On October 8, 2015, students that worked for a school newspaper were allowed to write about the haunted attraction 13^th Floor Haunted House in Melrose Park. The 13^th Floor is based on the superstition of the thirteenth floor, featuring ghosts, murders, hauntings, fears, etc. Many buildings actually don’t have a thirteenth floor (due to the owner being very superstitious), therefore the building’s fourteenth floor would actually be the thirteenth floor. Spooky, isn’t it? Well, so is the entire production of the 13^th Floor Haunted House.

Alison Bruder, publicist for the 13^th Floor, gave a grand tour of the haunted house. Touring through the makeup department and it was shocking of all the fast paced makeup artists going against time. Werewolves and zombies passing around everywhere. The artists try to do five minutes per person. The 13^th Floor has around 95 actors and actresses! Alison said, “Depends on how detailed the person needs to be; if the person needs little make up it’ll take less time…” Even Hedges, while working, stated, “Yeah, well it’s stressful and hard, but you get hyper focused.” If you are interested in having a job or volunteering as a makeup artist the 13th Floor Haunted House welcomes anyone; no background needed and if you would like there are training for specific artists (airbrush, special effects, etc). As well for acting jobs/volunteers; job links are on the 13^th Floor website.

Alison, then took us inside the haunted house to give a tour without the house being active. It’s remarkable of all the detail everyone puts into the haunted house, all the little details and even the big ones. Cave walls around the haunted house were hand made by the workers, the potion room was all handmade (Fun Fact: some of the workers went to Whole Foods to buy an Octopus and put it inside of a bottle for detail). The detail in every room really shows how hard these people worked to really give the customers a good scare. Another fun fact, some props in the rooms were bought from other attractions and real buildings; like the casino machines in the casino room. Though, the down part is that you can barely see all these details, because of you running around/away from the actors/actresses or the poor lighting. Hannah Cobb said, “They put in a lot of work and detail in everything, but you miss a lot of it since its dark and they’re trying to scare you.”

This is the 13^th Floor Haunted House second year in Illinois. All the decorations, props, lighting, special effects, etc, were kept in the same place all year round. There were additions to this year’s haunted house; for example, they created an outside town with werewolves roaming around trying to scare you. A lot of the props and buildings were created in San Antonio, where another 13^th Floor Haunted House is located, and were shipped to Illinois. About, an average of fifteen to twenty people are needed to set everything up. Let alone all these costs for just the props, an average of around $25,000 is needed for just wardrobe and makeup. Also, wardrobe actually make the costumes for the actors/actresses, because buying costumes already made would be very more costly.

Going backstage and seeing all the hard work the actors/actresses, wardrobe, makeup artists, overall everyone put into making this haunted house; it was astonishing and amazing how the haunted house turned out. Andrew (an actor at the haunted house) said, “I love it. I’ve been doing this for five years. I’ve been a volunteer for two years and I still come back. I manage my time just to come here. It’s awesome. Haunt Fever.” I really recommend you coming out to see the 13^th Floor Haunted House; it’ll give you the right chills at the right times. If you loves to get scared and can’t get enough of it; the 13^th Floor Haunted House also opens in Christmas and Valentine’s Day, because you doesn’t love fear and fright on a lovey dovey day? Make sure that you’re looking forward, backward, left, right, up, and down, and you’ll be completely safe (hopefully). Also, wear comfortable clothes and shoes, because you’ll be running for your life every corner you pass…MWAHAHAHAHA!