Midnight Terror Haunted House in Oak Lawn returns with double the dread

Malum (pictured) runs the factory

Blackwood Hospital is one of two Midnight Terror attractions

Midnight Terror Haunted House made a big splash in 2014 when it debuted as Oak Lawn’s first ever commercial haunted attraction. Now, it’s preparing to awe visitors with an all-new frightfully fun attraction that’s at least twice as large as last year’s. In fact, the site now hosts two uniquely themed haunted houses deviously designed to terrify patrons: (1) Factory of Malum and (2) Blackwood Hospital, both included with the price of admission.

Inspired by rave reviews and an even better-than-expected turnout (over 9,000 customers) last October, Midnight Terror creator/co-owner and Oak Lawn native Justin Cerniuk refused to rest on his laurels or repeat the same haunt. So last November, as soon as his inaugural attraction closed, he went back to the drawing board and began plans for a completely different and expanded Midnight Terror attraction for 2015. Working closely with village officials, Cerniuk and co-owners Robert Page, Maciej Kulawiak and Mark Krupa earned approval to expand their attraction’s footprint beyond the boundaries of the 4,000-square-foot Beatty Lumber warehouse that shelters the walk-through portion of their haunt.

“Now, I get to fulfill a longtime dream of mine – hosting two haunted houses on one site and enhancing the experience for visitors with a greater level of detail and sensory stimuli,” says Cerniuk, a former Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan during combat operations there. “This year, we created fresh sets, animatronics and props as well as a whole new mythology, backstory and cast of characters that mesh with the themes we’ve built into this two-in-one attraction.”

Visitors first enter the Factory of Malum, the nightmarish industrial headquarters of a demonic dream-haunting overlord named Malum, who has transformed his workshop’s rooms and corridors into architectural manifestations of your worst fears and phobias. As you wind helplessly through Malum’s labyrinth, you come face-to-face with a menagerie of scary simulations, including grotesque insects, snakes, rats, living dolls, sparking electrical hazards, fire-scorched clowns, pitch-black passages, and claustrophobia-inducing narrowed hallways. Accompanying you on this excursion into fear are fellow factory worker fiends who mercilessly shriek, stalk and surprise at virtually every turn.

But your tour of the terrifying doesn’t end there. Next, your mission is to avoid becoming an inpatient at Blackwood Hospital, the warped wards of which you’ll walk warily through in the hopes of being discharged without being dismembered. It’s awfully convenient that a medical center is adjacent to Malum’s factory, but it’s awfully creepy that the hospital beds, surgical tables, and padded cells are occupied by mangled, possessed, and deranged factory employees under the care of the sadistic physician Dr. Blackwood and gnarly nurses who belong in hearses. Souls fortunate enough to escape Blackwood’s confines must lastly brave an outdoor home stretch better known as “Chainsaw Alley” before they can taste freedom.

Yes, it’s safe to say that Cerniuk and crew had a busy off-season.

“We had so many great ideas for a bigger and better haunted attraction that are now being realized,” says Cerniuk, who plans to keep Midnight Terror within Oak Lawn and improve it every year. “Staging this on a bigger scale also meant growing our staff, delegating responsibilities and dramatically increasing our budget.” Consequently, the 2015 edition of Midnight Terror includes:
• More than 30 rooms – 15 more than last year – as well as a new outdoor section.
• 70 actors – 50 more than 2014 – each a distinctive character with a custom costume and makeup.
• The guidance of experienced haunt industry professionals, among them veteran set detailer Dan Haynes and actor trainer John Shankel (who choreographs the scarers’ actions).
• A brand new LED lighting system and improved sound system.
• Hollywood-style CGI effects, including monitors displaying monstrous footage.
• Free entertainment for guests waiting in line – from DJs to stilt walkers to street drummers.

Additionally, visitors can benefit from special promotions, some involving partnerships with community organizations, including:
• Half off regular admission (a $9 value) on opening night, October 1.
• Ladies get $5 off on October 8.
• Students with a school ID get $3 off on October 11.
• Buy one regular admission, get another for half off on October 22.
• First 25 people pay half price regular admission on October 28.
• Family Day on October 31 between 3 and 6 p.m., when kids age 12 and younger can walk through, free of charge, with the lights on and trick or treat with the actors, who will be in friendly mode; during this three-hour period, families can also register early on-site for the 2016 Westside Baseball season or for a local Boy Scout troop.
• An on-site community blood drive (date to be announced soon): anyone who donates blood will receive a half-off regular admission voucher.
• A $3 off coupon (valid on select dates), found online at midnightterrorhauntedhouse.com.

