Every autumn Christina Kortum and her volunteer crew reopen Underhill Haunted House, 40,000 square feet of spookiness in Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Like many public haunted house productions, it raises funds for a local organization, in this case Portland’s Canon Shakespeare Company.
If there’s anyone who might know how to fill such a huge space with frights and shudders, it’s Kortum. She began her creepy career by accident. After a costumed work party in the ’90s, she went to a haunted house alone. She fit in so well that security guards mistook her for a hired ghoul. By the end of the night, she’d been offered a job.
Haunting changed her life. Kortum learned set design, costuming and makeup, skills which led to her founding Ravenous Studios in Portland in 2010. This special-effects makeup company has worked on the television show “Grimm,” the movie “Hell Girl,” and many other productions.
“Scaring people somehow builds your confidence,” she admits. “Having a 6-foot-5 guy run from you screaming really helps when you’re a shy, quiet, nerdy person.”
Here are some of the top places to get scared senseless on the nights leading up to Halloween — most are open weekends and some weekdays during the month of October, but check the websites for exact dates and times. All are indoor, walk-through attractions, perfect for a terrifying rainy night.
Get Petrified In and Near Portland
In its sixth year in 2024, Underhill Haunted House in North Portland offers three separate themed attractions — called “haunts” in the haunted-house biz — for the price of admission, plus a separate, extra-scary bonus haunt for an extra fee. Visitors walk through themed mazes built inside the coliseum, including concepts like the haunted house — loosely modeled after the Disney Haunted Mansion — an alien spaceship and a den of witches. Expect low lighting, smoke machines, costumed creatures jumping out at you and sudden strange noises. Underhill also offers two child-friendly Sundays. “We tone down the props and pull out anything that’s too frightening for children,” Kortum says.
Kortum also recommends the show put on by friends at The Fear PDX. This Northeast Portland event deploys actors and animatronics at 10 different attractions designed for an adrenaline rush. A regular ticket gets you into four separate haunted houses and three attractions. Attractions in 2024 include the Rotten Pulp scare zone that could be called an anti-harvest festival, with toxic pumpkins growing at a rapid rate with a new taste for blood. For an additional fee, play a game called Chopped, in which one of your hands will be trapped in a guillotine as you try to escape.
In summer Oaks Park in Southeast Portland is a busy amusement park. Come October it turns into ScareGrounds PDX, Portland’s other major haunt. In October 2024, the main attractions are a decrepit movie palace called the Silver Scream; the cursed and dragon-filled Forbidden Fortress; and Slayer, where visitors join the ranks of a secret organization of monster hunters. Visitors can also buy admission to sideshows, including archery with zombies and a ride inside a coffin.
Kortum recommends braving Milburn’s Haunted Manor, 25 miles south of Portland in the farming community of Hubbard. The Milburn family runs the haunt themselves, adding a level of home-grown awesomeness. Visitors can expect two featured haunts in 2024: The Manor is a classic haunted house with a scary inhabitant named Suzie One-Eye; the Dark is a grab bag of zombies, clowns and dinosaurs jumping out at you from the darkness.
Support Deaf Students at a Haunted Factory in Salem
Ed Roberts founded the Nightmare Factory at the Oregon School for the Deaf in 1987. Almost four decades later, it’s a huge fundraiser for the Salem school each October. Eighth graders and up participate as actors, set decorators and makeup artists. Community members volunteer, too.
“It’s a great bridge to the hearing world,” Roberts says.
The 13,000-square-foot space has two separate haunts in 2024. Expect classic monsters and scenes from the Jack the Ripper era in Desolation Alley. In Clown Alley, optional ChromaDepth glasses let you enjoy the scary clowns in 3D.
Experience the Darkness in Southern Oregon and the Coast
Roseburg Fright Club, founded in 1993, tells the story of an ill-fated insane asylum whose residents Cyril and Stabby the Clown still cause all kinds of gory mischief. High school kids help run the haunted house, which raises money for community causes.
In Medford the Nightmare Chamber enters its 15th season in 2024. In addition to its classic haunted house, guests can experience a new haunt called the Dark, inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s infamous stories about a dreadful creature called a Cthulhu. “This haunt will be in complete darkness except for the scares, which will come hard and fast from the dark,” says owner Robin Downward. Expect loud sounds, flashes of light and sudden blasts of air hitting different parts of your body.
Anyone who’s been to Florence’s famous annual Rhododendron Festival on the Central Coast will appreciate Carnevil of Terror’s tagline, “Rhody Days gone WRONG.” The haunted maze raises money for C.R.O.W., a youth arts nonprofit, and has a limited five-night run in late October inside the Florence Events Center in 2024. A Less Scary Hour is available for children, where the lights are turned up a little brighter, there are no jump scares and the monsters are friendlier.
