Third Street Asylum meets fear factor, falls short on theme

Third Street Asylum meets the fear factor, falls short on theme.

Two+rooms+at+the+Third+Street+Asylum+were+dedicated+to+clowns.

Dalia Mejia

Two rooms at the Third Street Asylum were dedicated to clowns.

Scout Molder, Editor-in-Chief

Screams echoed from the open windows of the second floor. Creepy characters danced with fire outside the building while loud, ominous music plays. The “fight-or-flight” instinct inside of me leaned further and further towards the “flight” side. As I waited in line for the Third Street Asylum haunted house in Bonner Springs, Kansas, all of the bravery I thought I had slipped away with the words, “Why don’t you go in front?”

At just $25 per ticket, the Third Street Asylum was much scarier than I expected. It was full of jumpscares, terrifyingly realistic characters, and, of course, the occasional chainsaw. With every turn came something new, and there was rarely a moment in which I was truly able to predict what was coming. There was not one time that I found myself having to say, “I know you’re there and I know you’re about to scare me, so why bother?” When compared to the more popular haunted houses of the Kansas City West Bottoms and the Worlds of Fun Halloween Haunt, the fear factor is definitely up to par.

While it is without a doubt scary, the Third Street Asylum lacks a recognizable central theme. When I go to a haunted house with the label “asylum,” I expect it to be asylum-themed. Although some aspects of the haunted house reflected its title, other parts were completely unrelated. For example, there were several rooms filled with creepy clowns, and while I find clowns to be just as scary as the next person, they were not what I went there to be scared by. Ultimately, the house’s combination of random generic fears took away from its originality, leaving me slightly disappointed.

Another source of disappointment was the amount of time it took to get through. We had expected it to take about 45 minutes, but it ended up only being about 25 minutes. Although this may have seemed preferable at the time, because our fear made us want to get out as fast as possible, in retrospect it seems a little on the short end.  

The Third Street Asylum is great for those looking for a reasonably priced Halloween scare that has an enjoyable level of scariness. However, for those looking for something so revolutionarily frightening that it sticks with you for hours afterwards, I would suggest searching elsewhere.