Denver Haunted Houses – the 13th Floor

It’s that time of year again.  Time to begin planning that creative costume. Time to go hunting for the perfect pumpkin for whatever vision of a Jack O Lantern you have.  Time to go shopping for candy to give out for trick or treat (isn’t it funny how much of that candy disappears before trick or treat night).

And it’s time to be scared.

One of the most popular Halloween activities for young and old alike is the annual visit (or visits) to the many local Denver Haunted Houses.  I had an opportunity to visit one of the most famous of these Haunted Houses, Denver’s 13th Floor, on it’s opening night.  It was media night and many local news agencies and bloggers had been invited to come down and be among the first to go through the new 13th Floor for 2010.

So I called up a few friends and invited them to join me.  Just to give you an idea of the enthusiasm one friend’s response was “An adult haunted house… F*** YEAH!!   She was excited.  Three of us went down on and waited a short while for our group to be queued up to enter.  I should mention that the way the 13th floor operates the line is broken down into groups.  This way as you go through the 13th floor you get to make sure that your scares aren’t ruined by seeing what happened to the group in front of you.  And here comes the real key.  If you want to be really scared you should volunteer to take the lead in your group.  90% of the time whatever is going to jump out, up or at you in this Haunted House is going to surprise whomever is in front.  Those who prefer less frights and more sights can safely stay towards the back of the group and have a less shocking experience.

Needless to say, I was up front a lot.  The summary… it was great.  The 13th floor is broken into two separate Haunted Houses.  The first half is based upon “The Hills have Eyes” and was a lot of scary (or at least disturbing) sections that may have been dreamed up by picturing what would happen if the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Family had inbred itself into an entire family tree.  Creepy.  The second half is based upon the namesake of the Haunted House… the 13th Floor.  I preferred the second half to the first as it also involved a number of optical illusions and other effects that I just don’t want to share for fear of ruining it for you.

As the adults in our group we had a great time.  But I think what truly added to our fun were the two youngsters who got thrown into our group.  I’m not sure what happens as you get older that decreases your imagination (whatever it is I’m fighting it) but while the adults certainly jumped, it was the youth who let themselves be fully taken into the imaginary world of the Haunted House.   And due to their stronger reactions, whether it was a scream or a laugh, we all found ourselves loosening up and letting ourselves be taken further into this scary world of fright and surprises.  After all, that’s why we came to the haunted house.  Not to look for how the makeup was applied or to ponder “hmmm, how did they do that”.  We went to be scared and to have an experience.. and a fun one at that.

So by all means I encourage you to go to the 13th floor and check it out.  Just remember to leave the adult inside you at home.  They can worry about real life while you go be a kid for a night.

Here are some more details…

Here’s a bit more information on the 13th Floor:
Have you ever wondered…Where is the 13th Floor and why is it absent in most buildings? Find out at the 13th Floor Haunted House, where 75 actors will bring the legend of the often omitted floor to life with brand-new icon character masks designed by Getscared.com’s own FX team, and a never before seen mirror maze where guests can get the horrifying reflections of their creepy environment in an entirely new and eerie way. This year, haunted house enthusiasts will be able to experience the 13th Floor for the first time – again – at the NEW location that makes it the only stand alone (free standing) haunted house in the city of Denver. The design will creep like never before with high-tech, multi-motion, larger-than-life, utterly unique monsters that will bring an entirely new definition to the word scared. 2010 marks the third season for the 13th Floor, which has quickly become the highest attended haunted house in Denver and has drawn national acclaim and will be featured tomorrow (Tuesday, 9/21 at 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.) on the Travel Channel’s America Haunts television series.