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Statesville Haunted Prison
Rating Details »
Categories: Amusement Parks, Performing Arts, Local Flavor [Edit]
17250 S Weber RdCrest Hill, IL 60441
(877) 722-7332
- Hours:
Mon-Thu. 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sun. 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- No
7 reviews for Statesville Haunted Prison
Whoa....damn! Is all I could think after having experienced my first Statesville Haunted Prison tour.
Miss N gave GREAT advice, I am so glad I found out about the VIP tickets through her review. When we went, it was around 7:30 on a Saturday night. The non-VIP line was pretty long, even this early, but wham! Not for us! We got our tickets and sailed right through. Very little waiting. The extra $ was absolutely worth it.
Now, I am not one to scare easily. I am usually bored to tears with many horror movies, don't believe in ghosts, etc etc. But there is one thing that thoroughly freaks me out, and that is having someone in a dimly lit space suddenly run at full speed toward you and stop within an inch of your face. Gosh, I cant imagine why either....
Sidenote: I should mention that people are sent through in groups of about 7 or 8 and not only did BF and I luck out at being at the head of our line, but he made ME go in front (nice, huh). So of course, every spook and monster was primed and revved up just for me. I think I completely got my moneys worth though. Almost like being in the front car of a rollercoaster.
Now, I wont give away important details, but you need to know there is A LOT of heart stopping tricks that go on here, including the aforementioned running at full speed towards you. Thank god BF has better night vision than me, because there was a room with mirrors that would have just completely made me crazy because I wouldn't have been able to find the way out.
My one gripe is that it was almost too dark in there and I think I missed out on some pretty sweet props just because you cant really see.
By the time it was all over, I was sweating, my hands hurt from the death-clutch I had on BF's hand and shirtsleeve ( I would not let him let go of me - dammit if I went down he was coming with me!) and my throat hurt from all of the million shrieks I made. How long is it? I have no idea, maybe 30-40 minutes? Lets put it this way: too long on the inside, but just long enough to make you want more on the outside.
This is not for the faint-of-heart, epileptics, folks with back injuries (there are many times you have to stoop), claustrophobics, or children under the age of 10.
Holy crap. I don't know what else to say but...go. For the love of Halloween...go!
People thought this was:
- Useful (5)
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Seriously, this place is not worth the money. Every year I have come here it has gotten progressively worse.
It is a long drive out to Cresthill, and with what you pay at this place.. It is totally not worth it.
Turn the lights off in your house and have a friend jump out at you. Probably going to me more exciting..
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I can't believe I paid $30 for this! I was soooo excited to go here, and I was completely let down. I'll sum up the whole experience for you: massive amounts of oddly short people screaming in your face while you try to make your way through a poorly decorated maze. Don't let the website fool yo. This place is neither scary nor creative.
I don't scare easily, but it's natural human reacting to be startled when someone jumps out at you. The problem with this place is that it is so packed with people jumping out at you ALL THE TIME that halfway through it you are de-sensitized. They are so packed in there that I'll be the only reason it's $30 is so they can make enough to pay all of the actors.
There were a few cool special effects and props, but for the most part they relied completely on strobe lights and random items hanging from the ceiling. One of which hit me pretty hard in the face.
Yes, the are technically not allowed to touch you, but several of them got WAY to damn close to me. They didn't grab at me, but the rest of their body was pretty much touching me. And I do not enjoy someone literally breathing in my face. That isn't scary so much as uncomfortable.
The website says that it's 55 - 65 minutes long which is a TOTAL lie. The whole thing, both haunted houses, took under a half an hour.
I have no idea why this place was rated the scariest haunted house in Illinois. Go to Dream Reaper instead.
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- Useful (2)
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I don't scare easily. I've been a fan of Stephen King since sixth grade & I've been watching "scary" movies since about that same age, so I rarely ever get that adrenaline rush from really being scared anymore. I've also been an actor in a few haunted houses, so I know what goes into executing a successfully terrifying Halloween experience.
So when a co-worker recommended Statesville Haunted Prison, I took it as a challenge. I ordered VIP tickets online (do this as compared to just going there ... cost a little bit more, but saved us literally about 2 hours wait time --- & having to deal with obnoxious people in line), so we sailed through ... didn't wait to get into the grounds, didn't wait long to get into the haunted house.
My boyfriend is a bit of a scaredy cat, so half of the fun was sharing the experience with him. We go to "scary" movies & half the time I'm laughing at him jumping or screaming, so this was fun for me.
That being said (me, stating my big tough girl-ness), I walked through this haunted house with my hands clamped onto his sweaty palms for dear life, my eyes shifting incessantly from right to left, anticipating dark corners, checking walls for openings, focusing on the hood of his sweatshirt (yeah, I made him go first). Not for the faint-hearted or children (some jackass brought his, like, 9-year-old kid & made the kid walk in front) or epileptics (strobe lights), I had these thoughts running through my head for the majority of the time there:
- Nice make-up job.
- Wonder where they got the actors?
- Breathe.
- They aren't supposed to touch you.
- & they certainly aren't going to harm you.
- All else fails, there's the emergency exits, you big p***y.
- When is this going to be over?
Which, really, is all I can ask, because I didn't think these things:
- Overdone.
- Seriously? Someone thinks that's scary?
