Home haunts

The Ambush is the big one. The Grubb family has been building a haunted house through their entire Wingfield Springs backyard for nearly two decades, and it stopped being a “yard display” a long time ago. Construction starts in July. By late October there’s a full walkthrough with detailed sets, animatronics, and 12 to 15 live actors a night, many recruited from local high school honor societies. The front yard runs its own show with a small army of 12-foot skeletons.

More than 10,000 people came through in a single recent season, and the whole operation is free. Donations go to the Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation, matched dollar for dollar by the William N. Pennington Foundation. In its earlier years the haunt collected for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, so bring cash or a can and it will find a good home either way.

Younger kids get a bypass route around the intense rooms, and a dedicated Kids Night runs with the scare actors off. Dates post on the family’s Facebook page each fall.

Silver Raven has been scaring Sparks since 2006, which makes it the longest-standing charity haunt in the area. It’s built each fall by a crew of family and friends who operate under the name K.I.L.L.E.R. Productions, an acronym of the founders’ names, and who have been building community haunts around the region since 1993. The handmade props are the charm here; this is a haunt with fingerprints on it.

It also carries a piece of haunt history inside it. When Carson City’s Grimes Castle closed, the Silver Raven crew bought its wood-panel walkthrough walls in 2014. They’ve been reassembled on Holman Way every October since.

Entry costs a canned good. Everything collected goes to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, and one directory reviewer summed up the model well: it collects food for the hungry instead of admission.

The run opens with a no-scare Kids Night, then flips to full-scare nights through Halloween, with food trucks parked outside in recent years. And they’re already planning ahead: the crew has announced their 2026 theme, a 20th “AnniverSCARY.” Dates land on their site and Facebook in the fall.

The Britt family started decorating their Damonte Ranch corner in 2009 with, in their own telling, some blow-ups and spiders. It escalated. By 2023 the display had landed on national television, competing on ABC’s The Great Halloween Fright Fight for a $50,000 prize.

The signature move is the projection-mapped garage door, which runs themed shows from Beetlejuice to Stranger Things on a loop, backed by a foggy graveyard of tombstones, wicked jack-o’-lanterns, and costumed characters. The build takes about two months and starts going up in late August, so the haunt is usually watchable weeks before Halloween.

This one’s a look-from-the-street display rather than a walkthrough, and it’s free. Come after dark, expect company; the cul-de-sac gets packed on peak nights.

Deadwood Manor does something no other haunt in the area attempts: a continuing story. Lord and Lady Deadwood’s daughter Laura went missing, only her favorite doll was found, a séance was held to find answers, and then the hosts themselves vanished. Each season picks the plot back up, and visitors walk the house looking for clues.

The Tate family builds it in and around their Cold Springs home, with about 80 percent of the props handmade. It’s also deliberately lit. Most haunts hide in darkness; this one wants you to see, because the pictures on the walls carry the story.

It’s free, family-friendly, and no-touch. The family has run it since around 2019, most recently confirmed in 2024, so check their Facebook or TikTok before making the drive north.