Buzz Blog

Nightmare on 13th

320 W. 1300 South, Salt Lake City, 801-467-8100, NightmareOn13th.com

Heading into its 26th year of operation in a 36,000-square-foot warehouse, Nightmare on 13th is known for being one of the longest-lasting and biggest haunted attractions in the state. Employing an army of animatronic robots and live actors (or are they?) this year’s theme, “Phantasms” celebrates all things ghostly. Who you gonna call? Your heart doctor, probably.

Fear Factory

666 W. 800 South, Salt Lake City, 801-692-3327, FearFactorySLC.com

Fear resides in this 100- year-old abandoned cement factory turned haunted house. Along with the expected thrills, there are extreme attractions such as a free fall and zip line (as if the factory wasn’t scary enough). Actors here even recite scripts from a satanic bible—fitting for the eery building, whose street number is 666.

Castle of Chaos

7980 S. State, Midvale, 385-216-8915, CastleOfChaos.com

The Castle has gone through a series of renovations in preparation for the 2016 scare season, including a “Chaos Escape Room,” where people are placed in rooms and must collect clues in order to escape the area before the “collector” returns to finish everyone off. And that’s just one of the areas in this year’s iteration. Check out the “Four Levels of Fear” … if you dare.

Haunted Forest

100 W. 6400 North, American Fork, 801-903-3039, HauntedUtah.com

Leave your cutesy Hansel and Gretel expectations at the door. The Haunted Forest revolves around the tales of the haunting of a woman named Annie, betrothed to a man who died in an American Fork mine in 1913. The forest is made up of 5 acres of forest, dungeons, swamps and Annie’s old home, where she can still be heard shrieking in grief for her lost love.

Strangling Brothers Utah Haunted Circus

632 E. 1500 South, American Fork, 801-850-8060, StranglingBrothers.com

Every fall, the nationally acclaimed Strangling Brothers circus rolls into town, bringing with it frightening clowns—don’t shoot! Along with the Haunted Circus, there is also the Zombie Hunt, where patrons can gear up and fight back the army of the dead with glow in the dark paintballs and paint guns.

Haunted Hollow

1550 S. 1900 West, Ogden, 801-603-2231, HauntedUtah.com

Dubbed “the mother of all terrors” and owned by Tombstone Entertainment, which also oversees the Haunted Forest, Haunted Hollow is nearly three times bigger than its sister attraction. Explore—get this—13 acres of cursed trees and beware of the monsters, ghouls and ghosts hiding in the crevices. Bring an extra set of underpants.

Asylum 49

140 E. 200 South, Tooele, 435-224-6283, Asylum49.com

Back in the ’70s, Provo-based Utah State Hospital debuted “spook alley,” an area of the mental-care facility that was set up by actual patients and billed as an attraction. Political correctness did away with the all-too-real experience, and now Asylum 49 picks up where the institution left off. A “Things to know” disclaimer lets you know you might be touched, grabbed, separated from your group and even strapped to a metal bed. The following item on the list reads: “If you can’t handle rule No. 1, then don’t come, whimpo.”

Frightmares

375 Lagoon Drive, Farmington, 801-451-8000, LagoonPark.com

Worried that the little ones will get too scared in a regular haunted house, or that you’ll be bored at a child-oriented attraction? Lagoon Amusement Park understands your struggle and provides child-friendly mazes and walk-throughs as well as the less-restrained Devil’s Nightwalk and the jail-inspired Zombie Lockdown. Unlike the Utah Department of Corrections, the lockdown is sincere is offering the following warning on its website: “Once you enter this prison, you may never leave the same.”