COLORADO SPRINGS — Haunted houses are adapting to keep the spook alive and make sure Halloween fun doesn't die during the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes Hellscream Haunted House in Colorado Springs.
The attraction, located on Hancock Ave., made a lot of changes to ensure guests' safety. Some of those changes are seen before you enter the attraction, like having groups socially distanced while they wait outside, and ensuring everyone wears a masks at all times.
"We also want to have a fun spooky season, we just have to do it differently," said Leonis, an actor and Media Relations Liason for Hellscream Haunted House. "We've been altering, changing, making things better, and trying to make things as clean as possible."
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the scariest things many of us have seen in 2020, and while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers haunted house attractions high risk, staff at
Hellscream are pulling out the tricks to make sure people enjoy the attraction safely.
There are only about half of the staff working than in years past and all the actors have masks on, hand sanitizing stations are placed throughout the attraction, and actors disinfect areas every few minutes, especially surfaces that are touched by guests like handrails and walls.
"The actors are so good at taking those supplies, hiding them and going back to their scare, and then going right back to cleaning once the group is gone," said Leonis. "Every single one of our actors is pulling triple duty right now."
Visitors are also asked to avoid catching up to groups in front of their's and guests are no longer grouped with other households.
"We're not going to put you with another group that just walked up like we have in years past," said Leonis. "Every group goes inside the haunt as the group they came with."
Leonis says actors are still able to spook visitors from six feet and 12 feet away, but it's a little more challenging than before.
"The actors and actresses give so much energy because they have to be three times more expressive in order to get their point across," said Leonis.
The attraction is also offering no contact ticketing. For more information, click here.
