Dead End Haunt: 'You Better Use the Bathroom Before You Step Inside'

For the better part of the last decade, Dead End Haunt has been among one of the best haunted cemeteries in the western suburbs.

Located in Bolingbrook’s Winding Meadows subdivision—at 1438 Nicholas Drive—the homemade Halloween attraction offers a bargain for those looking for affordable thrills. Admission is free.

Halloween enthusiast and Bolingbrook-native Vince Camerano, a full-time student at Columbia College, began working on Dead End Haunt with his father almost a decade ago. Since then, the attraction has been one of Bolingbrook’s best-kept secrets during the Halloween season.

"From the moment people walk down the dead end street we wanted them to feel a tad uncomfortable and have their senses taken over,” Camerano said. “The atmosphere is extremely different from what things look like, to what they sound like to even what they smell like. We wanted visitors to walk away thinking this is the coolest thing they’ve ever seen.”

Dead End Haunt is spooky enough to entertain even the most sophisticated of scare seekers.

"Every year we try to do something to take it to the next level and do things no one has ever seen before," Camerano said. "This year we built a shed beside the house. I don’t want to spoil it—let me just say you better use the bathroom before you step inside."

The enhanced cemetery includes several original scare tactics, as well as ideas borrowed from displays at the National Haunters Convention, an event held annually in March. The convention is the largest haunted attraction gathering in the nation.

Excited what he saw, Camerano and his two partners—Nicholas Fox and Frank Dvorak—put pen to paper to adapt many of the concepts.

"The planning stage starts in April," Dvorak said. "We filled pages and pages with rough sketches."

From there, the trio sets out to build their creations.

"Every prop in our haunt is hand-made and built," Fox said. "I promise you that you won’t see anything else like this anywhere else."

Fox said it typically takes months to assemble a display. The most eye-catching displays include more than 40 hand-made tombstones, caskets, a full-sized mausoleum with a special effect ghost that walks around and waves to guests, life-size animatronic figures and a fully animated talking skeleton that explains the cemetery’s story.

The creators are also on hand in costumes, adding a theatrical touch to unexpected visitors.

The Dead End Haunt is open through Oct. 31. The cemetery is also fully operational through Halloween night from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. (weather permitting).

For more information visit www.thedeadendhaunt.net.