Everyone Loves Merlyn

Linn’s Haunted House opened last Friday night, as originally planned before the unfortunate passing of its founder, Merlyn Linn. The family vowed to operate the haunted house this year as Merlyn would have wanted.

This year, they are doing a new series of T-shirts. Here are what the old ones looked like, back in 2013:

Linn’s Haunted House T-Shirts, 2013.

The new shirts can be ordered at the following link — though in 2026, they cost a bit more, as expected:

But hurry! According to their website, the cutoff to place an order is October 6th.

And speaking of Linn’s shirts, I wore my 2013 edition out to breakfast at Drake Diner today.

Through this experience, we really started to understand how many people know Merlyn Linn. The worker who sat us at the table noticed the shirt, and talked about Merlyn a bit — saying he would often come in and order TO GO.

Another server saw the shirt, and asked if we’d heard the news about Merlyn’s passing.

I expect to hear from many more folks this season as I wear this shirt while out and about.

Anyway, order a new shirt. Go to Linn’s Haunted House. Have a great October.

One weekend down, three more to go…

Tonight is the night…

Tonight is the first night of Halloween month (that’s October for normal people, as opposed to August for Walt Disney World fans) to visit a haunted house here in Des Moines. (Both Slaughterhouse and Adventureland decided September was a better time to start, so…)

Check out the calendar to see what’s happening tonight.

Check out the haunt index to learn more about them.

And visit the map to see where they are.

Some are even offering discounts tonight, so check the Facebook pages and see if you can save some money.

And, if you drop by Linn’s Haunted House, tell them the DMHH guy sends his love. <3

Bouton Haunted House & Tunnel of Terror added.

Welcome back, again, Bouton Haunted House.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565172877405

…and Oasis Car Wash is back with their Tunnel of Terror but this time it will be at their Altoona location:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581477073579

Altoona Tunnel of Terror car wash for 2026.

Oct 13 toast to Merlyn Linn at The Haunt

The Haunt (bar) is opening on a Tuesday night, October 13, from 7pm to 11pm in honor of the late Merlyn Linn. Adults who knew Merlyn directly, or through visiting his haunted house, are encouraged to join us as we raise a glass in honor of this wonderful human being.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/share/1UWYbwM8Wn/

The Haunt’s Website: https://slaughterhousedm.com/haunt

The Haunt, Des Moines’ only “haunted” bar 😉

Haunt calendar back online…

I have started to add haunted house operating dates and times to the DMHH calendar. You can view this on the website, or add it to your phone to get a list of the haunts. NOTE: Unless someone can teach me how, I don’t think it auto updates once you add it to your device. As I make changes/corrections, you may have to delete and re-add.

I have started with what is listed on the official websites. If the page shows dates, but not hours, I just put it in as a daily event. Some information is missing — if it’s not easy to find (like the main page of a website should have where/when/how much) I may not have that on my calendar yet.

Here is the link:

https://dmhauntedhouses.com/calendar/

Rest in peace, Merlyn Linn

The man behind Linn’s Supermarket Haunted House, Merlyn Linn, has passed away at age 88. Currently, the family plans to continue his wish to operate Linn’s Haunted House this season. For details on Merlyn’s passing, as well as the haunted house plans for this year, visit their website or Facebook page.

https://www.linnshauntedhouse.com

I chatted with Merlyn so many times over the years and was always amazed he was still going full speed ahead each season. He’d be crawling through the tunnels with a vacuum, or popping up and down the basement stairs with a flashlight, non stop. Just watching him made me exhausted.

I will miss him very much. I still have not come to terms with this news.

The Docks haunted house?

After rebranding from “Barnum Circus of Freaks” to “Barnum Carnival of Freaks”, it looks like with have the fifth name for a haunted house at that location —

https://thedocksdsm.com

I have not heard any details on this yet, though, but believe it is the same ownership/management because they still are using the old e-mail address from the Circus/Carnival days, and even still call it “Barnum Carnival of Freaks” on their contact us page.

If I hear anything, I’ll update…