Creepyworld Haunted Screampark Fenton Missouri
Haunted houses were always a part of Larry Kirchner’s career. Larry’s first experience was building a haunted house under his 4-family flat in St. Louis and charging twenty-five cents. After moving to Houston Texas, Larry would convince an apartment complex manger to let him build a haunted house in the complex rec building. Fast forward to 1988, he worked for his first professional haunt, but after not getting paid (typical of early haunts), he decided to approach another haunt owner, billing himself as A HAUNTED HOUSE DESIGNER. Did this term actually exist back in 1989? Was Larry a haunted house designer at the young age of 20, pre-internet, before any knowledge of a tradeshow, haunted house magazine, videos or anything else? NOPE. But that didn’t stop someone with a dream of building a better haunted house, so he created House on Haunted Hill with the help of his cousins and Pat Voss (yes, the same Pat Voss of VFX today).
Wouldn’t you know it, the owner of House on Haunted Hill, didn’t pay all the money owed either, so Larry was determined to find a building for his own venture and what would become The Darkness Haunted House in October 1994. In his search, he heard from a local costume shop about a Halloween retail tradeshow in Chicago. Larry jumped in his Iroc Z28 and drove to Chicago to see for himself only to buy tons of props and items from companies like Cinema Secrets, Gag Studios, Morris, and Distortions. He overflowed his car and drove all the way back to St Louis with the hatch up! He was even more determined to find a location and build his first commercial haunted house. Larry found a building that looked abandoned (a prerequisite for any haunted house in the 90’s) with over 400 windows all boarded up. The original name of the building was THE SUNSHINE FACTORY. Larry pondered, “SUNSHINE? More like DARKNESS. You can’t see anything inside.” BOOM! The Darkness name was born. It was the first professional haunted house Larry Kirchner would ever own but not the last.
The following year after Darkness was established, Larry had an opportunity to take over his old stomping haunt “House on Haunted Hill’. While it felt rewarding to bring back his first true haunt, it just didn’t feel the same as before, so after only one year of Darkness and House on Haunted Hill, Larry gave back House on Haunted Hill to focus on opening his own nightclub and improving The Darkness. For the next 4 years Kirchner operated a club called Tasmania and The Darkness plus built dark rides and haunted houses for nearly every amusement park company in America.
Finally in 1998, Kirchner was ready to open a second haunted house location and called it SCREAMWORLD. After a name debacle with an old friend in Houston who ended up buying the URL from another owner, Larry decided it wasn’t worth the upset, so he changed the name to CREEPYWORLD. Twenty years and tens of thousands of screams later, Creepyworld is actually the biggest, longest, and most popular haunted house in St Louis (not The Darkness). Creepyworld has attracted higher attendance and more revenue than The Darkness and Lemp Haunted House COMBINED! Creepyworld has accomplished all of this above The Darkness despite not being featured on Transworld haunt tours, not being featured on multiple national TV shows, and not being consistently ranked as one of the best haunted houses in America. The Darkness overshadows its little sister. People within the haunt industry who tour the Darkness year after year and sing its praises will sometimes ask which haunted house is better… The Darkness or Creepyworld? Larry Kirchner always replies CREEPYWORLD!
Creepyworld started in 1998 with just three haunted houses: a military theme, a vampire theme and a mansion. Now, Creepyworld features 11 haunted house attractions with even more attractions inside the haunted midway too. Creepyworld and The Darkness are two very different haunted houses. The Darkness is your typical warehouse style haunt with lots of animations, props, and amazing sets packed inside 30,000 square feet of enclosed space. Creepyworld on the other hand is spread across 300,000 square feet of open space and features hayrides, haunted houses, a midway and more. Creepyworld is as detailed in many ways as The Darkness only 10 times bigger and features one of the most detailed haunted hayrides in America. Creepyworld has one haunted house built from truck trailers, others built under roofs, outdoor haunts, a corn maze, a prison break and a massive midway at the exit. Creepyworld is a SCREAMPARK with something for everyone. Since they can’t visit Creepyworld in March during Transworld, many haunted house owners nationwide visit again in October and agree… Creepyworld is the best haunt of the two. When it comes to renovation & improvements, Creepyworld doesn’t follow the same model as The Darkness. Creepyworld replaces an entire attraction each season, and in some cases two whole entire attractions. Creepyworld markets each year around the NEW haunted house, playing up only that new theme as part of a bigger screampark. In 2019, Creepyworld added a new Haunted Asylum. In 2018, they added the Haunted Midway plus Camp Blood and a massive interactive queue line. In 2017, the haunted hayride was replaced and re-themed from ground up. “Every year, there’s been a brand new haunted house, either an addition or a complete re-themedrenovation,” says Larry. “We now have 11 very different, highly detailed haunted attractions, so deciding which to revamp is simple; the oldest attraction gets totally torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Some of these haunted houses are up to 20,000 square feet and take tons of actors to fill all the spots… and its only one haunted house.”
