# Chicago: Any recommendations for a good Haunted House? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 16, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-any-recommendations-for-a-good-haunted-house/991661 "2023-10-16T17:55:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-any-recommendations-for-a-good-haunted-house/991661/1 "2023-10-16T17:55:54Z")
As the title notes this is for the Chicagoland area: I know a few Dopers live in or near Chicago. I am curious for recommendations for a good haunted house to visit in the next couple weeks. Yes, I can Google and I get results but it is really hard to tell if a given haunted house is good or not. Thanks in advance for any recommendations. (Mods…if this should be in another category I’m fine with it being moved…not that you need my approval.) ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-any-recommendations-for-a-good-haunted-house/991661/2 "2023-10-16T17:57:01Z")
You’d probably get better results searching Reddit than asking here. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-any-recommendations-for-a-good-haunted-house/991661/3 "2023-10-16T18:33:53Z")
Good idea! I did that and found some good recommendations. If anyone wants to recommend one feel free but I think I got my answer. Either this: > **[13th Floor Haunted House Chicago](https://13thfloorchicago.com/)** > > Experience the world famous 13th Floor Haunted House, Chicago's legendary Halloween event. Halloween lives here! Or this: > **[The Old Joliet Haunted Prison Chicago](https://hauntedprison.com/)** > > Experience the brand new Old Joliet Haunted Prison, Chicagoland's only haunted house inside a real abandoned prison. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-any-recommendations-for-a-good-haunted-house/991661/4 "2023-10-16T18:57:22Z")
Glad you found something! Here in Ohio we have a similar Haunted Prison set at the old Mansfield reformatory, same place they filmed The Shawshank Redemption. Going to check it out this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-any-recommendations-for-a-good-haunted-house/991661/5 "2023-10-16T19:42:04Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > Here in Ohio we have a similar Haunted Prison set at the old Mansfield reformatory, same place they filmed The Shawshank Redemption. Joliet prison is the place Joliet Jake was released from at the very beginning of the movie “The Blues Brothers”. > **[The Blues Brothers - The Pickup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrMnkbkzvik%5C&feature=youtu.be)** > > The Beloved Blues Brothers are reunited; and there is also THE CAR... ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2023, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicago-any-recommendations-for-a-good-haunted-house/991661/6 "2023-10-16T20:00:56Z")
I did Joliet this past Friday (even got a special ‘Friday the 13th’ sticker out of it). I’m not a haunted house or horror connoisseur, just a regular guy who probably last did a haunted house 10+ years ago. I liked it. I expected to pretty much tolerate it for the sake of the relative who set it up but I had a good time. It was about 30-40min from start to finish, broken into three sections. Plenty of jump scares, usually no barriers between you and the ‘haunters’ and some spooky interiors. Some sections have strobe lighting and fog if you have any sensitivity to those. I don’t want to go into details but I did have a good time. Note that, although you can see into the cells in the prison section, they’re all done up, there’s other barriers blocking views, and it’s certainly not a tour of the prison or anything. It’s a cool idea for a location but it’s definitely not remotely educational even from a casual “Oh, so this what it would be like” sort of perspective. When I went, we sprung for the Fast Passes and it was well worth it: standard line was a 90min wait and we were inside within 10 minutes and it only took that long because we had a 7 person group. That was Friday the 13th though so I don’t know what the lines are usually like but they probably only get longer the closer you get to Halloween.