We may not go trick-or-treating anymore as college students, but there are several festivities to take part in. You will not want to miss the football game on Thursday night as Arizona State takes on the Oregon Ducks at 7:30. This game will be nationally televised on ESPN and it is a great way to start off Halloweekend. Friday and Saturday will be full of partying, people-watching, and risqué costumes. However, there are off-campus events to get you in the Halloween mindset.
I am not talking about pumpkin patches or costume parties. There is no element of fear in either of these elements, the foundational characteristic of Halloween. That is why I am going to give you the run-down on the best haunted houses in the area. Haunted houses are perfect for dates, group outings, and family affairs. To really experience Halloween, find some free time to check one of these out...
13th Floor Haunted House - Phoenix, Arizona
The world famous 13th Floor is back in Phoenix for the 2015 Halloween Season! Created by nationally recognized and award winning haunted house designers, the 13th Floor will transport you to new levels of horror. You will be terrified by 2 epic haunted attraction walkthroughs for one all-inclusive price: “Feral Moon” and “Patient Alpha.” The 13th Floor is an intense, graphic, theatrical show that will take you on a gut wrenching ride of visceral thrills and psychological horror. 60,000 square feet of shocking twists and horrifying turns are waiting for you, get ready!
AZ Field of Screams - Glendale, Arizona
There is most definitely something lurking out in the vast cornfields of Tolmachoff Farms in Glendale. Something similarly ghostly and undead. Sinister creatures like leatherfaced freaks, evil clowns, and bloodied brutes are eager to make your acquaintance throughout the six-acre field and inside a few haunted structures scattered along the way.hen demonic denizens of Field of Sceams' lengthy maze jump out at you, it's definitely going to startle and alarm.
Fear Farm Haunted House - Phoenix, Arizona
Fear Farm is an enormous theme park-like complex over in the West Valley, which is spread out over 27 acres and offers enough room for its cast of hundreds to pursue you with roaring chainsaws that sport actual blades. The place still has the rowdy feel of a block party and carnival with various games, rides, music, and vendors, while its resident evildoers Tremmors and Stitch, a pair of wicked and ribald clowns, are still wandering about and both cracking wise and causing mayhem wherever they can find it. There's a brand new attraction inspired by the Mexican folklore legend of "La Llorona" (or "The Weeping Woman," who supposedly kidnapped and murdered children), as well as remodeling and updating for the other four.
Chambers of Fear - Surprise, Arizona
You might feel a nagging urge to keep looking over your shoulder while traipsing cautiously through the ominous murk of either "Darkness: Industrial Nightmare" or the titular "Chambers of Fear," the two indoor attractions at this Halloween mainstay in Surprise. Why? Because its population of ghouls, fiends, and monsters tend to come at you from all sides, including sneaking up from behind and chasing you inexorably towards whatever impending doom awaits in the next room. Chambers of Fear also has an outdoor portion, dubbed "Scary Tales". It is equally as fear-provoking with its cast of warped storybook characters like Alice in Wonderland and a Little Red Riding Hood, who are more creepy than cute, prey upon patrons underneath the stars.
Sanctum of Horror Haunted House - Mesa, Arizona
For 7 years, Sanctum of Horror has been scaring the East Valley with breathtaking makeup and incredible detail that will surely frighten the soul. Not only will you be terrified, but be immersed in the Sanctum’s world. Those who enter this abyss succumb to madness, and now the sanctum has found its way into the mind of a little girl. You will enter the twisted mind of Lenore, and relive her violent past. If you navigate the decaying walls of her childhood home and witness the brutal murders of her kin, you may make it out alive.
The Crypt Haunted Attraction - Chandler, Arizona
"The Crypt" is a foreboding funerary themed show that is s guarded by a pair of grim reaper statues outside and populated with ghoulish figures quite eager to fit you for a coffin and help you shuffle loose the moral coil. It is one of the longest running haunted houses in Arizona! Meanwhile the other attraction, "The Asylum", is literally a madhouse of crazy scenarios and an even crazier cast of deranged inmates. The fact that both are located outside can heighten the eerie atmosphere at both.
Scarizona Scaregrounds - Mesa, Arizona
Scarizona Scaregrounds is Arizona’s newest place of fear. Featuring two haunted houses, "Epic Fear", "Slayers Slaughter House" and Arizona’s first interactive zombie paintball shoot “Operation Zombie Storm.” Different nightly entertainment, live bands, DJ’s, and the Beer and Wine Cemetery. Make sure to attempt the chainsaw gauntlet, a nightly timed event where the contestant will dare to enter the gauntlet and escape with the fastest time.
