The Old Joliet Haunted Prison
located at 401 Woodruff Rd., Joliet IL 60432
prices may vary depending on which day you go, please visit www.hauntedprison.com for more info on ticket prices
IT’S HERE, IT’S HERE!!! Joliet Haunted Prison is finally open for business. I loved watching the line actors chasing people up and down the queue lines and screaming at people like they were all new incoming prisoners and waving around their batons!!! Now let me just say the prison itself looks so amazing.
The very first part of the haunt is outside walking along the backside of the building through a really thick fog. My crew mates actually couldn’t see me through it because it was so thick. I could hear them calling me, but did not see them when I turned around. I would like to warn you that the ground is very rocky at points so be careful of your footing and please wear appropriate shoes when you visit. You will later need to go up and down metal grate stairs and we would like you to be safe.
My favorite part of this whole haunt is probably the very first room. We walked inside the prison and into the warden’s office. The warden’s office looks fairly normal. As I went to turn, I saw a weird flickering out of the corner of my eye and in the corner of the room was a ghost that looked like a hologram projection that startled the hell out of me. It looked so real, I was concerned I had seen the real thing for a moment and had to stop to look for whatever projected it before I would leave the room. I later saw this same thing used to have ghosts fade in and out of doorways of some of the cells which was awesome.
The cells I speak of aren’t just a part of the set that the haunt brought into the property. These are the actual cells of the old prison the utilised and made part of the set. They are used for popout, scenery is put inside, some are left completely alone and untouched, just dark and foreboding. I think those cells were some of the scariest to look into and all you see in your head is the ghosts of the past.
Another thing I liked that they did is they used the old catwalks on the upper floor and you can actually look down into the haunt and see the rooms in action and see some of the layout of the haunt. Not many haunts will let you get a bird’s eye view like this and I think it is a great idea.
Let’s talk about the actors. These actors were very into it. They were crawling all over the place!! They would pop out at people at the front but then entertain the people in the middle or hide and jump out at those in the middle of the group. Wait, why is this important? Have you ever walked through a haunt and the actor pops out but then that is it? People purposely hide in the middle of their group because actors don’t usually go for the middle of the group or end. ACTOR AT JOLIET HAUNTED PRISON WILL JUMP OUT THE FRONT, BACK AND MIDDLE OF THE GROUP!!! No matter where you are in your grouP, the actors will get you when you least expect it. The mad scientist was also really cool to see. He was on top of a platform looking down at his victims about halfway through the haunt. He will even reach for you and try to grab you.(not really though because the haunters can not touch you and you can not touch them)
The last part of the haunt was a type of zombie laser tag. We were thrown straight into combat and I have never done laser tag in my life. I was handed a gun and told to go!!! One actor ran towards us and the Halloween Blast owner shot him. This guy DROPPED TO THE GROUND IMMEDIATELY!!! I don’t know if that guy was doing that all night when he was shot or not, but he HAD to be sore in the morning. I felt like we were prison guards and we were hunting down the escaped zombie inmates. The last thing I will mention is in the area for the laser tag, don’t be like us and walk through any white curtains. They led to the actors’ hallways and we were not supposed to be there. We told the owner of the haunt about it afterwards and he is already working on a way to indicate that is not the way forward through the rest of the haunt.
In all, we had an amazing night at Joliet Haunted Prison and they brought a lot of new stuff to the table. They did an overall amazing job and there is still a lot more to it that was not put into the review. I hope you take the time to go check them out, form your own opinions and have a blast!
