A Dark and Scary Night At The Frightmare Compound
The Frightmare Compound at Night
December 1, 2021
As you walk down the dimly lit hallway, you pass by something that looks like a human, except it stands incredibly still. It is not the only one you have encountered, but you still ask yourself, ‘Is it a statue? Or is it a really good actor?’ You cannot be sure in the dark. With no options left, you move forward. You take a few shuffling steps, but if you listen carefully you can hear a second set of footsteps right behind you. Before you can look around, however, the person following behind you growls loudly, making you jump.
This was the experience of many people who went to the Frightmare Compound on November fifth.
The Frightmare Compound, self-proclaimed ‘world famous’ haunted house, was open during this October, and even until November 6th. To end the season with a bang the Compound did a ‘Lights Out’ event the last two days of this year’s season. As the name implies, the Compound turned off all the lights, where customers were either given a single LED candle or a glow stick if they opted to buy one.
The Frightmare Compound became a part of Colorado’s Halloween experience when it was opened in 1983 by Brad Holder. Ever since, hundreds of people go there during October to be a part of the experience. Some of those people have even made it a tradition. Becky Smith is one of these people. She has been coming to the Frightmare Compound since its opening in 1983. She has gotten to see how it has changed and expanded over the years. For Smith, the Frightmare Compound is an experience that people should have, “It’s [an experience] you don’t miss. So you go to another haunted house? You still have to come to this one. It’s just been a part of Colorado forever.”
Every year the Frightmare Compound gets added to, or just touched-up. So there is always something new for customers to experience.
This year there were many different ‘themes’ or sections. There was a mineshaft, house, forest, barn, and graveyard. But no matter the section, the lack of lighting, background noise, details put into the scenes, as well as the acting combine to create a scary and uncomfortable atmosphere. At certain sections the actors would follow you, sometimes they would respond if you talked to them, but not all would do that. Either way, it added to the experience, since the actors would stay in character during it. It was also a bit funny sometimes.
But on November fifth the experience was quite different from the rest of the season. It was much darker, and thus the way people see the haunted house is changed.
Josh Holder, the current owner of the compound, says that, “For our actors, for our security team, [and] for everybody it’s 100% different. Because with lights on you can see everything… [but] no matter if you’ve been here 100 times, once you turn off the lights it’s totally different.“
Holder believes that having an event like this, especially after Halloween, is good, and a part of keeping the Halloween spirit alive, “It’s a good event to have in November after Halloween. People are kind of over Halloween [and] they start looking [to] Christmas and Thanksgiving. But the Lights Outs event brings everybody back into the Halloween spirit.”
The spirit of Halloweeen has been around Holder his whole life. His father, Brad Holder was the previous owner, so Josh grew up around the Compound helping out. “I’ve never known October without it. I wouldn’t know what to do without October, I’ve never had a normal Halloween… I was always working on the house, always building it here. So it’s just been a way of life for me.”
Not only is The Frightmare Compound a part of Holder’s history, it is a part of Colorado’s and it’s residents. It is the oldest haunted house in Colorado, and holds decades of memories of people just like Smith.
Holder says, “Grandparents that came here in high school are now bringing their grandchildren out to do it every halloween… it’s really cool to see the different generations come through every year.”
