Grimes Castle gates opened for the first time Friday and by Saturday night nearly
1,000 people had walked, ran and screamed their way through 4,000 square feet of horrific halls.
The screams echoing through the Carson City building on Saturday were as consistent and ear-piercing as one would hear on a wild rollercoaster ride.
Valerie Kelly moved from Florida to Carson City to haunt Grimes Castle as Grand Witch, after hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma scared her out of her home. She said frightening Northern Nevadans has been well worth the move.
Two girls Saturday night told Kelly at the entrance to the castle they weren't afraid, but by the time they reached the end, they were hugging each other and screaming.
Theresa Kelly, Valerie's mother, said she hasn't ventured into it.
"I've been here from the
building of it; you would think I'd be brave enough to go through it," Theresa Kelly said. "But after hearing the screams and seeing the white faces, I haven't worked up the courage."
More than 30 volunteers covered themselves in fake blood, inflicted fake wounds on each other and yelled until they were horse in order to inflict terror.
A haunting history
Michael Curtis has always adored Halloween. He's volunteered in haunted houses and constructed his own haunted house at home to scare the children in his neighborhood. But that hobby became too expensive, so he said he is delighted to volunteer as a grave robber at Grimes Castle.
"When I scare people and all of a sudden their adrenaline is pumping, my adrenaline starts pumping," Curtis said. "It's like a high that I get all through the night."
Grimes Castle director and makeup artist Dan Hogan has worked as a Halloween fiend since he was a teen.
His wife, Bree Hogan, said Halloween decorations fill their living room, kitchen and the front of the house.
They're passing the tradition on to their 5-year-old daughter, McKenzie, who had been made up with three gaping lesions to her head.
"Scaring someone is an art," Dan Hogan said. "We won't just scare you; we'll mess you up for life."
He said in designing a haunted house, there's more to creating the ability to terrify than just installing guts and gore.
The Grimes Castle features mad scientists, experiments on clowns and ghost hauntings.
"It all depends on the room and how the victim was killed," Dan Hogan said. "Some victims look better slashed. Some victims look better beaten."
Castle doors open at 6:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, until Oct. 31.
The Borrelli family came to the castle to enjoy the Halloween spirit.
"I like being scared," Michelle Borrelli said.
"That's why I come, to watch them run," Glen Borrelli said of his wife and daughter Megan, 12.
They wandered through the castle of long, dark hallways, laboratories and cemeteries to be bombarded with the insane ramblings of clowns and ghosts.
"No clowns!" Megan Borrelli said as she ran out of Grimes Castle
"Look at her. She's shaking," Michelle Borrelli said as her daughter held out a trembling hand.
"She practically dragged us out of some of the rooms," Glen Borrelli said. "I wanted to enjoy the scenery."
"You just about broke our fingers," Michelle Borrelli teased Megan while massaging feeling back into her hand.
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