The lights are down low and the air is tense as you creep along the hallways of Skellington Manor, excited and scared to see what monsters await as you venture through. Clowns, ghosts, zombies and so much more await the Quad Cities this Halloween season as a favorite local event is back for its annual haunted house.
From Oct. 4 to Oct. 27, the Haunt is a jaw-dropping way to celebrate spooky season. Spread through four stories, the Haunted Manor has been terrifying its guests for 31 years with no plans to stop. Animatronics, special effects and scare actors bring the horror to life as guests scramble through multiple rooms and hallways on their mission to make it back to safety in the lobby.
But what does it take to create and run a haunted manor?
The short answer is a lot. Michael Turczynski, technical director and instructor at Augustana and director of operations at the Haunted Manor, said that from set design to building props to managing sounds and lighting to training the actors, gathering all the elements to make a truly spooktacular haunted house is a continuous effort.
“We’re working year-round, essentially,” Turczynski said. “We always joke that next season starts November first. We’re constantly improving, moving, fixing, changing and making all those decisions over the year to be ready for the next season.”
To make the Haunt a fun and unique experience for the community, there can never be the same scare twice.
“We constantly strive to try new things and keep it fresh,” Turczynski said. “If you go back 31 years ago, it’s just a lot of black plastic and dark hallways. But we’ve managed to stay open because of a constant state of acquiring new assets, reusing old assets and moving things around. We keep up with pop culture to see what horror culture is popular.”
When the big month finally hits, and the manor is ready for guests, it’s time for the behind-the-scenes to work its magic.
Senior Sean Halloran, scare actor and member of the technical crew at the Haunt, said one of the big parts of the job is the set-up for guests.
“The manor takes about thirty minutes to go through,” Halloran said. “We have to make sure everything’s working, refill all the fog machines, get all the lights on, turn on the candles and then turn off all the lights again. We also check in with the actors and make sure they’re all ready to go.”
Now that the set-up is ready and waiting for guests, it’s time for another part of the Haunt’s charm to come into play: the scare actors.
While this job may sound easy to some, there’s much more than wearing a costume and jumping out to yell “boo” at guests in a scare actor’s job description.
“You have to be quick on your feet and able to improv on the spot,” Turczynski said. “Everyone who walks into that room is going to get scared a bit differently, and you have to be able to react to that.”
Senior Anya Giordano, a scare actor of the Haunt, scares as a werecat. Giordano said that a big part of her workday happens when she’s getting into costume for the night before the Haunt even opens.
“I usually get there about two hours early,” Giordano said. “I’ll eat a bit before a make-up artist helps me put on my prosthetic ears, then I’ll do my make-up and fake blood and finally put on my teeth and nails. It all takes around an hour.”
Despite looking like undead zombies, horrifying ghosts and chilling werecats on the job, the staff at the Haunt have their own ways of keeping the mood behind the scenes fun and light.
“One night when I was scaring, I popped out and made three out of four people fall,” Halloran said. “That’s what we call a body count, the amount of people who you make fall to the floor when you scare them. So now I’ve got a body count of three.”
Yet another enjoyable part of working at the manor is frequently seeing all the amazing sets and props.
“One of my favorite rooms is the Oddity Room,” Giordano said, “I might be biased because it’s right next to my room, but it’s got so much cool stuff in there. There’s a lot of original stuff that the Freemason Temple left behind when the owners bought the building. Like, there is a real human skull in there. They don’t know where they got it, but it’s there.”
For those who may have concerns about the Haunt, junior Alyssa Ogrodny, part of the technical crew, said there’s no obligation for guests to stay if they only feel fear.
“Actors will take your terror into precaution,” Orgrondy said. “You’re not required to go through the entire haunted house. You can leave anytime you want. If you really don’t like it, the actors will make sure that you can get out.”
The safety and comfort of the guests is a main priority of the staff at the Haunt, who are there to ensure that all the terror is mixed in with equal amounts of fun. So, while scare actors may try to get you running for the hills, their goal is to make sure you’re smiling afterward.
Even in the haunting world of the Haunt, there are still rules that both monsters and humans must follow.
“One big rule is ‘don’t touch,’” Ogrondny said. “We always tell people not to touch the actors, and we promise the actors won’t touch you.”
With this in mind, guests are now ready to enter and get a taste of the world of the Haunt so long as they’re open to both the chills and thrills.
“We take a lot of pride in our designs, in our storytelling and our atmosphere,” Turczynski said. “We take a lot of pride in our make-up and our scare actors. But ultimately, you’re going to have a fun time if you come in to have a fun time.”
While the Halloween season has already begun for Skellington Manor’s haunted halls, the last dates are Friday, Oct. 25 from 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, Oct. 26 from 7 p.m. to midnight and Oct. 27 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
For those who may not want the pitch dark with zombies chasing them, the Haunt also offers a chance for people to venture through their hallways while it’s still light outside. They can attend the Scaredy Cats event on Oct. 26 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. to do so.
