Dark Prison

Dark Prison runs inside the former Nevada State Prison in Carson City, which held inmates from 1862 until the state closed it in 2012. The haunt opened in 2025 and is back for its second season. Its CEO is Holly Spahr.

Three separate haunts share the grounds. Cell Block C is back with a new storyline, Unit 15 is a slasher route through the old license plate factory and other work areas, and The Institute for the Unwell is set in a 1957 psychiatric ward. Dark Prison says it puts more than 60 live actors on the grounds each night. Between haunts, The Yard has food trucks, games, a live DJ, and fire pits, and this year The Shiv Bar (21+) sets up out there too. Plan on spending the evening.

The building has a long record of its own. The prison opened two years before Nevada became a state, with Carson City founder Abraham Curry as its first warden, and its quarry, worked by inmates, supplied the sandstone for the State Capitol. In 1924 it carried out the world’s first execution by lethal gas. From 1932 to 1967 inmates ran the Bullpen, a casino inside the walls with its own brass tokens. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2026 Dark Prison signed a five-year partnership with the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society, the nonprofit working to preserve it.

It holds a 4.9 Google rating across 372 reviews, the highest of any haunt in the Reno, Sparks, and Carson City area. The Haunted Attraction Association put it on its Iconic (Platinum) list in 2025 and again in September 2026, and Dark Prison says more than 15,000 people came through in its first season.

Know before you go

Dark Prison recommends ages 13 and up, requires an adult with anyone 12 or under, and doesn’t admit children under 5. Expect strobes, fog, and a no-touch rule in both directions. Entry runs on timed 30-minute slots, 6:30 to 10 pm most nights and 6 to 11:30 pm on peak Saturdays. A $34.95 advance GA ticket gets you into everything except the VIP areas, with food and drinks extra. Pricing is dynamic, and GA at the gate is $49.95. Its own ticket details warn that “queue waits may be up to one hour,” even with a timed ticket, so allow time for the line.

VIP with Tour ($74.95 in advance, $89.95 at the gate) includes a 20-minute behind-the-scenes tour and a drink, along with a separate way into the haunts and an upstairs lounge with its own bar. Parking is free. Two dates stand apart on the calendar. Behind the Screams is an hour-long tour of the sets with nobody in costume, on October 2, 10, 23, and 29; it’s a separate $74.95 ticket and doesn’t include the haunt. A Flashlight Night closes the season on November 1, and Dark Prison also runs a Halfway to Halloween show each May.