Asylum 49 voted scariest haunted house in Utah

Asylum 49 voted scariest haunted house in Utah

(Kimm Anderson, YouTube)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Asylum 49 was voted Utah’s scariest haunted house in a recent KSL.com poll.

The haunted house received a total of 2,054 votes out of 6,187 votes total on the poll. Fear Factory came in second place with 1,536 votes and Nightmare on 13th came in third with 1,071.

Asylum 49 is a 38,000 square foot haunted area in Tooele that prides itself on being Utah's first and only full-contact haunted house. Cast members will not only pop out and scare guests, or "patients," but even grab them and separate them from their group.

Children and pregnant women are not recommended to go through the attraction.

Kimm Anderson, owner of Asylum 49, said although Utah has a great Halloween scene, he wanted to create something different and unique that would not only spook people while they were at the attraction, but stick with them after they left.

“That fear is exactly what I look for when I build a haunted house,” Anderson said. “I wanted something different. I didn’t want to walk through a museum with scary stuff in it. I wanted to add that element of fear and that actual feeling that, ‘this isn’t right.’”

Anderson said haunted houses were a large part of his coming of age and he has worked in the haunted house industry for 13 years; 11 of those years being the owner of Asylum 49.

He said he thinks the reason people like Asylum 49, aside from the fact that people enjoy quality entertainment, is because it has a “taboo,” or forbidden element to it.

“The things that I have in my haunted house … it’s that little bit of a naughty feeling,” Anderson said. “I think everybody enjoys that a little bit, even if they’re not supposed to.”

Asylum 49 is open for scaring Sept. 27-30, Oct. 1-31 and Nov. 4-5 and is located at 140 E 200 S. Hours of operation for Tuesday-Thursday are 7 p.m.-10 p.m. and 7 p.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.

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