Emily Considine
Whether you’re terrified of Halloween’s haunted houses or think you can handle anything, there are several options around Bloomington-Normal that want to challenge you. Haunted houses are the perfect way to indulge yourself in the Halloween season, hold your girlfriend’s hand and act like the tough guy or see how much you can truly handle before you wet your pants.
Terror On Washington Street is located in Clinton, IL, which is approximately 30 minutes from campus. This haunted house contains intense audio and lighting, which includes strobe lights, extremely low visibility, damp or wet conditions, fog and a physically-demanding environment. General admission is $9, although there are other options such as the R.I.P pass, which allows visitors to rush to the front of line with no wait, costing $18. The house hours are 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Located in Pontiac, IL, Henry Street Horrors features a haunted house and non-linear maze (all one attraction). The maze portion of the haunted house is an actual maze and people can and most likely will get lost. Visitors should be sure to allow themselves at least an hour for this event. General admission is $10 and the haunted house is open from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on the weekend of Oct. 31. Henry Street Horrors is only about 45 minutes from campus.
Champaign, IL offers one of the scariest haunted houses in the area—BoneSaw Mill. It is located at an actual sawmill, with a haunting story attached to it. According to the website, the mill is haunted by Vaughn Dower, who was 33 years old the night he died. He became a full-time employee of the mill when he was 23 years old.
The mill’s owner, Bill West, his younger brother Richard and another employee, Mike Rizzo, conspired to kill Dower after discovering chilling information about his personal life. He was found to be a practitioner of black magic, if not something considerably older and darker. Dower was killed on Oct. 1, 1983 by three prominent members of Champaign’s Boneyard Mill, a thriving lumberyard and mill on the northeast side of town. Almost 10 years later, on the anniversary of his death, Dower returned to life.
General admission is $15. The haunted house is open from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Oct. 31.
The longest running “Outdoor Haunted Attraction” in Central Illinois is Spook Hollow and Mac Manor. Now, after 35 years of scaring Central Illinois, the Marquette Heights Men’s Club presents three horrifying events for one admission price of $25. Spook Hollow, the one that started it all, leads victims deep into the woods of Independence Park. After that, M.C. Nightmare leads visitors through a twisted and run-down industrial haunt destined to claim another lost soul and bury it deep within its rusty walls. The three haunts are called a “Trilogy of Terror.” This attraction is open from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.