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…

Fans of Western Pennsylvania haunted houses, hayrides, and events know and trust the annual reviews and reports from The Haunted Housewives (Tish and Lilly.). A professional writer and occasional costumer with a deep understanding of what scares people and and even deeper interest in finding out why. These esteemed experts in Pittsburgh’s best halloween events…

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! 💀…

We LOVE watching people get scared in Pittsburgh’s Ultimate Haunted House. How about you? 💀   THANK YOU for supporting Pittsburgh artists, actors and business! Your purchases support a growing family of designers, actors, builders, make-up artists, managers, vendors, customer service associates and security staff who work all year long getting ready to scare yinz…

ScareHouse Zombies infest the KDKA-TV studios! Check out the fun video of our team terrorizing Heather Abraham and David Highfield … Thanks to everyone at KDKA for letting us run amok! October is almost over, don’t miss your chance to visit Pittsburgh’s Favorite Haunted House.

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…

Our tall friend from 96.1 KISS & 94.5 3WS radio faced her fears inside Pittsburgh’s Ultimate Haunted House! Check out the hilarious video … ScareHouse is Open this Weekend! Save $ when you buy online – lower prices in September.  Thanks to our friend Tall Cathy and to all of yinz who have already come…

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…

“ScareHouse excels at world-building; it also excels at creating iconic characters, creatures whose mere appearance supplies nightmare fuel – a girl with bleeding, bandaged eyes and needle-sharp teeth, a white-eyed madman on the verge of turning into something no longer human. The world that the hauntrunners create is both gritty and gorgeous. The scares are…

Calling all thrill-seekers, theater aficionados, and Halloween enthusiasts! Are you ready to dive into a world where fear becomes fun and the eerie becomes exhilarating? Look no further – your gateway to an unforgettable experience awaits at ScareHouse! Whether you’re an actor, a makeup maestro, a security pro, or a customer service wizard, we’ve got…

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…

Hilarious video as WTAE anchor Andrew Stockey & meteorologist Jeff Verszyla face their fears at ScareHouse … ScareHouse 2023 starts on September 8th and all General Admission tickets are just $19.99. Thank you Pittsburgh!  

October is Almost Over! Don’t miss your chance to get scared this weekend…  

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…

There’s a new attraction this year at ScareHouse, and it’s something you can experience without ever entering the haunt: Play a couple of rounds of pinball and other classic arcade games before or after your ScareHouse experience, courtesy of PGH Pinball. “If you enter the mall from the movie theater, ScareHouse is to the right,”…