Cerniuk promises that guests will get a great bang for their buck at Midnight Terror, which he says charges much less than other commercial haunted attractions – in fact, admission is as low as $9 after some of the aforementioned discounts. For those who want their chills without the wait, a V.I.P. pass provides fast entry.

Midnight Terror Haunted House is located at 9531 S. 52nd Ave., Oak Lawn, Ill., 60453, near the intersection of 95th Street and 52nd Avenue. Tickets can be purchased online at or at the box office on site: regular admission per person is $18; each V.I.P. pass is $25; discounts for large groups are also available. The attraction is wheelchair accessible and open, rain or shine (a covered waiting area is provided), from: 7-10 p.m. on Oct. 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 22, 25, 28, and 29 and on Nov. 1; and from 7-11 p.m. on Oct. 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30, and 31. Visitors can park for free inside the nearby Metra parking garage at 9525 S. Tulley Ave. To purchase tickets in advance, get a coupon worth $3 off admission on select dates, or for more information, visit midnightterrorhauntedhouse.com or email midnightterror.info@gmail.com.

Spirits on Sproat comes back from the dead on Oct. 2

We are now mere days away from the kickoff of Spirits on Sproat's 2015 season, scheduled to open on Friday, October 2. Rest assured that we're busy preparing several new props, lighting effects, and live entertainment as well as improving our popular scavenger hunt games.

Check back to the site regularly between now and October 31 to learn the latest news about our home haunt. We will be posting all new spook spotlights – individual profiles of specific new characters with descriptive details and humorous trivia – as we advance toward Halloween.

Make your plans now to visit Spirits on Sproat this October... If you dare! For our October 2015 schedule and driving directions, click here.

Sayonara from Spirits on Sproat

Thanks to all for visiting our Spirits on Sproat display this year, and for helping to make this our best season yet! Now only 365 more days to go...

Happy Halloween!

The Spirits on Sproat 2014 video: the next best thing to being there!

Want a sneak peak of what you can expect when you come see our home haunt in person? Feast your eyes on fiendish new footage of our display that we just posted. It's the 2014 (10th anniversary edition) official Spirits on Sproat video, ready to be watched by clicking below. Enjoy!

Another area paper features Spirits on Sproat

Our 10th anniversary continues to get a lot of attention from neighborhood publications. This time, The Reporter weekly newspaper teased our display on the cover and then gave Spirits on Sproat a prominent write-up on page 4. To read the article, click here.

Spirits on Sproat featured in local newspaper

Your friendly neighborhood house of horror has been spotlighted in the latest edition of the Southwest News Herald newspaper, which writes about our home haunt's 10th anniversary and inspirations for many of the characters we display.

You can read a copy of the article by clicking here.

Horror Tourers awards Spirits on Sproat 5 out of 5 chainsaws - again!

For the second year in a row, the Horror Tourers, a group of dedicated and well-traveled home haunt reviewers, has given our Spirits on Sproat home haunt a perfect 5 out of 5 chainsaws rating. Here's a sample from their newly posted review:

"The move to the backyard gives visitors an opportunity to study many of the figures up close, which was not really possible in the front, and also allows for the garage to be set up as a staging area, which this year featured many figures, including a brand new figure of the evil Ash from Evil Dead."

You can read the full critique here, which includes a photo gallery and two videos: a commentary summarizing what they liked, plus a walk-through of the display.

Thanks to the Horror Tourers for visiting our haunt again and for the glowing review!

List of home haunts in the area now posted

Curious to learn what other home haunts are up and running for you to visit this Halloween season? The 2014 list of Chicagoland home haunts is now available!

Visit http://1drv.ms/10z00eV to view, download or print this long-anticipated list.

Spirits on Sproat opens tonight!

The night you've been waiting all year for is finally here--Spirits on Sproat opens tonight at 7 p.m.! Come check out our all-new display held entirely in the back yard, where there are more props, more room to explore, and more surprises in store for those who dare to visit. Hope to see you out this weekend (and bring a jacket--it's going to be chilly).

Midnight Terror Haunted House opens Oct. 2 in Oak Lawn

Sledge (the alter ego of Midnight Terror Haunted House owner Justin Cerniuk) is one of over 30 costumed actors eager to greet visitors.

Since he was 10 years old, Oak Lawn native Justin Cerniuk has yearned to create the ultimate spookhouse. Now, with the Oct. 2 opening of Midnight Terror Haunted House, Oak Lawn’s first ever commercial haunted attraction, Cerniuk is about to realize that dream — and give nightmares of the frightfully fun kind to the thousands of visitors expected to attend.