Today, Creepyworld features a Krampus haunt, a Hayride, Zombies, Asylum, 3D, Mansion, and so much more. For 2020 Creepyworld will replace its aging clown themed 3D haunted house with a new Sleepy Hollow 3D, complete with CGI FX and a spinning windmill facade, plus a new 5-minute escape room in the Midway. The Creepyworld Haunted Midway features zombie paintball ($5 upgrade), 5-Minute Coffin Escape ($5 upgrade), Zombie Axe Throwing ($5 upgrade), Game Booths, Dead Zombie Band, Famous Faces Pumpkin display, Photo Ops, a big movie screen playing the latest released horror movies (actually licensed for legal play), gift shop, food and more. “The midway was a HUGE addition which has drastically improved customer satisfaction,” says Larry. “In total, an experience at Creepyworld could take a customer up to an hour or more to complete.”
Even though Creepyworld is outdoors, it features nearly as many animations & props as The Darkness. The Darkness has highly detailed scenes which most haunts can’t match including Creepyworld. Still, Creepyworld is themed from start to finish across 7-acres, giving customers a totally different experience. The Hayride, called Trick-R-Treat Haunted Hayride, has a theme of every house or town you would never want to visit on Halloween, and every stop along the way features a massive CGI or FX which brings each set to life. Creepyworld is absolutely one of the best haunted scream parks in the United States. Although it doesn’t get the accolades of The Darkness, it’s a must when planning haunted house visits outside your area.
For years, Larry Kirchner has hoped to open Creepyworld for the Transworld tradeshow, but each year he realizes just how hard it would be to hire the staff to set up a 7-acre screampark, get all the lighting, fog, sound & FX all ready to go for just ONE NIGHT. The staff of Halloween Productions typically start Creepyworld set-up immediately after the Transworld show, and it takes every minute up until they open in late September. For the past 4 years, the crew has modified Creepyworld towards becoming more of a one-switch-&-it-opens haunted house to attempt an opening for Transworld. So far, they haven’t gotten there. Still Larry encourages, “If you’re planning a trip across the country this Fall to visit the best haunted houses, and you think to skip St Louis because you’ve already seen The Darkness and Lemp Haunted Houses, keep in mind you haven’t seen the biggest, longest, and best haunted house. Creepyworld is overlooked because of the popularity of The Darkness, but trust me; Creepyworld is the true #1 haunted house in St Louis.”
Creepyworld Haunted Screampark is one of the best haunted houses in the entire country and ready to make you SCREAM this Halloween 2020! Be ready for one of the longest haunts you’ll ever experience, most detailed, and just very traditional!
FAST FACTS:
Number of Haunts: 11
Number of Hayrides: 1
Staff for Operation: Up to 150
Location: Fenton, Missouri
Year Opened: 1998
URL: www.Creepyworld.com
Cost: $25 per person – w/ Hayride $30
Fast Pass $15 upgrade / Parking $5
Midway Costs: Zombie Paintball $5
Zombie Axe Throwing: $5
Coffin 5-Minute Escape: $5
For more information, visit www.creepyworld.com
TO FIND MORE HAUNTED HOUSES IN MISSOURI CLICK HERE … https://www.hauntworld.com/missouri-haunted-houses