Haunt History

The Boneyard

Haunted houses die young. Leases end, warehouses sell, crews burn out, and a thing thousands of people screamed through just stops existing. This is where we keep Reno's dead haunts on the record.

Bring a light. The graves reveal themselves.

A timeline of Reno haunt history

Assembled from news archives, the Wayback Machine, and the memories of people who were there. Know something we missed? Send it in.

• 1993 The crew that will become Silver Raven's K.I.L.L.E.R. Productions starts building community haunts around the region. The same year, Mary Bennett founds the Carson City Ghost Walk, still running today.
• ~1994 Boomtown in Verdi runs a haunted house remembered for its Distortions Unlimited electric chair. Casino Halloween, nineties style.
• 1998 The Ormsby House opens the Haunted House of Horror in Carson City: eight days, $35,000 raised for charity, three-hour lines, and a claimed number-one ranking in Nevada.
• 1999 The sequel goes bigger: 12,000 square feet and 140 staff at the Ormsby House, while the same producers quietly run Frightmares at the Reno Hilton. Within a year, both are gone.
• ~2006 Grimes Castle opens in Carson City, eventually growing to two locations.
• 2006 Eli Kerr's Fright Fest Productions stages the first Reno Fright Fest at the Silver Legacy: "Reno's Only Haunted House! 13 Nights of Terror." The Slaughter House era begins.
• 2008 The first Reno Zombie Crawl shambles through downtown with about 300 people. It will grow to 20,000.
• 2009 The Slaughter House moves inside Meadowood Mall, where it will bill itself as Northern Nevada's largest ever indoor haunted house.
• 2010 Andelin Family Farm runs its first pumpkin patch in Spanish Springs. The fall festival that will spawn Corn Creepers is born.
• 2011 Kingdom of Horrors is running its 26 rooms at Roller Kingdom on East 7th Street.
• 2012 The State of Nevada closes the Nevada State Prison on May 18. The Preservation Society forms that November. Meanwhile the Grand Sierra launches Battlefield LIVE, soon to grow a zombie mode.
• 2013 Peak variety: the Slaughter House goes underground beneath the Rise Nightclub, Frightmare runs four attractions at Victorian Square, Kingdom of Horrors scares skaters, and Grimes Castle takes its final bow.
• 2014 The Slaughter House moves into the Aces ballpark, its biggest and final home. Frightmare runs its last season. Silver Raven buys Grimes Castle's walls. Corn Creepers is scaring people in the Andelin corn.
• 2019 The Slaughter House runs its fourteenth straight season at Greater Nevada Field, now with the Terror Train and zombie laser tag. Nobody knows it's the finale.
• 2020 COVID goes through the haunt industry like a chainsaw. No major Reno haunt operates, and the Slaughter House never returns.
• 2022 A new generation arrives: Dark Corner Haunted House debuts inside the National Bowling Stadium downtown, and The Final Hour opens its first season. A Nevada State Prison Preservation Society board member walks through Dark Corner and gets an idea.
• 2025 Dark Prison opens inside the former Nevada State Prison: three haunts in real cellblocks, 15,000+ visitors, and the only Nevada spot on the Haunted Attraction Association's Iconic Haunts list.
• 2026 Dark Prison signs a five-year deal with the prison. Silver Raven preps its 20th "AnniverSCARY." The Zombie Crawl locks in October 17. And Dark Corner announces a 2027 return. The scene is the healthiest it's been since 2013.