Behind The Screams

Since 1999 a team of primarily Pittsburgh-based artists and actors have worked tirelessly to create highly elaborate and immersive haunted attractions based on original concepts and characters. This commitment to creativity extends to the highly elaborate trailers, teasers, and online videos that have been posted online to a worldwide audience of fans for nearly 20 years! ScareHouse currently remains on hiatus, but our team hopes to bring the attraction back to life in a new form and new location soon. ScareHouse is forever! Few haunted attractions have garnered as much attention as ScareHouse. Every year, the Pittsburgh Halloween staple has lured crowds with high-quality frights executed by dedicated, professional scare actors and crew members. Oscar-winning horror filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and actor Elijah Wood gave ScareHouse their approval and, in 2023, it earned the title of Top Haunt by the…

Over the last week our friends from Pittsburgh Today Live have taken viewers inside both THE BASEMENT and THE CHIPPED FANG.  ScareHouse Creative Director Scott Simmons offered up a preview of The Basement while our make-up manager Sue Weill transformed actress Jennifer Dallas into her iconic demon character LIVE: Katie isn’t a big fan of…

Elijah Wood called it “an invasive experience” when asked about it by Seth Meyers. In their recent review, The Haunted Housewives called it an “absorbing piece of theater.” And CBS News called it “an extreme haunted house experience!” If you’re reading this post you’ve probably already read or heard some of the specifics: you have…

The Chipped Fang is our NEW immersive mocktail experience for this fall, held within the special event space at Bold Escape Rooms in the Strip District. You’re invited to enter a secret lair in the Strip District for vampires of all kinds and times starting on Friday, September 13th. But what is a mocktail experience…

Remember the ScareHouse podcast?  Starting in 2010 we produced nearly 150 episodes of an audio podcast taking fans behind the screams of ScareHouse, but also offering insights and conversations from the rapidly expanding industries of haunted attractions, immersive entertainment, and location-based attractions. (Plus more than a few episodes that were just about weird stuff that…

For as long as she can remember, Sue Weil has loved makeup. In fact, her earliest memory involves this passion. “I was probably about four years old and got into my mom’s lipstick and put it on,” says Weil, ScareHouse’s Assistant Manager in the Makeup Department. “I had red all over my face, and after…

We invited Jordan the Grey Witch to take an exclusive, lights on look at ScareHouse! Thanks to Jordan and every one who has provided such overwhelming support to ScareHouse this year! October is almost over, don’t miss your chance to check us aht! Guarantee admission when you buy tickets online. Happy Halloween yinz guys! 💀…

Just like TV shows can have guest actors, so can haunted attractions! If you come to ScareHouse Friday, October 13 or Saturday, October 14, you might see a new scary face for one weekend only — actress Katie Lane, who’s been working in the haunt industry for nearly 30 years. “I believe I first met…

As one of the new faces to the ScareHouse team this season, Alex Vogelsong just celebrated her Pittsburghaversy. “It was a year ago this August that I came to Pittsburgh for the first time,” says Vogelsong. “I worked as a casting assistant and background actor on a film production [Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls], and relocation…

The Haunted Attraction Association has certified ScareHouse as one of the Top Haunts in America based on our continuing commit to safety, customer satisfaction, and ongoing elevation and education within the industry! It’s a huge thrill for us to be recognized by a worldwide network of professionals who own, operate and/or design Haunted Attractions, Haunted…

Hey there weirdos! This is ScareHouse Creative Director and co-owner Scott Simmons and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the enthusiasm and support for the new episodes of “Chiller Theater!” Many years before ScareHouse I worked as a writer/producer for WPXI-TV (1990) which means I not only worked within the same studios…

After she graduated from Tom Savini’s Special Make-up Effects Program, Christalee Lema knew exactly what she wanted to do next. “Right out of the gate, I knew I wanted to work at ScareHouse,” says Lema. “That was the only place. When I was 12 or 13, I had gone for the first time, and it…

Before any group of visitors enters ScareHouse, they are told the rules. These include reminders such as keeping cell phones away and “touch no thing and no thing will touch you.”  Those actors portraying the zombies and demons still see, hear and experience some visitors who need even more reminders, however. When asked what ScareHouse…

One thing to know about working at ScareHouse: If you volunteer to take on a bigger job, they will take you up on it! That’s something Mark Hawley, who’s become a bit of a Mr. Tech Fixit, recently learned. “I don’t think I have an official title,” says Hawley. “Last year I was an actor,…

When terrorized inside the Demon Hour room filled with dolls, watch out for a sound from overhead. How sure can you be that one hasn’t started talking? Sound designer Bengt Alexsander said he included a sample from the band Le Tigre’s song “Decepticon,” that sounds like it originally came from a children’s book. “It’s this…

Mike Richter found his calling as a carpenter because of the haunted house industry—even if he says he was scared of haunted houses growing up. “About nine years ago, my buddy got me to audition for a haunted house up in Erie,” says Richter, “and I just kinda fell in love with it. Then I…

After narrowly missing an alien spaceship’s crash-landing, unsuspecting survivors look up above a crashed car, avoiding zombies lurching toward them, to see: A billboard for cheese?  At ScareHouse, details like what objects go inside a fridge, on a table or become part of a billboard all start with being a part of the overall set…

If you’ve been through the haunt this season, or seen any of the promotional materials for ScareHouse, you may have come across this woman with rotten teeth and a bandage over her eyes. She stems from the imagination of another (less scary!) woman—ScareHouse Backstage Assistant Melary Stanko. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved…

While ScareHouse is known for creating scares, we also like to create smiles when we give back to the community that supports us every fall. Every October, we partner with Burgatory on a ScareHouse Shake, where a portion of the sales benefit the Mario Lemieux Foundation. This year, the donation will provide funding to Austin’s…

After decades of scares, can you believe that Employee 001 still works for ScareHouse? Meet actor Tracy Campbell. Scott Simmons [ScareHouse Creative Director] and I worked together many moons ago in television,” says Tracy. “I worked in news as a writer and producer. Back in the MySpace days, Scott and I were still in touch,…

This season, ScareHouse added a new position to the team: Scare Coach. But what exactly does a Scare Coach do? Let’s ask the Scare Coach herself, Allie Sims. “My job is primarily managing actors a.k.a. herding cats,” says Sims with a laugh. “Managing actors and helping them get everything they need and need to know,…