With spooky season in full swing, The Globe had the opportunity to take a stroll and small crawl through Castle of Chaos, Utah’s only underground haunted house, where visitors choose from five levels of fear.
Castle of Chaos is Utah’s No. 1-rated haunted attraction, according to its website, and has been haunting for 25 years. From level one “Monsters be Gone” — a no-touch, low-intensity experience — to the level five “Ultimate Hands-on Interaction,” the night is curated to the guest’s preference with the different levels marked by a glow stick.
“No one else does what we do … we’re gonna do things that you just aren’t going to get anywhere else, especially with [levels] four and five, it includes mock torture and putting a bag on your head and some very intense things,” said founder James Bernard. “So, if that’s what you’re looking for, we have it.”
Every Thursday through Saturday guests can start their night with food trucks and live shows from Haunted Show Productions as vampires, aliens and other monsters dance and scare around you.
Persephone, one of the blood covered vampires, said her favorite part about her job at Castle of Chaos is simply giving everyone a good scare.
“Little bits of uncomfortable feelings that we get to all provide, and of course everyone is so enthusiastic about being scared too,” she said.
Her rule of scaring, and a rule many of the other scare actors follow, is the “scare, act, scare” method.
The blend of screams and giggles makes it clear the attraction delivers the exact thrill Persephone and her fellow scare actors aim to provide.
Kanion Yadon, a guest at Castle of Chaos, rated his level four experience from touching to ear licking a 9 out of 10 and said he would return.
“Come prepared, have fun, let loose; it’s not that deep,” said Yadon when asked for his advice for newcomers.
According to Bernard, Castle of Chaos prides itself on being more than just a haunted house — but a haunted experience guests will remember and come back to for years to come.
See more behind the scenes here. To experience the scare, get tickets online at castleofchaos.com.
