Dungeon of Terror in Mazon enters its final year

MAZON – The screams that come from the confines of Mazon Dungeon of Terror soon will go silent as the haunt finishes its final season.

The dungeon in downtown Mazon will be dismantled and the building will resemble any other downtown storefront after serving as a haunted Halloween attraction for 16 years, because of an Illinois State Fire Marshal ruling.

“Four years ago the State Fire Marshal said we needed to have a sprinkler system and he gave us a waiver in order to try and raise the funds to install one,” said Kris Webster, creator and lead actor for the dungeon. “He said we have to have a fully staffed fire truck outside, as well as walk-through checks every 15 minutes, which we’ve done. But we can’t afford the sprinkler system.”

The irony of the situation is that the annual haunt is a fundraiser for the Mazon Fire District to help defray costs of equipment and training.

The attraction wasn’t singled out – instead it was caught up in a ruling that changed the classifications of permanent attractions.

The ruling stated that attractions the size of this haunt would be required to have a sprinkler system.

"It is with a heavy heart that we must close our doors after 15 years of operation," the dungeon website reads. "We are planning a few special nights this year to go out with a bang."

Darryl Punke, who has operated the haunt alongside his wife, Deb, and the Mazon Fire District, said he’s sad to see it all come to an end.

“I just like doing it,” he said. “I have always gone to haunted houses, and now I guess I’ll have the time to go to them again.”

Punke said the haunt averages 3,500 visitors each year and has about 50 actors each night it’s open prepared to scare those who traverse the attraction.

Robbie Clavey is a haunt actor who has been involved each years it was held.

He started when he was 13.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s not something everyone can say they’ve done.”

He said he takes pride in knowing that he’s good at it.

Clavey has been a shadowy figure, a zombie, a boss clown and a deranged panda who carries dolls that deliver creepy messages to those they come across.

“There is so much creative freedom here,” he said. “You come up with an idea and then perfect it when the haunt is open.”

He takes great pride in the fear he instills, and boasts that when he portrayed the boss clown in the clown room he made 50 people wet their pants.

But the haunt is much more than a fight fest to him – it’s a way to give back to his community and the fire district on which he serves.

“Knowing the money helps the fire department, I want to help as much as I can,” he said.

The actors don’t have all the fun creating a sense of fear.

Webster said while she works the entry of the attraction, dressed as her everyday self, it’s the mind games she gets to play on visitors to prepare them for what awaits inside that tickles her most.

“I can pick out who is nervous just by looking at them,” she said. “I just say one liners that put a thought in their head.”

She said she likes asking the nervous person in a group why they chose to go through in the middle or at the end of the pack, and gets them second-guessing their choices before they even enter.

Even her honest answers give the most hardened haunt-goers pause.

“When they ask what store was here previously, I say, ‘It was a chainsaw shop.’ And it really was,” she said. “I don’t go into details that the man fixed chainsaws here, I just state what it was.”

The final season of Mazon Dungeon of Terror will end, appropriately, on Halloween night.

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IF YOU GO

WHAT: Mazon Dungeon of Terror

WHERE: 515 Depot St., Mazon

WHEN: 7 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 7 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 31.

COST: $10 per person for entry into both attractions: the Dungeon of Terror and the Maze of Terror. Refunds are not offered, but staff will guide you through emergency doors to an exit if you cannot make it through. Discounts are offered for groups of 10 or more. For large groups, call or email ahead of time.

KNOW MORE: For information, call 815-448-2417 or email racetrack_2@yahoo.com