October in Southern Colorado doesn’t just mean cooler nights, golden leaves, and pumpkin spice everything. It also means it’s time to get scared. Our region has become a magnet for thrill-seekers who love the rush of haunted houses that go beyond creaky doors and plastic skeletons.
Take Aftermath. The haunt begins as soon as you leave the parking area. Walk through the woods, over an unsteady, shaky bridge, down the woodside trail, go behind the graveyard and into a house where danger waits around every corner. The sets are gritty, the actors relentless and the whole experience feels like being dropped into your own personal nightmare. With false doors, strange rooms, a maze, crazed ghouls, narrow passageways, etc., the fright is palpable. Don’t like clowns? Too bad. Hopefully, you’ll get out of the woods without slipping into the pond close to an insane ghoul with a chainsaw. Jaime Southern, who coordinates the haunt, says she “loves seeing the community come together … and work on this all year long.”
Completely revamped and revised, Southern says the design and build-out for Aftermath began earlier this summer by staff at Cañon City recreation department. More than 40 volunteers fill out the cast of scary spooks and proceeds help fund some of the rec department’s youth activities for the year.
Of course, not all frights come from noise and chaos. Some creep up on you in hushed whispers in a sensory deprivation experience sure to confuse and disorient. That’s the territory of Disturbance at the Monastery at Holy Cross Abbey, a 100-year-old haunt that’s eerie more than explosive, a place where the line between reality and the sinister seems to vanish. You’ll walk out wondering what you really saw — and what your imagination filled in.
Across the yard in the old monks’ dormitory is Darkside of the Abbey, two floors of frights and scares. After the monks left, Ullathorne Hall became a haunt where, according to haunt master Jason Messer, “some adults need to be escorted out.” Ghostly whistles, bangs, bumps, dark hallways and a brief but terrifying zip line (controlled by a fly master) bring their most fearsome ghouls, cannibals, butchers, giants, mad scientists and more to life. Messer claims, when asked if it’s really haunted, “yes, of course! The place is naturally creepy.”
And if this hasn’t caused you to run away, the Abbey also offers four escape rooms to entertain and craft a full night of Halloween entertainment. Have your choice of Prison Cell, Train Car, Speakeasy or Pirate Ship.
Updated, revised, revamped and renewed each year, the haunts may not be at the Abbey much longer, as the entire campus was recently sold, Messer says. Venture Crew, part of Scouts of America, produces the events using teenage and adult volunteers to build, design and staff the sites. As a non-profit, all the proceeds go to aid adventures for Venture Crew and other charities in Fremont County.
And then there’s HellScream, the legendary haunt of Colorado Springs. This fright-inducing site has been terrifying locals and visitors for more than a decade with movie-quality sets, over-the-top makeup and actors who never miss a chance to make you scream. It’s the kind of place that people come back to year after year, because no two visits are ever quite the same. It’s bigger, louder and flashier than the others — a haunted house that knows how to put on a show.
Permanently housed in an old, converted building on Hancock Street, three floors of Victorian creepiness and frights abound, including a rip-off of Jack the Ripper (and other notorious deranged villains). Jess Clark, co-owner with Jeff Shinkle, says guests can expect to spend 20 minutes or so in the haunt. However, with so many rooms, twists and turns, expect to spend more time exploring. Flashing lights, deep darkness, disorienting floors, spiders, cobwebs, strange things in your face, trap doors, disappearing specters, bats and more make this attraction the full-on haunted house experience.
But HellScream is only part of the story. Its companion venture Fear Complex pushes the envelope even further, including the perennial favorite Haunted Mines. Located on East Bijou Street in Colorado Springs, this is, by past guests’ experiences, the scariest haunt. With different themes, Fear Complex walks you through a manor house, a sanatorium and the mines. You can buy tickets for both HellScream and Fear Complex through their websites. And check out their Lights Out special event happening the weekend after Halloween,
Taken together, these haunts make our region one of the best places to celebrate the Halloween season. Each of these haunted happenings has received, over various years, statewide awards for being the best in Colorado. Some have been recognized in the top 20 in the U.S.
