Behind the Screams: Requiem Haunted House is haunting — and haunted

It takes 382 plastic cockroaches, hundreds of pounds of silicone and rubber, 15,000 square feet of space and five 36-foot U-hauls to bring a haunted house to life — at least that’s the case for Requiem Haunted House in Caldwell.

While the Treasure Valley is home to several spooky attractions, Requiem Haunted House is set apart because it is “the only indoor haunted attraction and our actors are highly trained,” owner Krista Brower-Wood said.

Named after “the celebration of death,” Requiem Haunted House invites guests into three stories of fear, with each floor opening the door to a new scare theme.

The attraction opened in 2016 to make up for the lack of seasonal activities in Caldwell, according to Brower-Wood, and now has become a Halloween staple for many. Requiem is open through Oct. 31 at select times on select days.

If you’re in the mood to be a haunted house connoisseur this Halloween season, check out the other haunts around the Treasure Valley including: The Haunted World in Caldwell, Halloween Land Corn Maze in Eagle, Haunted Straw Maze at Shindig Farms, or Psycho Circus in Boise.

BEHIND THE SCENES

In just two months, the historic building at 810 Main St. is transformed into a chilling experience for the community. Brower-Wood designs and creates each room herself, with a new theme every year. This year’s addition is a cemetery room, complete with life-sized coffins and graves.

The haunt boasts three complete floors of terror, with different themes for each floor. The first floor resembles a typical house with rooms like a bedroom, attic, kitchen and laundry room. There is one actor per room on this floor, each purposefully placed to get your heart pumping through your chest not expecting what comes next.

After climbing the stairs to the second floor, you meet Patches, the firefighting clown, who hands out 3D glasses. The second floor is illuminated only by blacklight paintings along the wall, guiding you; it’s your only form of direction through a mind-altering clown maze.

The third floor plunges you into complete darkness — the kind that triggers your imagination to conjure everything you’ve ever feared. Human-sized spiders? A roomfull of zombies? Jason?? Navigating through a twisting maze of walls, you have to feel your way to the exit, brushing against strange textures like fuzzy fabric strips and cobwebs trailing through the air, powered by air pressure devices and held in place with glue.

“I’m not into jump scares — I’m into messing with someone’s head,” Brower-Wood said on the layout she put together for her haunted house.

It takes an average of 30 to 45 minutes to walk through the entire haunt, giving guests plenty of time to get immersed in the experience.

There’s no set age limit, but be warned: “I’ve had to rescue so many kids,” Brower-Wood said. And in one unforgettable instance, her close friend nearly delivered two of her babies while walking through, pregnant.

If the haunt itself doesn’t scare you enough, the building’s real-life paranormal activity might — Brower-Wood said this haunted house is actually haunted.

Once, a medium entered the house as a patron — and let her know after that it was crawling with “a bunch of spirits.”

Since then, the staff regularly report encounters with “entities,” including hearing strange, unexplainable growling or scratching sounds, and once, someone even saw a “shadow hand” reach out from under a prop. At other times, the lights go on and off and the robotic animatronics suddenly come to life as if they “have a mind of their own.”

“You just get used to it,” Brower-Wood said, bolstered by the rest of the crew shaking their heads in agreement.

SCARE TEAM

“I believe in actors, not animatronics,” said Brower-Wood, who emphasized the importance of real actors in delivering the big scares. The team, consisting of about 30 actors, is mostly made up of returnees who love what they do.

There is one actor per room, and guests enter one group at a time, creating a personalized, one-on-one experience without large crowds. It’s sort of like participants are in their own scary movie.

“I love acting and I love scaring people. … I just love the Halloween season,” said Angel Estrada, whose alter ego in the haunted house is “Candee,” a bloodied doll creature.

Actors are hired every July and spend all of August in “scare school,” said Brower-Wood, learning haunting techniques, safety protocols, set design, makeup and more. Requiem prioritizes every experience to be as chilling as it is safe.

Elliot Cagen, dubbed the “Cockroach Man,” purchases 382 plastic cockroaches annually for the scare season. “I bought Spirit Halloween out today,” Cagen said as he prepared for his shift by stuffing his pockets with the roaches.

He enjoys tossing them at unsuspecting guests as they navigate the haunt. “People either get scared or laugh when they see cockroaches flying toward them,” Cagen said.

This year, Requiem Haunted House will also host Santiago Cirilo as a scare actor on Friday, Oct. 18 and Saturday, Oct. 19. Cirilo is known for his role as Julio in “The Walking Dead” and knows a thing or two about scaring techniques.