find yourself pressed up against walls, in tight spaces and crawling through a corridor or two. The popcorn and hot apple cider for sale certainly don’t hurt its reputation either.
Closing out the trifecta of local spooks, is the 13th Floor. The 13th floor is pricey, at $27 on Friday and Sunday, and $29 on Saturdays. But you certainly get a lot of bang for your buck. It’s one of the most high-tech houses out there. The size, scale and intricateness of the animatronics is out of this world, with some ‘attractions’ even using XBox Kinects to track your motion and amazing speakers to get you when you least expect it. It is, however, like I said earlier, a little pricey for most people’s tastes.
The playing field is wide open this Halloween in regards to where you get your scares. If you’re going for pure, unadulterated terror, the 13th Floor is the place for you and your friends. But, in my opinion, if you want the most fun experience you could possibly have this October, go ride the karts at Heritage Square, buy some cider and wait in line for Spider Mansion.
