1. Fear Factory

Salt Lake City

The Fear Factory is a paranormal phenomenon in Utah. Rob, the cofounder of Fear Factory, explains the bizarre things that go on there. 

“The factory always had these weird things inside, from vampires to clowns and all kinds of insane things that don’t make sense in just an old cement factory, but when the earthquake hit Salt Lake, it caused cracks in the foundation of the basement, and ever since then, there have been odd groanings that we hear down there.” 

In an even more ominous tone, Rob continues: “What emerged from the basement is something I can’t describe … It’s as if the whole place has come alive! The factory seems to feed on the fears of the people who visit here, like the factory is sucking it out of them and trying to take them in.” 

2. Hurricane Home Haunt

Hurricane

Keith Allen loves to scare people, so 12 years ago, he and his wife created a “micro haunted house”, which is what his friend, Christopher Paul Rodriguez, who helps Keith create the sets, calls it. It is located in his garage, and every year they create a different theme. Keith explains this year’s theme. 

“This year it’s a movie theater showing a horror movie marathon. Visitors get transported into scenes from different movies. The entrance will look like a movie theater, and then you’ll go into an actual theater where you’ll experience being in different scenes from various horror films.”

Christopher, the set assistant, describes what to expect: “It is slow paced; you guide yourself through, and there are well-placed actors for jump scares and lots of strobing lights and eventually a dead end. It’s also very bloody, so on a scale of 1 to 10, I’ll give it an 11.” 

Hundreds of people come to Keith’s Haunted House every year. 

“I’ve noticed that adults are more afraid of it than children are,” he explains. “Little 5-year-old kids will go through it and they want to go through 20 times. Most adults will only go through once, then they don’t want to go in again at all.”

3. Haunted Hollow

Ogden

Haunted Hollow is outside and boasts real mine shafts, swamps, and lush forestland. It also has its share of demons and ghosts.

Jess Thayne, a girl whose heart is all for gore, expresses her experience in Haunted Hollow. 

“Haunted Hollow has a creepy forest. The crunchy leaves, dead trees, and shadowy figures always get me spooked!”

Jess then illustrates why she enjoys the creepy atmosphere of haunted places. 

“I like going to haunted houses because they take me back to my teenage angst years when everything macabre and horrifying always piqued my interest. It has become one of my favorite traditions and I love never knowing what to expect!’’

4. Nightmare on 13^th 

Salt Lake City

Philip Wright was a longtime fan of haunted houses long before he began working at Nightmare on 13^th explains what it is like to venture in.

“There are 13 themed areas or ‘13 Nightmares’. They are fantasy nightmares ranging from yetis, to clowns, to killer scarecrows.”

  Philip describes how the dark and disorienting walkthrough is received by guests. 

“Most people walk fast or sometimes even run because they’re really that scared. There is a second slightly smaller haunted area in the same building. This is an insane asylum for the criminally insane, and the patients were once people that have gone crazy from what they’ve seen in the Nightmare on 13^th haunted house.”

5. Strangling Brothers Haunted Circus

American Fork

The Strangling Brothers Haunted Circus is full of live music, interactive shooting games, and unique trailer car surprises. Wesley Gary Messer is a thrill-seeker. He explains his experience when he visited the Strangling Brothers Haunted Circus: “They had a tent that was the lobby area, but what was clever was that they had a bunch of trailers hooked up to each other to provide this modular space, so it had the vibe of going through a circus train. It was definitely spooky.” 

Wesley describes what one of the train cars had in store for him. “There were a lot of clowns and there was one moment where it was dark, and I don’t see super well in the dark which made this way scarier. I went into one train-car and there was this room with a ton of doors, and they were all fake except for one. A girl clown came out screaming and yelling and chasing me, but because I couldn’t see well, it became very clear that I couldn’t actually find my way out of the room.”

Wesley eventually escaped and explained why he decided to visit haunted houses. 

“I don’t go to haunted houses to be scared. I go there because, much like going to an amusement park, I like this artificial space that has been handcrafted for an experience, where, for a little while, you leave the real world.”

Featured image courtesy of Fear Factory