A “possessed girl” crawls across the wooden floor at the 13th Floor Haunted House in Denver, Colorado. The haunted house is located at 4120 Brighton Blvd. (Photo Courtesy of Kaitlyn Jaffke/13th Floor Haunted House)
Denver’s 13th Floor landed on USA Today’s “Top 13 haunted houses in America” and was voted the scariest haunted house in Colorado by MTV. It’s now open for a new season of haunting.
Now inching into October, the 13th Floor boasts a much more expansive schedule, after only offering weekend tickets following its opening on Sept. 19.
This year, many rooms have been added to the house, with the cast and crew taking ideas from horror movies and incorporating mythological creatures to make nightmares real.
Tye Olmsted, who has been with the company for eight years and is in his third year as a general manager, provided more insight on what this year’s experience will be like.
Going through the haunted house, each room frames a different horror story. One room featured a possessed girl who was tied down to a bed, while another room featured a cabin identical to the one in the hit 80s thriller “Evil Dead.” The crew was able to mix together the terrifying plots and meld them into one experience to chill even the most seasoned horror lovers.
“We have a creative team and use our own methods,” Olmsted said. “A lot of it is from movies, or if someone has a bad dream or anything that scares us personally, we try to put into the show.”
Erica Stackhouse has been with the 13th Floor for eight years and plays a clown named “Mischief.” She is one of the characters who waits outside while customers are lining up to enter the house.
“The adrenaline rush you get from being part of the show would probably be my favorite part,” Stackhouse said. “It’s addicting.”
Stackhouse said the most exciting nights are those most crowded nights, which are typically the weekend before Halloween or toward the end of the season.
Single admission tickets are available online through the 13th Floor’s website, starting at $25. The house is also offering “fast pass” and immediate access tickets this season for $35 and $45, respectively.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Annie Mehl at anme0753@colorado.edu