Cerniuk partnered with village officials to repurpose the long-abandoned Beatty Lumber yard property at 9531 S. 52^nd Ave., host site of Midnight Terror, and create a win-win for everyone involved. Working diligently round the clock since August, Cerniuk and his team have converted the 4,000-square-foot Beatty warehouse into a creepy fear factory that will feature dozens of unique props, over 30 costumed actors, and 15 different rooms — including a crypt of the damned, haunted forest, and blackout barracks — that wind throughout the facility in unexpectedly frightening fashion.

Midnight Terror will provide patrons with memorable thrills they won’t get at any other paid horror-themed attraction. Everything inside is meant to overwhelm your senses, look disturbingly authentic and unfold unpredictably. From the custom-built animatronics and finely detailed props to the distinctive wall textures, eerie lighting design, and improvisational scare tactics of the actors, Cerniuk promises a Halloween thrill destination that’s a cut above the rest.

“We’ve even designed certain spaces to have distinctive scents, like the musty smell of the boiler room and the mildewed odor of the catacombs,” says Cerniuk, who personally designs and fabricates nearly every prop, façade and effect used in Midnight Terror. “And visitors are getting a great value. This is no quick stroll through and you’re done. The attraction lasts up to 15 minutes, and it doesn’t end when you exit the building. There are more scares waiting for you outside, too.”

While many professional haunts charge $25 or more per ticket, admission to Midnight Terror is as low as $8 on select dates (after redeeming a $2 off coupon from midnightterrorhauntedhouse.com); for those who want their chills without waiting in line, a $17 R.I.P. pass provides instant entry. What’s more, opening night admission is half price: only $5.

Cerniuk actually started Midnight Terror as a modest free front yard display, outside his Oak Lawn home in 2000, when he was only 10 years old. A year later, with the help of his uncle, Robert Page, he constructed a temporary haunted house in front of his garage. By the time he was a teenager, Cerniuk had become a master monster architect capable of making sophisticated one-of-a-kind props and animated characters, built from windshield wiper motors, air rams, motion detectors, micro-computer controllers and other parts he assembled together. Whether it involved welding linkages or programming relay sequences, this kid could do it all. Combine these skills with his love for Halloween and horror movies and it’s easy to believe that Cerniuk was born to bring out the goose bumps in his adoring public.

“When I was little, my uncle used to take me to some really good decorated houses in the area, where I got a lot of ideas,” says Cerniuk, now 24.

Midnight Terror Haunted House owner Justin Cerniuk readying a prop for his haunted attraction.

Midnight Terror took a vacation when, in 2007, Cerniuk enlisted in the Marines and, over four years, served in Iraq and Afghanistan during combat operations there. Cerniuk returned older, wiser and more determined to make his home haunt better than ever. By 2013, his yard display and haunted enclosure featured 28 custom animatronics, 12 volunteer actors and eight rooms. Fans rewarded his craftsmanship and creativity with heavy foot traffic (over 6,000 visitors last October) and ample donations, a portion of which Cerniuk donated to the Autism Society of Illinois.

Inspired by the overwhelming popularity of his Halloween attraction, and backed by a strong support team that includes Uncle Robert and his two best friends — Mark Krupa and Maciej Kulawiak — Cerniuk decided to go pro this year and bring his talents to the masses. Oak Lawn Trustee Tim Desmond and other village officials aided Cerniuk in finding the right available property and cutting through the red tape involved. Now, after months of careful planning, Midnight Terror Haunted House is ready to open for business.

“My goal is for everyone to have fun and enjoy a collaborative experience where our scare team and our visitors feed off of each other’s energy and excitement,” says Cerniuk, who cautions that Midnight Terror’s intense atmosphere is not for the faint of heart. “I want to bring back this haunted house every year, bigger and better than ever. I envision this as an exclusive Oak Lawn attraction. This is where I started 14 years ago. This is where I have roots, and I want to remain loyal to my home town.”

Midnight Terror Haunted House is located at 9531 S. 52^nd Ave., Oak Lawn, Ill., 60453, near the intersection of 95^th Street and 52^nd Avenue. Tickets can be purchased online at or at the box office on site: admission per person is $10; a no-wait R.I.P. pass is $17; discounts for large groups are also available. The attraction is wheelchair accessible and open, rain or shine (a covered waiting area is provided), from 7-10 p.m. on Oct. 2, 5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 22, 23, 26, 29 and 30, and from 7-11 p.m. on Oct. 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25, 31 and Nov. 1. Visitors can park for free inside the nearby Metra parking garage at 9525 S. Tulley Ave. To purchase tickets in advance, get a coupon worth $2 off admission on select dates, or for more information, visit midnightterrorhauntedhouse.com or email midnightterror.info@gmail.com. 

