History of Dead City Haunted House in Salt Lake City (Murray) Utah:
As a teenager the owner of Dead City Haunted House attended several haunted houses, The March of Dimes Haunted Houses, The Institute of Terror Haunted House (now Nightmare on 13th), The Haunted Woods at Wheeler Farm, The Haunted Old Mill Haunted House, Rocky Point Haunted House, Alien Encounters Haunted House, The State Fair Park Haunted Houses, and the Nightmare at the Grand Haunted House at SLC Community College. Attending these events generated further interest in haunted houses, made fun memories, and provided a wealth of experiences to draw from for future event creation. He also learned how to make many special effects in a high school electronics class where he learned how to make plasma balls, Jacobs Ladders, Tesla Coils, strobe lights, zap effects and other electronic devices.
Having and interest in animatronics and robotics he attended the University of Utah and received a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. While at the U of U he developed an animatronic control circuit card and used it to make coin operated talking skeletons. In 1996 the owners of The Institute of Terror (now Nightmare on 13th) discovered the skeletons and asked to use the system for a new concept they were working on called Terror Theater. Subsequently two talking skeletons were made for the first season of Terror Theater. The animated theater continued to progress and is still an integral part of the Nightmare on 13th Haunted House.
In 1997 after the success of Terror Theater the DCHH owner decided to open his own haunted house called The Haunted Old West at the Wagonmaster restaurant. Ironically in the same building that Dead City Haunted House now resides. The event was around 18,000 square feet, had several automated effects, approximately 40-50 actors, vortex tunnel, two giant puppet characters, and many other fun effects. The entire event had one week to be completely set up before the opening night and had to be taken down in a few days before the start of holiday parties.
After the success of The Haunted Old West the haunted house event was sold to the Utah Fun Dome family entertainment center in Murray Utah and operated for two years as a temporary event set up in the roller skating rink. 15,000 to 20,000 guests attended the event each year. The temporary event was then turned into a permanent Fun House attraction that operated until the Utah Fun Dome closed.
During this time the DCHH owner also consulted for the Park City Silver Mine Haunted House where he got to spend many hours wandering alone in the underground tunnels thinking up effects for the haunted event which was very fun. He also designed effects for the Rocky Point Haunted House which at the time was Salt Lake City’s largest and most popular haunted house.
In 2003 – 2004 he designed and operated an outdoor haunted house event for Hollywood Connections family entertainment center in West Valley City that was held in a 4800 square foot tent in the parking lot. He also designed an fully automated Halloween animatronic theater that performed for guests.
From 2010 to 2016 he was a 12% owner of the Castle of Chaos haunted house and resided mainly at the Nightmare Mansion event in Taylorsville Utah, but also helped finance and produce the Castle of Chaos events in Riverdale and Orem as well as the new Castle of Chaos location in Midvale. If you attended any of the Castle of Chaos haunted houses over the past years and witnessed an automated figure or effect chances are he made that prop.
From 2015 – 2017 he designed a haunted house that operated at the Utah State Fair.
In 2016 he created his own line of animatronics control systems along with a line of amazing animatronic monsters!
In 2017 work began on the new 30,000 square foot Dead City Haunted House location where the legacy continues!
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