El Paso’s longest running haunted house is celebrating its 20th anniversary; the KLAQ Haunted House is one of the radio station’s crowning achievements, and this year organizers have taken fear to a whole new level. In recognition of the double decade status, the station has switched things up a bit. This year’s haunted house is at an outdoor venue, and aptly dubbed “The Haunted Forest.”
“This is a celebratory year for the haunted house and we’ve made a lot of big changes,” said Emily Beardmore, the live events coordinator for Townsquare Media (KLAQ’s parent company). “We’re now outdoors for the first time ever.”
A macabre montage of various horror film scenes have been created at this year’s venue, which is an abandoned paintball facility on Zaragoza across from Oasis Lanes. Towering trees, some of them dead, dot the landscape.
“Every scene is based on a horror film, and there are even some from action films. I don’t want to give too much away, but I can tell you you’ll see Silent Hill—that’s one of our big ones. You’ll see Jason from Friday the 13th. You’ll see The Ring.”
A couple of bonus features came along with the venue.
“There were already a couple structures out there. For instance there’s a cabin. And an even cooler feature is that there’s a slimy coating on the structures from all of the old paint.”
To add to the creep factor, 915 Live Productions built more cabins and other scenes.
Another new feature this year is an aesthetic twist.
“This year we’ve stepped up our game. Now it’s 4-D, meaning the guests actually get touched with things like blasts of air, or being sprayed with [fake] blood. The actors cannot touch the guests, but the elements can.”
All of the actors are local. There are between 18 and 25 on any given night. Demented clowns, zombies, psychopaths, demons—all manner of freaks and weirdo’s are out to inspire every kind of fear.
“We have some really great actors. Some of them are brand new, and some are veterans who have been doing this for years. They make their own costumes and masks. These people are horror fanatics.”
One of the so-called veteran actors Eddie has been portraying various demented characters for the last 9 years.
“I love doing this. I love Halloween and I really love to scare people,” he said. “My favorite character to play is Giggles, the clown. But this year I’m a psycho who sprays blood all over people and holds a screaming girl hostage.”
Another actor whose frightening incursion comes towards the end of the haunt had this to say:
“I love scaring people. I played a character in the haunted house last year and scared one of the people so bad she wet herself. Hopefully that happens again this year.”
The Haunted Forest is open the entire month of October from Wednesday to Sunday night, with promotions happening on certain nights: On Wicked Wednesdays guests can hit up the Legendary Tipsy Tiger after their trip down misery lane and enjoy 2 dollar witches brew shots. On Bloodthirsty Thursdays the first 20 guests who donate blood at United Blood Services get in the haunted house free. Fridays are reserved for horror film screenings.
The event organizers worked with a number of sponsors and community members to bring this monstrous endeavor to life.
“We have a massive team for all of the behind the scenes stuff, including 915 Live Productions,” Beardmore said. “Different high schools volunteered some time, which helped speed the process up in a big way.”
Corporate sponsors include Metro PCS, One Source Federal Credit Union, Las Palmas Del Sol, Southwest University and more. The need for sponsors is an ongoing thing. Beardmore explains:
“We’re always looking for more sponsors to help us and to get their name out into the community and help grow events. If you grow events it naturally makes our community more fun, and we can grow El Paso together. That will just help bring in more population, helping all of us in the end.”
Not only is the KLAQ haunted house the city’s longest-running attraction of its kind, it is also the longest haunt— it takes between 15 and 20 minute to get through the entire thing. The amount of time it takes to complete really depends on how brave you are.
“It can take shorter or longer to get through,” Beardmore said. “It just depends on your crew—are they the running kind or the viewing kind?”
Beardmore said they encourage parents to bring kids if they are 14 and over, as some of the material may be too scary for younger children.
“We really try to touch on every type of fear, whether its people jumping out at you, twisted and demented, or that spine-tingling suspense,” she said. “We’re trying to capture every type at the Haunted Forest.”
KLAQ Haunted Forest Oct. 1-31, 2015 Wed., Thurs., and Sun. 7-11 p.m. / Fri., Sat. 7 p.m.-1 a.m. 1773 Pali Dr. (Ricky’s Paintball) off Zaragoza 14+ years old recommended G.A. tickets $12 on site (grab your $2 off Metro PCS pass)
Fast Pass $15, get to the front of the line faster. Psycho Season Pass starts at $55. Unlimited entries into haunt, pass holder only.
All ticket types on sale at holdmyticket.com.