- Wow. Look at the peeled grapes supposed to be eyeballs. Original.
- Boooooo-ring!!!
- I paid that for THIS?!
Good stuff. I won't ruin it by telling you every section of the place, but the highlights involved a pig, small enclosed triangular walking path, red & white checkered walls, & a bridge.
Well worth the money. Well worth the trip out to Joliet (or Crest Something or other town). Go. Now. Or I'll tell Stephen King on you.
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So, I was anxiously anticipating attending this haunted house this year after I had heard all the hype last year....it was very fun! All I wanted was good mindless fun and that's exactly what I got. Yes, it is super expensive, but I think with a group of friends it's totally worth it. There were a few good rooms and scares, but most was fairly predictable....the best part was waiting in line before getting into the attraction! There were some awesome actors dressed up that would sneak up behind you and scare the crap out of you, a clown on stilts that would stare you down, and some other various ghoulies and ghosties...I would like to try more haunted houses in the chicago area for next year, but I would definitely return to Statesville in the future for some good Halloween fun
People thought this was:
- Useful (1)
Pros: I wish there was at least one. This way my night wouldn't have felt completely wasted and I wouldn't have walked away pissed off.
Cons: Parts of the staff are very rude and unprofessional. A huge line with only 4-5 staff members to try and scare you and entertain you. Being locked up in a cage FULL of people for no good reason while at the same time being screamed at and called names such as "Stupid" or "Dumbass" or being threatened by the staff. Having your nose filled up with air born dust and dirt and later having to blow it out and witness black snot on your tissue.
What a waste of time and hard earned money this place is. Truly. A group of people and I went on the last weekend of October so we could celebrate my girlfriends belated birthday. I had heard lots of great things about this haunted house so I figured we'd check it out. On arrival we parked in a big field that had plenty of parking. We met up with some friends and waited in a long line. We bought our tickets. We then waited some more in another even longer line. Much longer in fact. We were greeted by 2 or 3 staff members trying to keep everyone entertained by scaring them. It's not fun after you see the same person trying to scare you over and over. After waiting about 2 hours we all THINK that we're going to enter the haunted house right? WRONG. We all seem to have to be locked up in a giant cage with about 100 other people. We were literally shoulder to shoulder; crotch to butt. So before the cage could get filled up my sister points out that my little brother is waiting outside the fence. He's mentally disabled so he didn't know he was suppose to enter the fence. I start walking out to bring him back in and am confronted by a an A-Hole of a staff member who tells me to "Get my *@# back in line or go back to the back of the ENTIRE line waiting outside. I tell him that I've got to get my brother. I didn't feel the need to explain in front of the whole crowd that he was mentally disabled. He continues to harass me and tell me to get back in the cage with his cuss words and all. He finally get out of my face and I go get my brother. We are all then pushed into a cage and I almost fall over a woman next to me because I'm being pushed by 20 people.
After standing in the cage for about 10 minutes, very uncomfortably, we all are "released" like animals and are told to go inside and give our tickets. While standing, I have the same A-Hole staff member tell me "You know you've been a nuisance this entire night". I thought he was joking so I told him "Yeah well I had to get my brother". He then begins to harass me AGAIN by threatening to kick me out of the line if I didn't get inside of the haunted house with everyone else. I was waiting for my friends by the way. He continues to harass me and tells me to get the hell out of the line and go back. I tell him to back off and show him my ticket. I tell him "F*@ You" after being sick of him and he tells me to "Try it!" while giving me his best hard ass look. I turned my back and told him something not so nice for all my frustrations.
We get inside the haunted house and it is divided in 2 sections. The first section being longer than the 2nd. Both were very stupid and not scary whatsoever. I don't scare easily. I don't go to these things to be scared. I just go because I find them fun. Unfortunately it was neither scary nor was it fun. Not even the section full of clowns scared me and I don't like clowns too much. Much of the staff that was organizing everyone into lines were cussing very much and acting very rude. Is that suppose to scare me or just make me want to never come back? Their were children around too. The whole thing was a big waste of time, money and gas. I walked away pissed off and moody having felt robbed of my cash and my pride broken having to back down to some piece of garbage staff member who felt the need to harass me and my friends. I'd still like to hurt him. Bad.
I will say that the actual actors inside, you know the ones that have to put forth lots of effort into scaring you while walking through the mazes, were very professional. They actually stopped to help out some of my friends when things went bad. For example, one of my friends was claustrophobic and she could not bring herself to go through one area of the maze. The man in charge kindly deflated one of the balloons (You'll know what I'm talking about), held her by the hand and walked her through. Another one stopped the entire crowd to make sure my sister was alright after another girl fell on her leg. Although the whole rule of "Don't touch them because they don't touch you" wasn't followed entirely.
My recommendation? Keep away. It's not worth it and I've been to smaller haunted houses that were much more fun and entertaining than this. It's not even a prison. Funny huh? Pity I couldn't give it NO stars or maybe even half a star. Had to settle for 1.
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- Useful (3)
A truly awesome haunted house. They did it all great costumes, stories, sets and definite fear factor that you could not avoid. I highly recommend this haunted house, but if you are a girl who has a tendency to pee there pants I strongly suggest you be careful. It is for sure worth the long, long drive and absolutely worth the price of admission.
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