Statesville Haunted Prison – Crest Hill, Illinois (Review)
Visited on Saturday, October 12th, 2013
Location: 17250 S. Weber Road, Crest Hill, Illinois 60441
The Statesville Haunted Prison and City of the Dead haunted houses are both indoor environments. The wait lines are outside but are under large tents. In case of inclement weather, you should not have to worry about getting wet, unless the lines are so long they are overflowed from the tents.
Hours: Sun, Wed & Thurs 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm / Fri & Sat 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm through November 2nd.
Admission Price: General Admission: Statesville Haunted Prison/City of the dead $30 / VIP Pass: $45 (allows you the benefit of much less waiting) / Combo Tickets: $55 (Includes VIP ticket to Statesville Haunted Prison and City of the Dead haunted house & Statesville Zombie Paintball Ride)
Parking: Free; additional parking at Menards across the street when and only when stated on reader board. By order of police dept. everyone parking at Menards MUST USE free shuttle buses.
Length: Statesville Haunted Prison – approximately 15 minutes / City of the Dead – 6 minutes
Fright Factor: Medium/High
Review:
To start off, the wait/queue lines are insanely massive for this attraction. This haunt is so popular that during the peak weekend hours, there can be as many a thousand people waiting in line and it’s not uncommon to have to wait 2-3 hours to get in. You might be better off by purchasing a VIP ticket and bypassing the long wait times. With that being said, there is ample entertainment to keep the guests occupied while they wait. First off, guests don’t wait in silence due to the
loud music being played that helps with the fun, party atmosphere on the outside. There are also several costumed actors who go up and down the lines interacting with guests. The line actors are there more for amusement than scares, but are entertaining enough. One of the favorite line actors is a character called “Fluffy”. Fluffy is an actor in a strait jacket costume head to toe with a white cloth mask who is very nimble running around crazily, sometimes on all fours. I was told by the staff that Fluffy has quite a large following by fans who have previously visited.
One thing I give the actors high kudos for at Statesville and City of the Dead is the quality of the interaction with guests. They really know how to chat up a crowd and get the guests feeling involved; they are the best in doing this by far.
I entered Statesville Haunted Prison first with a large group of about 30 people. We were all herded into a large holding cell by prison guards yelling at us and shining flashlights in our faces the entire way like we were actually prisoners being checked into the prison. From there, we were ordered to march single-file into a second cell block waiting area filled with monitors and guards that did a great job of entertaining the crowd. We are then ushered into a third waiting area which turns out to be the best and most intense of the three wait rooms. There we meet the warden, but he’s like no warden you’ve ever seen before. The demonic looking warden is perched above the group and gives the creepy intro story of the prison, then literally all hell breaks loose and guests enter the haunted prison proper.
Guests are isolated into small groups and enter the walk-through part of the haunt. You go through a dark prison bus, creepy, low-lit cell blocks filled with all manner of sinister prisoners. You traverse through the most nasty and grossest toilet area you will ever see that’s strewn with feces and might just spray an “unknown” liquid at you from out of the toilets. Deep in the bowels (pun intended) of the prison, you go through the electrical room filled with broken equipment and gauges with broken water pipes running all over everything. What would a haunted prison be without a visit to the psych ward where the most criminally insane prisoners are kept, except they’re not locked up any more.
Probably the most unique room is the red and white checkered clown room with strobes flashing in your face and loud music blaring in your ears. All manner of insane looking clowns fill the room that you have to get through with great difficulty, I might add due the strobes flashing in your face and the clowns trying to stop you, it’s very creepy and disorienting.
Statesville Haunted Prison is designed extremely well with the sets, animatronics, and actors all being something out of Disney World. These sets are film quality settings with extreme attention to the smallest of details. The creators have left no stone unturned in bringing the highest quality of entertainment to the guests here.
Upon exiting the prison haunt, we are then led into the City of the Dead. This haunt’s storyline is where the dead inmates from the prison are sent to be buried and then many come back to life as undead zombies and such. Guests must enter a couple of waiting rooms somewhat similar to those in the prison haunt. The rest of the haunt features an underground mine/cave setting that guests have to wind their way through in darkly lit mazes filled with great detail and even greater
scares. Guests will come across live Madagascar hissing cockroaches, live albino snakes, and even more to terrifying to reveal.
The actors who portray the miners in the City of the Dead are truly wonderful by exhibiting the highest level of interaction with guests & enthusiasm for detail about their characters that you’re ever likely to see this side of a feature film.
Aside from the two main haunts here, there is also a small midway that features free professional photos, gift shop, zombie hunt game (additional fee required), Statesville Zombie Farm Paint ball (additional fee required), and concessions area.
Overall, I have to say that Statesville Haunted Prison and City of the Dead are two of the most satisfying haunt experiences in the Chicagoland area! These two massive haunts are of a Disney caliber production that is unparalleled anywhere in the state and I might go as far as to say the entire Midwest. The set design is so real looking, you actually feel as if you have entered the actual Statesville prison just down the street. The scares are medium to high for both haunts and most will end up screaming in terror before they’re finished!
The acting and guest interaction is like nothing I’ve experienced in a haunt up until now. The actors are of the highest level. Try asking any actor about their character and they will tell you an extremely intricate backstory that is different for each one, I was truly amazed at the attention to detail for each character. Brought to you by the fine folks at Zombie Army Productions, If you hit only one haunted attraction this season, make sure it’s the Statesville Haunted Prison and City of the Dead, but I can’t guarantee that you’ll make it out alive, Highly Recommended!
5 out of 5 Pentagrams!
A very special thank you to John Laflamboy, Kyle Laflamboy and the entire crew! I was treated to a special behind the scenes look at nearly every aspect of how the Statesville Haunted Prison works (article coming soon), and I have to say that I have never experienced such a camaraderie among the actors/technicians/management anywhere as much as I did here. The feeling of family in the group was exhilarating to behold, to say the least. I commend owner/creator John Laflamboy and his entire crew for making my night such a memorable experience.
Watch a promo for Statesville Haunted Prison here:
For more information:
Official Site: https://statesvillehauntedprison.com/index.php
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StatesvilleHauntedPrison
Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/StatesvillePris
