Twisted Crypt Haunted House cast ready for Friday the 13th opening in Rockford

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) – The more than four dozen actors who play various ghouls and other creepy characters at Rockford’s Twisted Crypt Haunted House are ready to kick off the venue’s 11th season this Friday, Sept. 13.

“It should the 12th operating year, but we didn’t open in 2020 due to the pandemic,” said owner Peter Dunn. “That’s always going to get me. We are one year behind.”

Twisted Crypt opened in 2013 and has since grown into one of the best-know and scariest haunted houses in the Rockford region.

The cast of 50-plus actors are from local high schools and other theater groups who scare thousands of people each year.

“We’re around 10,000 people, 10,000 visitors every single year, give or take,” Dunn said. “Some years are better than others, but we get repeat customers. We get people that come every single year.”

Dunn said people keep coming back because he strives to be different from other venues.

“[At] a lot of the bigger haunts, you kind of just walk through, look at everything and a couple people jump out,” he said. “Here, we stop you, and we want to interact with you. It’s very theater driven.”

Even though the Twisted Crypt set stays up year-round, Dunn’s team is always changing things up to keep visitors on their toes.

“About 25% of the attraction goes under the knife every single year,” he said. “This year, 50% of the attraction went under the knife. We went hard this year.”

While some Rockford-area residents say while mid-September could be considered a bit early to start thinking about Halloween, others are ready for what Twisted Crypt has in store this season.

“It’s going to be Friday the 13th,” said Mike Gaul, who plans to visit the haunted house before Halloween. “They’ll definitely have a lot of actors and a lot of scary people.”

Twisted Crypt opens at 7 p.m., Friday. The venue will be open on Fridays and Saturdays in September and Friday through Sunday in October. The last day of the season is Saturday, Nov. 2.

“We added some good scares this year,” Dunn said.

Twisted Crypt is at 5420 E. State St., just west of the former Circuit City space.

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