Aside from Christmas, Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love pumpkin carving, bags of candy, fake spider webs stretched across door frames, and all of the costumes, from the cute to the outrageous. But my favorite part of Halloween, the part that sends excited shivers down my spine, is the haunted houses. Each year, I spend hours planning out which haunts I will visit, thinking about how absolutely scared I will be running through each one, and deciding how I can ever-more-tightly hold on to the back of my husband’s t-shirt. One haunted house that I know I don’t want to miss this year is Ripley’s Haunted Adventure during Ripley’s Fright Nights in October.
For years, Ripley’s has been chilling thrill seekers year round, but during October, the Haunted Adventure becomes even more terrifying with the return of the 13th annual Fright Nights. During Fright Nights, there are many more performers ready to scare all who dare to enter, and the presence of a theme, this year’s being, “Backwoods Terror: You Just Made A Wrong Turn,” allows for more experimentation with sounds, smells, sights and touches.
Ripley’s Haunted Adventure is also especially scary because of its history. In 1999, Ripley’s Entertainment opened the haunted house on the former site of the Grimsby and Streaper Casket Company. In the early 1900s, the casket company was closed, although the reasons for which are still a bit of a mystery. After residents began disappearing, Grimsby and Streaper was abandoned, but tours are still being given.
Ripley’s Haunted Adventure is one of the few haunted houses in the country that is open every day of the year. Regular tours will continue through October, but the Fright Nights will show on the weekends.
Here are a few things to know about Ripley’s Fright Nights:
- Shows start at 6:13 pm with a character parade, and will continue until close.
- There are different shows each weekend.
- There is no extra charge for the special Fright Nights showings!
- No children under age 6 are allowed.
Visit the Ripley’s Fright Nights website, or call 865-430-9991 for ticket and show information.