Performers Wanted

PERFORMERS: Tormented Souls Haunt in Madrid, Iowa is looking for some acts to book for their final few nights this season. If you think you have something that would fit in with a Halloween crowd, get in touch with Kumari Henry:

515-321-8356

https://tormentedsoulshaunt.com/contact-us/

I know she’s had various things out there over the years, from fire acts to other sideshow type performers. I’ve passed this along to my various Renaissance festival friends as well.

Barnum/Bussey Circus of Freaks

I previously hosted the website for Circus of Freaks in Bussey, Iowa. The last time I posted about them was in 2020 when they announced they would not operate that year but stated “huge things are coming for the circus. (Ah, Covid, we lost so many things to you that year).

At the time, I had a site category of “Circus of Freaks” for them. With the new-for-2023 Barnum Circus of Freaks, I kept accidentally using the old “Circus of Freaks” category in posts about them. I have now renamed both categories so we will have:

  • Bussey Circus of Freaks
  • Barnum Circus of Freaks

And they both start with ‘B’ so I’ll try hard to select the correct one. For now, I think I have the Barnum posts updated to use their new category.

I also added a new tag in the Directory for “Women Owned“, assigning it to Barnum. I may need to add “Women Managed” as well since in her recent video interview she mentioned this.

I need to see if there are more. Tormented Souls Haunt is led by Kumari Henry (she’s the Walt Disney of that operation), and Haunted Woods is led by Marilyn Harris. They might need one or both of these tags added. I am not sure how many women-owned haunts we have had in this area, but Ankeny Haunted Barn was ran by Mindy Bales after her husband passed, then later ran by her daughter and sons. Going back twenty years, several of the haunted houses at Sleepy Hollow were designed and managed by women. Have there been many/any others?

More to come…

Three nights left for Tormented Souls

If you have never taken the short drive to Madrid (only 22 miles from Merle Hay Mall) to see Tormented Souls, it really is a unique experience unlike other haunted houses. You park in a city park and abandon your car. A repurposed school busses (the “terror bus”) shows up regularly then drives you out in to the middle of nowhere. The haunt is on a plot of land surrounded by trees and you see nothing of the outside world once you are there. They have a trailer ride where you shoot paintballs at targets and zombies, as well as their long haunted walk (they call it a maze, but it’s not really a maze – one path all the way through it, through rooms, outside, more rooms, etc,). It has a vortex tunnel, laser swamp, one of the largest animated props around (it fills a room) and most areas feature custom sound effects tracks made specifically all for them to match the area. They have very ambitious plans to keep growing and expanding the haunt, and it’s a fun night.

And this TikTok video of theirs had over 62,000 views – check it out (no account needed to watch the video):

Plus, it’s outside of DSM so you might be able to catch the Orionid meteor shower away from the city lights. We wanted to see it and we’re trying to figure out where. Madrid may work well.

2022 season!

Well, the last two years have been quite … different. Many haunts didn’t operate at all in 2020. But, with less competition, the audience was funneled to the ones that did operate. I have been told that Trail of Terror had it’s best year ever in 2021. (I tend to believe them, since they are a fundraiser and not a for-profit business; seems every year the haunts will say ”this is our best year yet!” 😉

While I did visit Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights (as well as seeing the new Halloween offering at SeaWorld Orlando), the only visits I made to local haunts was for technical support. (I can now say I’ve ”fixed a dragon” at two haunted houses.) I have similar tasks lined up this year to install new effects, and possibly produce a video documentary with a haunt operator near Clear Lake/Mason City area.

As far as this website goes, a few years ago, I invested in software with a yearly license fee of $300/year. It offered automatic features I had been doing manually on this site since 2010, so I really liked it. The downside is the listing went from a simple one-page ”easy to view” listing to dozens of pages, and a cumbersome directory that was hard to view on a phone.

I have currently let that license lapse, so only basic listing information will be available this year, and I’ll go back to manually doing the Map and Calendars. More work for me, but I think it makes this a more useful site.

Look for updates for 2022 to start, soon. And, if any haunts want to sponsor this site, get in touch with me. If I can generate $300 in donations, I’ll re-activate all the fancy features for this season.

COVID-19 Updates

Although COVID-19 is still alive and well, and there are still people very concerned about it around here, the majority of folks seem to be accepting that it is now just something we all have to live with. I have heard from many who will 100% still NOT go to haunted houses, but overall the mood is much more pro-haunt this year than it’s been the past two seasons.

Haunts

After failing to convince the City of Ankeny to grant them a permit last year, Ankeny Haunted Barn is now officially gone (for the second time, so maybe we’ll see it return for a third time some day). Their inventory has been sold, so if they ever re-start, they will be starting from scratch.

The new owners of Adventureland Resort owners (Parques Reunidos out of Madrid, Spain) are starting their multi-haunt Phantom Fall Fest. Admission at the gate will be $69, and there is a $9.99 fee on top of that to enter one haunted house. As always, this site will track any known discounts so you can save some money.

ScareDSM opened during Covid and lumber price increases. News reports last year covered the challenges of not being able to afford lumber. Let’s consider last year a test run, and see what they do for 2022.

Slaughterhouse continues to pull out all the stops, and is also staffing for the Adventureland event. This is a good sign, since many of the 10+ years of this site (including the years before Covid), the haunts I visited all struggled with getting enough reliable workers to fully operate their haunts. (I would count the number of empty rooms as I visited each haunt.)

Sleepy Hollow Sports Park was sold to Polk County, and we are in their final year or two of them operating special events there. While most expect/hope/plan for it to continue, it will be up to the government about what happens in future years. There’s even been talk of others renting the government park out for their own events in October.

