Southern Nevada’s Halloween is clearly not just for children — or locals. Hair-raising events and attractions lure a steadily increasing number of visitors to celebrate the holiday on the Strip and beyond.
Halloween options include: a haunted museum specializing in memorabilia amassed by Zak Bagans of “Ghost Adventures”; a naughty, adults-only Halloween ball; a zombie survival experience inspired by AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead”: and a haunted house so scary you have to sell your soul to the devil — in the form of a signed waiver — before being admitted to Hell.
“We have seen an increase in new events leading up to Halloween,” said Michelle Sharples, president of the Las Vegas Hospitality Association. “The holiday has extended beyond the actual date and created new opportunities for the city, but more importantly, for the people who visit. You see more hotels, businesses and nightlife venues adding themed events to their schedule, which has encouraged more people to visit Las Vegas during the Halloween holiday.”
Case in point: the new downtown “Fear the Walking Dead” survival attraction, which is part thrill ride, part maze and part interactive video game.
“Guests are transported to the world of the undead via a pulse-pounding, five-dimensional, multisensory experience that includes a Zombie Dark Ride,” said Paul McGuire, chief marketing officer for Fremont Street Experience.
The diversity of holiday attractions — free live concerts, master-illusionist performances and roving entertainers dressed as iconic horror villains — is a downtown hallmark, McGuire said.
“Halloween is one of the most successful holidays of the year, and we deliver a quality, fun product for a tremendous value with something for everyone,” he said.
Longtime local resident and Freakling Bros. owner and founder Duke Mollner has witnessed the evolving Halloween landscape in Las Vegas since 1976, when he and his family operated a popular haunt in the entryway of their home, attracting hundreds of visitors each holiday.
In 1992, he took it to the next level, launching Trilogy of Terror as the only freestanding haunted attraction in town. Originally featuring a rotating trio of themed haunts at three venues throughout the valley, Trilogy of Terror (4245 S. Grand Canyon Drive) is celebrating its 25th year of operation. A shifting demographic reflects the maturation of the Halloween holiday, Mollner says.
“When we first opened, it was almost 100 percent locals, unless someone from out of town was visiting a local,” Mollner said. “When the internet became big, we took our ads off billboards and out of newspapers, and social media has been like a rocket. But it wasn’t until 2011, when we opened our R-rated attraction, that we really started seeing a larger amount of people coming from out of state.”
Gates of Hell has received international recognition and put Freakling Bros. on the map. The only R-rated haunt in Nevada offers an edgier experience. Visitors must be at least 17 and sign a waiver before entry. There’s even a safe word in case you freak out and need to get the hell out of Hell.
“It’s been a game changer,” Mollner said, adding that tourists now comprise about one-third of Trilogy of Terror’s guests. “In the past, people would come to Las Vegas for Las Vegas, and would maybe visit a haunted house if they heard about it from the concierge. Now we get haunted-house fanatics who plan their entire vacation around Freakling Bros. We even have a group of German tourists who make a trip here every year. It’s good for us and also good for the city.”
The two other haunted Trilogy attractions this year, Castle Vampire and The Coven of 13, are not recommended for children younger than 12.
Another major haunted attraction, Fright Dome at Circus Circus, is celebrating its 15th year of business.
“At first, people were skeptical because Halloween wasn’t a big thing in Vegas at the time, but I took the risk and it was an instant success,” said Jason Egan, Fright Dome owner and founder. Celebrity guests through the years have included Stevie Wonder, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, David Copperfield and the late Michael Jackson.
Located in the 5-acre Adventuredome at Circus Circus, Fright Dome 2017 features six new haunted houses, six new scare zones, 25 rides and attractions, and a “Friday the 13th” 4-D theater experience.
“We often sell out, and our numbers have skewed in terms of tourists over the years,” Egan said. “When we first opened and there was no social media or digital marketing, we had about 20 percent tourists. But now it’s closer to 30 percent, with guests from Australia, the U.K., South America and around the world. The more tourism we get, the better it is for the city and the county, because tourism helps drive hotel occupancy.”
A brand-new year-round spooky attraction opened this month. Las Vegas local Zak Bagans — the lead investigator of the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” and host of “Deadly Possessions” — displays his growing collection of haunted curios in his Haunted Museum, 600 E. Charleston Blvd.
In a historic Arts District mansion that Bagans maintains is haunted — the basement is off-limits because of its “negative energy” — the museum features paranormal exhibits and cursed artifacts and oddities certain to appeal to Bagans’ cult-like following of enthusiasts of the supernatural.
The museum is not the first attempt at a ghoulish year-round business in Las Vegas. Eli Roth — horror-genre producer of “Cabin Fever,” “Hostel” and “The Last Exorcism” — opened the Goretorium at Harmon Corner on Las Vegas Boulevard in 2012. But the $10 million fright attraction/nightclub closed its doors after about a year of operation.
Ghost hunter and mob historian Robert George Allen had better luck when he founded Explore Vegas Now in 2004, creating the “Haunted Vegas Tour and Ghost Hunt” as well as other excursions. Owned by magician Adam Flowers since 2016, the company is now known as Vegas Specialty Tours, but the Haunted Vegas Ghost Hunt remains true to its roots.
Featuring true accounts of local hauntings and the history of the city’s supernatural side, the three-hour tour begins with a pizza party at Tuscany Suites and Casino, 255 E. Flamingo Road, where visitors receive ghost-hunting equipment such as EMF (electromagnetic field) meters, temperature readers and dowsing rods, before boarding a shuttle to begin their ghostly adventure.
Multiple stops include part of a mysterious casino where a celebrity apparition is rumored to roam, as well as two infamous parks known for their ghostly sightings. Learn who haunts the “Motel of Death” on this tour with bookings available year-round, seven days a week. Minors must be accompanied by an adult.
Feeling naughty? An annual Halloween staple that attracts not only locals but tourists from far and wide is the Fetish & Fantasy Halloween Ball, Oct. 28 at Red Rock Resort for adventurous adults 21 and older. Now in its 22nd year, the gala is a risqué extravaganza with a strict dress code: Guests must wear something fetishy or fantasy-like.
Many local nightclubs and other venues on Las Vegas Boulevard also embrace the seasonal spirit, with monster bashes scheduled well past the witching hour and costume contests offering cold hard cash instead of miniature Snickers.