Even though it scared the life out of me, I’m still living for Deadmonton. The makeup was grotesquely realistic, the actors were scary talented (and committed to making me lose my voice from screaming), and the decorations were incredibly detailed.

I arrived at the haunted house with my friend around 6:45 p.m. and we waited in line for about an hour, since it was opening night and there were plenty of thrill-seekers anxious for their turn. The wait didn’t feel long because there were actors keeping us on our toes the entire time. Before I had even ventured into the house, I had screamed and jumped quite a bit.

The theme for this year’s event is “Quarantine.” When I first heard the theme, I was trying to think of every possible spooky factor that they could throw at us. It is safe to say that it was worse than I expected, and I should have known there would’ve been heart-stopping twists.

Every time I thought I might have a moment to breathe, or that maybe I could relax, I was wrong. By the end of the house I was looking over my shoulder at every sound — even when I was back at my house.

If you aren’t as big of a scaredy cat as I am, you won’t have any shortage of details to admire. I want to go again, just because I know I missed so much since my eyes were closed for almost the entire time, but I don’t know if I can put my heart through that stress again!

The store is definitely something to look forward to at the end; there are countless fun clothes, costumes, and decorations to browse, and looking around almost makes you forget the trauma that you just experienced. Almost.

Deadmonton’s new location is along Gateway Boulevard. While I have to say I miss the ambiance of the big marquee sign at the previous year’s location, the new spot makes for a larger space for people to line up. I forgot about missing the big sign anyways as soon as I was trying to run away from every creepy character that was chasing me down.

There is still a little bit of construction in the waiting area, but I think that the area being unfinished adds to the entire experience. When you’re inside, you completely forget about everything else because they have you completely absorbed in the haunted house experience.

Tickets are only $25 for regular entrance and $45 for a speed pass. The speed pass tickets are available online, and if you don’t want to spend the extra $20, just try to show up earlier to avoid the lineups. Deadmonton is the perfect event to start the fall season and it would be a great, affordable way to relieve some of that midterm-induced stress. What better way to kick October off than with a little bit of a scare?