Scream Scene, a haunted house that’s taking place inside the Skokie Water Playground’s public restroom areas, has been scaring the guts out of Skokie residents for just about forty years now. 

Scream Scene has realistic props – such as decapitated heads, anthropomorphic mannequins with inhumane features and gory injuries, blood everywhere (especially on actors), screaming, and more. Each year, they change up their props and their rooms, making the new haunted house even creepier than the last. 

Junior Litzy Cano visited Scream Scene twice. “I’ll definitely rate Scream Scene a 10/10. I actually got scared, and I lowkey thought I wasn’t going to, so I was surprised,” she said. “Here’s the thing, it was only scary because of the people [actors] in it. It all depended on them.” 

Actors at Scream Scene are required to scare the guests that pass by their assigned room by coming up with creative scaring tactics. These actors are able to jumpscare, follow, scream, stare at the guests as long as they never touch them. This haunted house is always actively looking for volunteers to frighten visitors every October– the volunteer link can be found here. 

Junior Jannat Rana recently volunteered as a bloody doctor at the haunted house. “I liked how friendly all of the staff were, how they were prepared to keep all volunteers fed and malnourished, consistently coming with food and drinks after the whole thing was over. I also liked getting to meet new people as well who were volunteering and being able to scare people, but I didn’t expect that we get to choose who we wanted to be, and we basically got to choose our clothes however we wanted as well,” she explained. “I definitely liked where I worked and would recommend it to many people as it was an extremely enjoyable experience.”

The calendar can be found on its main page, as it opens at 7 p.m. every weekend and closes at 10 p.m. on Fridays, 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and 9 p.m. on Sundays. This Saturday (October 29), there will be a “lights-on” haunted house from 3-5 p.m. This haunted house lasts about 13-to-15 minutes with the cost of $13 for a regular entry, but $20 for a fast pass, where you can skip the majority of the line. The haunted house is located at 4701 Oakton St, Skokie, IL 60076. Children and siblings under the age of 10 are not recommended to visit.