Salt Lake- Across the state, witches, ghosts, and everything from haunted nurses to the undertaker are roaming free at haunted houses and spooky alleys as Utahns get into the Halloween spirit. There are quite a few events and activities that take place in Utah exclusively.

There is one tradition that some follow every year, that others have never even experienced before. This of course is haunted houses. Salt Lake City is home to many haunted houses most namely Asylum 49, Which is in Tooele, Utah, and used to be an actual hospital.

Before Asylum 49 first opened its doors as a haunted house in 2006, the area was once the home of Samuel F. Lee and his family back in 1873. Samuel moved out in 1913, prompting the county of Utah to use the structure as a home for the elderly and mentally incapacitated patients. The building then became known as the ‘County Poor House’ and eventually transformed into a hospital by 1953.

After reviewing official logs of the hospital, a few major incidents were discovered. Two of which may be responsible for the ‘hauntings’ that the Old Tooele Hospital/ Asylum 49 has become famous for.

There is no record of a morgue in the hospital, there was a room designated for the bodies of dead patients. The Tooele County Cemetery is close to the structure. After a new hospital was hailed as ‘State of the Art’ was constructed in the county, the Old Tooele Hospital was officially closed in 2000.

The Cougar Claw was able to talk with the Owner of Asylum 49, Dusty. He first stated that “Asylum has a few jump scares, and animatronics, but it is mostly my actors that add the sheer terror to our already hair-raising building that keep people coming back year after year,”

He continued saying “Asylum is a full contact haunt, I would recommend Wimpy Wednesday, where there is no contact from our actors, for anyone going through my haunt that has never been to a haunted house before.”

He added “On average people ages 14 years and older are the ‘appropriate ages’ for my haunt. But it’s mostly about attitude not age, I’ve seen grown men and women who want out of my haunt after being there for only 10 minutes”

Dusty continued with telling the Claw “After Wednesday, if they feel they can handle full contact they can bounce back on Thursday for only five dollars.”

The Cougar Claw also reached out to a representative of Nightmare on 13th, The representative told the Claw “The Nightmare Castle has long been an icon in Salt Lake City, but the time has come to make our building tower, on 1300 South, with a bigger, darker, and scarier looking presence than ever before!”

The Claw continued to ask about the newest attraction this year “This new Nightmare submersed you into the Norse Lore of Helheim. A dark underworld where only the dishonored dead live!”

The Cougar Claw conducted a school wide survey to get Kearns students opinions on what haunted attractions our Cougars prefer to get a good spook from. Out of 38 students who returned the survey, 78.9% of students have been to a haunted house and 15.8% of students have never been here as 5.3% of students have only been to ‘homemade’ haunted houses

Most students recommend Fear factory or Nightmare on 13th for first time haunted house attendees.