Spirits on Sproat back to celebrate its 10th anniversary starting Oct. 3

Your favorite Halloween house will reopen beginning Friday, Oct. 3, 2014. In celebration of our 10th anniversary, we've moved the display to the back yard to accommodate more props and thrills! Make your plans to visit our improved Gallery of the Dead--if you dare!

For the complete schedule of dates and times we're open, click here.

Spirits on Sproat earns stellar 5 out of 5 chainsaws rating!

For the second year in a row, the Horror Tourers--a group of dedicated and well-traveled home haunt reviewers--has visited Spirits on Sproat and written up a glowing critique of our Halloween yard display. In fact, in 2013 we earned their highest possible rating: 5 out of 5 chainsaws!

Check out their written review, along with a walk-through video, review commentary video, and several fresh photos taken, by visiting http://horrortourers.weebly.com/spirits-on-sproat-2013.html.

Hope to see the Horror Tourers--along with all our other fans and followers--next October!

Only 365 days to go...

Thanks to all for another wonderful Halloween season. 2013 proved to be our best year yet in terms of props, lights, scares and visitors. We're already making our plans for an even bigger and better Spirits on Sproat in 2014. Check back to WeLoveHalloween.blogspot.com starting next September for the latest updates. Happy Halloween!

Now you see him, now you don't

Look closely--that eerie image in the shadows could just be an illusion; or it could be the Invisible Man, one of our more recent enlistees in the Gallery of the Dead. He's a fascinating subject. Consider these facts:

• Favorite songs: I’m Looking Through You, You Won’t See Me
• Pet peeve: Being ignored while flashing strangers in his raincoat
• Secret shame: Pulls his eyebrow hairs off every time he removes the duct tape from his head
• Little-known fact: Sued by the mummy for use of his likeness
  

Time for an experiment...in terror!

Keep your test tubes and syringes far away from the Mad Scientist--he's likely to use them on his poor victim, the subject of horrible and insane experiments. Among the latest in our 2013 series of new monsters, this duo personifies weird science run amok. Here's what we know about this gruesome twosome:

• Nickname: Beaker breath
• Greatest inventions: The Clapper, Mr. Microphone, Snugglie (the wearable blanket with built-in fabric softener)
• Most recent job: Sarah Palin’s campaign manager
  

Return of the prodigal son

Years ago, the Blue Phantom played the keyboard for Spirits on Sproat visitors and climbed the tree above our display to scare the unsuspecting. Now, he's retired from active haunting, but he's earned a permanent spot in our horror hall of fame. Here are more details on the Blue Phantom:

• Known for: Climbing trees, tickling the ivories, chasing after cars 
• Nicknames: Papa Smurf, Blue Man Ghoul, Spock ears 
• Secret shame: Hasn’t grown an inch since 7th grade 
• Voted in high school: Most likely to wear platform shoes
  

Something smells awfully fishy 'round here

Our newest member of the Gallery of the Dead could quite possibly be the largest and hungriest. He normally prowls the ocean waters, but somehow he's learned to swim through grass. Come gaze upon the awesome spectre that is...Jaws! But be sure you don't spill a drop of blood anywhere near our display; sharks can smell that stuff a mile away. Betcha' didn't know these facts about our famous great white:

• Secret shame: Received electro shark therapy treatment 
• Favorite pigout food: Quarter flounder with cheese 
• Little known fact: He’s so old in the tooth that he now wears dentures 
• Sick of hearing his wife say: Chew with your mouth closed
  

Spirits on Sproat 2013 video now ready for prime time

The official 2013 video for our Spirits on Sproat display is now up and running on YouTube. Click below, if you dare!

Death metal has a face

Some people vow to rock and roll until it kills them. And that's exactly what happened to Iggy Vicious, quite possibly the boniest buddy among our Gallery of the Dead. Here are some little known facts on this macabre musician:

• Known for: Playing music so loud and shrill that it can make the skin melt right off your bones
• Favorite band: The Grateful Dead
• Little-known fact: His dog once pulled off his leg and buried it in the backyard
• Famous for: Recently warning Keith Richards to stop copying his image
  
  

One bride you wouldn't want to honeymoon with

They say behind every good man is a good woman. But what if that man isn't so good? Then his mate must surely be evil incarnate, as is the case with the Bride of Dracula. She's a fetching lass in her black coffin. Come see her in all her glory at Spirits on Sproat, but bring a wooden stake just in case. Here's the 411 on the missus...

• Sick of hearing her husband say: Not tonight, dear, I’ve got a toothache
• Secret wish: To be the celebrity pitchman for 1-800-FLOWERS.com
• Idolizes: Cher (circa 1987), Snooky, Michelle Bachman
• Little known fact: Won a staring contest with Medusa