Tormented Souls in Madrid is installing some new effects and scares for this year, but I won’t know the details until I visit them (hopefully soon).

Trail of Terror was the second haunt to contact me this season, making sure I know they are back. Their $15 long forest walk is still the best haunt value around. As a fundraiser, they are just stuffed with actors. Don’t go if you can’t keep up – it’s a huge walk.

Ames Haunted Forest hasn’t updated their social media in years, but they have announced dates for 2022.

Linn’s Supermarket Haunted House still has 2021 dates on their website, but I’ll share news when I have it.

…and I am sure there will be many more updates in coming weeks.

While price increases, inflation, gas price and other factors have put stress on many of our budgets, hopefully folks will still have a Halloween entertainment budget to get out and see some haunts this season. If we don’t support them, they will go away.

More to come…

Tormented Souls 2022

Tormented Souls Haunt has already contacted me about some of their new enhancements for this season. I may be visiting with them soon to help install some new effects. It sounds like they’ve been busy doing some shopping for creepy and loud things.

Their website hasn’t been updated for 2022 yet, but with October being only one month away, I expect we’ll see some activity soon.

Until then…

Tormented Souls adds entertainment

For 2021, Tormented Souls Haunt and Scream Park has added some live entertainment on select nights — a fire act! Sabba Circle has been performing their “hot” show to great response.

Their website states “Not your typical haunted house experience. Give us your soul and we’ll give you the fright of a lifetime!”

Unlike most haunts in the area, Tormented Souls Haunt and Scream Park is a multi-attraction event. In addition to the one (large) haunted walk (containing enclosed “indoor” scenes and large open outdoor scenes), they also have the very first zombie paintball experience that was offered in this area. Zee-Pocalypse is a tractor-pulled trailer with mounted paintball guns. A small group gets to ride the route with a guide while they shoot at stationary targets and live actors (dressed as zombies in protective body armor). Round off the experience with a food truck (on busier nights) and live entertainment (this year featuring a fire show, on certain nights).

But the most interesting part about this haunt is probably how you get there… You do not drive to the haunt location. Instead, you park in a parking lot and a school bus (the “Terror Bus“) arrives and welcomes you onboard. You are then driven away from town, past the cornfields, then eventually in to the woods before you arrive at the actual scream park location.

And for those curious, the location is called Zook Spur, and it is based on a historical mining town that once existed in the area.

If you have never visited Tormented Souls, it’s worth the short drive to Madrid, Iowa. And, if you want a little extra fun, consider their “Seventh Sin Combo Discount” package. Instead of $20 for the haunt and $29 for the zombie paintball ride, you can get them both and save $5… which you can use to buy extra paintball ammunition while on the ride 😉

And tell them you saw them on DM Haunted Houses, please.

2021 Weekend 1 recap

Last weekend was opening weekend for some of the area haunted houses. These included:

Next weekend, Ames Haunted Forest will join them, then the weekend after that, the Trail of Terror. On the weekend closest to Halloween, the haunted house for your vehicle Tunnel of Terror begins.

Normally I hear all kinds of reports from folks who ventured out, but this year has been mostly silent. After some prompting on the Facebook page, we did get some reports from folks who visited Linn’s (seemed like less actors than normal) and Tormented Souls (no lines). I’d look up some of the other comments, but Facebook is currently offline so I can’t get to that page. Thank goodness websites are still a thing 😉

Haunted Barnless

Haunted Barn’s new expanded outdoor section for 2021.

In the meantime, the Ankeny Haunted Barn continues to be a no-go in spite of a petition (requested by the governor’s office for some reason?) and now a GoFundMe to help raise support for relocating the barn for next year.

Waukeeless

The long-running Waukee Haunted House is also a no go for this season, with the decision to skip this year made back in August.

Covidity

While Covid-19 concerns do seem less this year, it is clear that there is still a significant portion of the population that is being cautious. Some haunts have had struggles finding enough actors, but that should come as no surprise since most places seem to have “Now Hiring” signs on display.

Other forms of entertainment, such as movie theaters, are seeing crowds return, but still not to the level they were before the shutdowns last year. This can no longer be blamed on the lack of content to watch since multiple Marvel movies and other “blockbusters” have come out.

Let’s hope for enough safe support for the haunts this year that we won’t lose any of them.

Your thoughts?

Be sure to leave a review for any haunt you visit this season. This is a new feature of DMHauntedHouses, and one that has only been tried a few times so I’m not 100% it fully works.

Give it a shot.

Then check back for more updates as the season progresses…

2021 Season…

Some quick updates on the 2021 season.

As expected, things are moving very slowly this year due to ongoing Covid-19 concerns. Haunts I have heard from so far include:

  • Ames Haunted Forest – will be operating.
  • Ankeny Haunted Barn – will NOT be operating, as of an announcement they made on 9/28/2021. The City of Ankeny denied their special event permit this year.
  • Linn’s Supermarket Haunted House – will be operating.
  • ScareDSM – a new haunted house, to be added to the site soon.
  • Slaughterhouse – will be operating.
  • Tormented Souls Haunt and Scream Park – will be operating.
  • Trail of Terror – will be operating.

Other haunts are either not operating, or have not contacted DMHH to help sponsor this site and be listed here.

Site updates coming by opening haunt season the first weekend of October…

2021 Haunt Season Preview

So far, we have heard from…

  • Ankeny Haunted Barn
  • Linn’s Supermarket Haunted House
  • Slaughterhouse
  • Tormented Souls Haunt
  • Trail of Terror (Baxter)

In this list are two haunts that did not operate last season. We are off to a good start.

Initial site updates began today, but full information won’t be added until later.