I decided to celebrate the first weekend of October with a visit to one of Amarillo's haunted houses. I chose the one that I had not yet been to, yet had written plenty about before.

The Haunt at Sundown is a ten minute drive south of town. It's an easy cruise down Washington street. The city streetlights end at 58th street and then you are engulfed by the darkness. In retrospect, I realize that it is a ominous glimpse of our destination.

The Haunt at Sundown perches on the corner lot, brightly lit and easy to find. With me I had a teenage girl and my adolescent son, whom I finally thought was ready for his first 'fright night', so to speak. We stood in line outside and chatted with the lovely young woman with long copper red hair who guarded the entrance.

A burly man wielding an intimidating Maglite gleefully warned my son of a particular figure within the attraction donning a pale mask.

"That's not a mask, it's her real face...honest!" he said somberly as I fought to keep a straight face.

We were ushered inside and given wristbands, then sent towards a door. Once that door closed behind us, it was like we entered a different world altogether.

The Haunt at Sundown
The Haunt at Sundown
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Entering The Haunt Is Entering Another Reality

The Haunt At Sundown does not rely on gore and jump-scares. It is a horror story that is lovingly and creatively crafted with the darkest parts of the human psyche in mind. The first hallway we we entered was a fantastical darkness with illuminated fog swirling around us.

We waded through it as if it were a dark stagnant pond. As my son quickly grabbed my hand and pulled himself closer, I had the eerie sensation that we were descending into another dimension.

There are no cheap parlor tricks, only an immersion into a terrifying alternative reality that unfolds in a series of tight twists and turns.

The actors are what make The Haunt, and by God, they are sensational.

The little girl who flung doors open and howled at us. The faces that surfaced briefly before drawing back into the darkness. The frozen human figures around a particular table of horrors. The dark shadow that clung to our heels with unnatural speed.

Fantastic. They were utterly fantastic. They were commanding and compelling enough to briefly overcome my knowledge that this was a simple haunted house and evoked a momentary sensation of true fear from within me.

A Frightful Evening Recommended

I can't describe much more of this haunted house without too much away. But this is certainly a seasonal attraction that one would be well-served to visit if they're a fan of the spooky season. The cost ($20 per person) is reasonable and the experience itself is unforgettable.

For more information on dates and times, check out The Haunt at Sundown's Facebook. It is located at 1201 W Sundown Lane

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