You smell the familiar scent of dry ice fog, see the flickering lights of a strobe light, and hear a far off scream and elaborate cackle. It’s hard to forget the unmistakable sensations of a haunted house. With locations all over the state, haunted houses are impossible to avoid this time of year, and students are preparing their screams for this Halloween tradition. Of course, here are certain expectations for haunted houses. Dark hallways with spooky performers lining the walls. Maybe a ghost will jump out of a dark corner, maybe a witch will stir green goop in a cauldron. These haunted house stereotypes are broken by The Haunted Basement, the immersive and terrifying experience lurking in the basement of The Soap Factory.
This year, The Soap Factory will make fears come to life with the sixth annual Haunted Basement. Attracting more than 10,000 people through dark, dingy and boweled hallways, The Haunted Basement combines art and fear in this elaborate performance with a series of grotesque encounters. The Haunted Basement takes place in a century-old building currently gutted out by the project’s artistic director. According to Tom Lotus, one of the five directors in an interview with the Star Tribune, “We’re calling it back-to-basics. What generally makes the Basement scary is the fact that it’s just a creepy basement.” Located between the Soap Factory’s fine art gallery, the Haunted Basement is transformed into a creepy, spine-chilling world.
Despite her past experiences with haunted houses, senior Melanie Luikart is one of the many excited to buy tickets for the scarest place in town. “I don’t know how I’m going to survive,” said Luikart. Luikart had a spooky experience with her friend at the State Fair haunted house last year. “We were really scared because that [haunted house] can be really creepy, you’ve got to admit,” Luikart said. While passing by a row of ghoulish performers, one reached out a hand to grab them. “We both freaked out because we were really on edge. My friend ran screaming through the rest of the hallway and out the door and I crawled all the way out.” This did not deter Luikart from enjoying haunted houses who said she likes them because of “the adrenaline, that’s always fun. And seeing the scared faces on your friends.”
This haunting experience runs from October 5th to the 31st and before entering, every brave soul must sign a waiver stating, “I understand that there are risks and dangers inherent in participating in The Soap Factory Haunted Basement including, but not limited to, risk of personal injury or damage to clothing and possessions resulting from walking through a basement area in semi-darkness, flashing lights, strobe lights, low frequency sound, electric shocks, strong smells, physical contact, dirt, disturbing and adult content.”
Check out other, less involved haunted houses around the Twin Cities including Deadview Cemetery, Scream Town, and Dreadwood Haunted Forest. Create your own haunted house memories this year, if you dare.
