Haunted house goers wait to enter the attraction, known as one of the state’s scariest spots for the season. Photo by Jeanette Wright

By Luis Correa

Arts and Culture Editor

With Halloween creeping up, Portland’s spooky tradition is sure to make everybody scream.

FrightTown returns to the depths of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum for its 13th terrifying season, featuring three haunted houses with extra attractions to really give you a true horror experience. This year, Baron Von Goolo’s Museum of Horrors and Grimthorne Manor return and are joined with the all new science fiction horror experience, Sector 13.

The 40,000-square-foot experience is home to one of the most popular haunted houses in Portland, Baron Von Goolos’s Museum of Horrors. What makes this haunted house so unique comes from the twisted mind of Dave Helfrey, the man behind FrightTown. Known for its goofy style of spookiness, this haunted museum gives you exactly that. It goes deep inside your mind revealing your darkest and oddest nightmares hidden inside your brain that will surely make you feel discomfort. From monsters looking like characters from a Dr. Seuss book, a normal guy sitting in a back stage set where a huge dragon head pops out from behind the costume rack to even standing in front a huge crowd, this is what the Museum of Horrors is all about — the psychological fears.

Grimthorne Manor, a mansion belonging to the heartless Grimthorne family, will surely make you feel right at home. Legend has it that a poor gypsy was seeking nothing but shelter and was degraded and abused by the cruel family. As she died, she placed a curse on the family, making them turn into monsters as black as their souls. Now the mansion is overrun by classic monsters such as vampires, werewolves, spirits, maniacs, and even Frankenstein. The gothic style mansion brings back the nostalgic classic horror that we’ve all grown to love, but with a modern twist, a great haunted house for people who love the classics.

Finally, for the 13th season, FrightTown brings Sector 13, an all new haunted house based on the science fiction horror genre, with a unique back story. The government and an alien race make a pact, exchanging test subjects from each others’ race for “scientific testing,” but as the true intent of the aliens is revealed, their mutated experiments are set loose, running around the facility killing humans under their control, preparing for the world invasion.Trapped inside, you must escape Sector 13, evade the mutants and get to safe ground before the facility self-destructs! This facility will surely get your blood pumping with adrenaline as it can get intense with these mutations screaming and running around chasing you, almost like a psychiatric hospital. A great new haunted house for FrightTown and its fans to experience, especially for fans of the sci-fi genre.

With all of these fun and thrilling haunted houses, FrightTown has added three additional experiences if you feel you haven’t screamed enough … yet. Feel the darkness surround you in the all new pitch black terror maze, Fear The Dark, where your senses are your only friend. Next, experience the claustrophobic fear of being six feet underground in the Buried Alive simulator, where you will experience the sounds, the sensations and even the smells of what it’s like to be left for dead. Lastly, if you think FrightTown was fake, the new Ghost Gallery will make you think twice, featuring real haunted artifacts from real haunted houses.

FrightTown is considered one of the nation’s scariest haunted house locations and has been voted as one of the best. This October, experience the horror that is FrightTown. A whole city block of screams and shock is waiting for you.

More info:
http://www.frighttown.com
Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday: 7-10 pm
Friday and Saturday: 7-11 pm
Open Halloween Day