Local haunted houses get set to scare

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There was once a time when Halloween was mostly about children playing dress up. Las Vegas resident Duke Mullner, owner of Freakling Brothers, which operates three haunted houses around the valley, remembers that time.

When he started his haunted house operation he was the only one in town and the point truly was to give the children a good time. Now there is every variety of haunted house in the Las Vegas area, ready to scare young and old.

Mullner started his haunted houses in a very small way. In 1976 he was a dancer in a show at the Dunes where his wife was a singer. They got a few days off around Halloween that year and decided to use their theater background to do something fun for Halloween. They created a small haunted house in their own home.

"I wanted the kids of that day to know what the old truly scary characters were -- instead of Freddy and Jason, I wanted to give them a taste of Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Wolfman," Mullner said.

Mullner dressed up like Dracula and hid in a coffin he made himself. Children had to reach into the coffin to get the candy. He would startle them and they would run away squealing with delight. He did that for three hours on Halloween night the first year.

"After two years we had 1,000 people lined up beside our house just to go in for a two-minute deal and be scared," Mullner said.

For more than a decade, the couple's home became a Halloween phenomenon in the valley. Television stations would do the weather broadcasts from the Mullner's busy Halloween home. People would bring their RVs, set up outside the house and just watch the crowds -- without ever actually entering the house themselves. Instead, they would just watch visitors run screaming.

When they sold their house and moved, the Mullners received countless calls asking why they stopped hosting the haunted house. Everyone told them to start an actual business, and a friend suggested Mullner go to Tucson and look at all the great haunted house options there.

Following her advice, he went to Tucson and found what he was looking for. After speaking with the haunted house manager there, he was convinced a similar business could thrive in Las Vegas.

"(The manager) said the operational costs were about $200,000 and he thought it would take him about three or four years to make that back," Mullner said. "He said he made it back in two weeks."

Mullner came home and got to work, and Freakling Brothers haunted houses have grown in popularity since their creation. The company now has three different locations, each with its own theme and personality.

The Black Box, at 1301 W. Sunset Road in Henderson, is the oldest and will actually be retired after this year. Other Freakling Brothers haunted houses include Castle Vampire, at Rainbow Boulevard and Smoke Ranch Road, and The Mortuary, on East Charleston and Lamb boulevards.

Freakling Brothers may have been the first in the area, but there are several companies using the adrenaline rush of fear to fuel businesses.

Rich and Jan Strelak also started in their home. They created a haunted front yard that quickly gained a huge following.

"My husband is a Halloween fanatic," Jan Strelak said. At age 7, Rich Strelak was leading neighborhood kids on a tour under the porch of his family home, spooking them for a nickel a piece.

By 1998, the Strelaks' house was such a popular Halloween attraction they decided to start an actual business as well. Their company, R&J Productions, now operates the largest annual haunted house in Las Vegas, The Asylum, 120 N. Jones Blvd., as well as Hotel Fear, 1380 E. Silverado Ranch Blvd.

They consider Mullner their mentor and have what Jan Strelak called a friendly competition in the scaring business. It's a business but it's also just plain fun, she said. Patrons always have a good time.

"They like that adrenaline rush but they know it's a safe scare, and that's what's great about haunted houses," she said.

The actors who startle and terrify patrons on a nightly basis have a good time, too.

At Freakling Brothers' Henderson haunted house, the Black Box, actors were walking around like the living dead at a recent rehearsal. Not everyone has acting experience, but Mullner said they do have to have good timing and a love of scaring people.

Participants take the operation quite seriously. They do get paid but many said they would do it for free.

The experienced haunted house actors tell their scare stories with pride.

"I had a 6-foot-2 linebacker guy cry, push his girlfriend and run out of the room," said Bryan Brown, who plays a character called The Stripe.

Chris Banks, who plays a character called Pieces, once caused a 300-pound man to faint.

"The key to a good scare is motivation. You have to want to scare," Banks said.

The actors said they come year after year because it's a lot of fun.

"In all honesty, if he was to call me and say 'I can't pay you,' I'd still do it," said Shiriah Nixon, who is in charge of costumes and has been involved with Freakling Brothers for eight years.

She said she usually puts on a costume and scares people as well, but this year she'll sit out due to her pregnancy. At the rehearsal she was painting eyes black, searching for rattles and gloves and solving other wardrobe issues.

Mullner said there are different types of "scares." Haunted houses, including his, use the misdirection scare and the startle scare most often. They purposely vary the type of scares and the frequency throughout each haunted house. Some rooms are totally quiet in order to heighten the fear for the following room. They manipulate participants' emotions and adrenaline levels.

"We'll take them back down again and then bring them up so by the end of the show the last scare will kill them," Mullner said.

For more information about Castle Vampire, Black Box or The Mortuary, call 362-3327.

For more information about Hotel Fear or the Asylum of Terror, call 631-6682 or log on to www.lasvegashaunts.com.

Circus Circus and The Orleans also are hosting Halloween activities. For information on the Fright Dome at Circus Circus, call 734-0410. For information on the Haunted Village at The Orleans Arena, call 284-7777.