VR haunted house at Merle Hay Mall

Merle Hay Mall just shared on Facebook that the White Rabbit VR Arcade has four virtual haunted houses available. Up to four guests can go through them (virtually) at a time, and the experience can take up to an hour.

I am very intrigued with this, since I first experienced VR in the early 1990s playing Dactyl Nightmare at a Dave & Busters in Dallas, Texas. More recently, I played some scary programs on a $300 Oculus Quest standalone VR helmet and the quality just blew me away.

I have reached out to White Rabbit VR to learn more. If it turns out it is a good fit for listing on this site, I will get them added.

Zombie Hollow in WInterset

Zombie Hollow was the most amazing walk through Halloween display around during its years in Urbandale, Iowa. A few years ago, the creator moved to Winterset.

For 2023, Zombie Hollow is now a commercial haunt experience in Winterset. They have been added to the index, the map and calendar.

Due to limited parking, you must by a timed ticket in advance. Find out more about this must-see Halloween experience here:

Zombie Hollow

The Mare Witch Project returns…

The Carlisle Haunted Woods is back this year, and even has a website. Last year, I could find nothing about this except a photo of a flyer someone sent to me. This year, I can point people to an official website.

It is running A LOT of nights – 14! That gets it right up there with some of the other well-established haunts in the area.

There is also a one-night Carlisle “Haunted Trail” event as part of a city festival, but that is a different thing.

Get details here:

Carlisle Haunted Woods

2023 Haunt List being updated…

I have finally gotten time to start updating the haunted house list for 2023. Only a few of the local haunts are in there now, and there may still be some items yet to be updated for this year so be sure to check with the official website.

More to come… Hopefully I will have all the local haunts updated accurately this week.

HAUNTS: If there is an error, please let me know.

Club Blood is back (but not at Sleepy Hollow)

Fan-favorite Club Blood is back again, at least in name. The previous Club Blood was an all-ages “silent disco” attraction at Sleepy Hollow Sports park. It was decorated with hand-painted floor-to-ceiling banners of classic horror movie icons in different poses. (The wonderful work of their staff artist and set decorator, Tina.)

This year, Des Moines gets Club Blood again, but it will be an bar at Adventureland’s Phantom Fall Feast. Those of you who know area haunt history may recall that a former general manager of Sleepy Hollow went to for work Adventureland, but it is unlikely this had anything to do with them using the name (he left just before the park was sold to Palace Entertainment a few years ago). The naming of Club Blood is likely just a coincidence (Kansas City’s Worlds of Fun also featured a Club Blood scene in its vampire haunted house, if I recall).

But who knows. Sleepy Hollow always used the phrase “All night fright” in its TV ads (I made many of those TV ads over the years), and last year Adventureland started using “Fright all night.” After Club Blood this year, maybe we’ll see the amusement park add Blazing Jack-o-Lanterns or something next year 😉