Niles Scream Park: The Man Behind the Masks

Next year marks Niles Scream Park’s 50th consecutive season in operation and for owner Mr. Pete Karlowicz, this is a huge milestone. 

“It feels pretty awesome and spectacular because we are- I believe- the second oldest haunted house in the country,” Mr. Karlowicz stated. 

However, the scream park wasn’t always known under the name it is today. When it originally began in 1974, it was known as the Greater Niles Jaycees Haunted House. 

“We’re in a pretty elite group being that old,” added Mr. Karlowicz.

Another feature that makes it unique is its sheer size. The scream park is 44-acres of terror and it boasts three separate haunted houses within. Two of these shows are rebuilt every year with completely new names, themes, and decorations. 

“Unlike many haunts, we change every year. We don’t change everything, but a lot of haunts change almost nothing,” said Mr. Karlowicz.

This season, the scream park’s two new shows are the “Sinister Streets of Salem,” comprised of 1692 puritan horror, and “The Evil Estate,” filled with Don and Betty Whitlock’s infernal collection. The design and production of these attractions, Mr. Karlowicz reported, is a year-long process. When asked when work for next season starts, his answer was a direct: “The day after we close.”

In fact, “Sinister Streets” was mostly Mr. Karlowicz’s idea and after much deliberation, he brought it to the design crew. 

“She (the artist) will draw pictures of what that means to her, and then that’s where we go in terms of decorating it. We have a construction crew- the construction crew goes first; they build the sets. Then, the decoration crew comes behind and decorates them, then the lighting crew and sound crew come behind that and put in the lights, sounds, and music, to go with whatever’s there,” Mr. Karlowicz said. 

“If one of us doesn’t have a specific idea in mind, we sit down as a team and we’ll throw ideas around about ‘What would the theme be?’ and ‘What are we going to do?’ That’s how most of our stuff is done,” explained Mr. Karlowicz.

Every October, Mr. Karlowicz will take his site crew on a road trip and visit approximately ten haunted houses. 

“On the mornings of those road trips, we usually eat breakfast and have a team meeting  to talk about ideas they’ve been thinking about all year, or perhaps ideas they’ve gotten from that road trip the day before…It’s definitely a team effort,” Mr. Karlowicz said.

Once the sets have been built and the rooms decorated, the scream park is almost ready for business. But, before its doors open, the park still needs scarers prowling its rooms and mazes. The vast majority of these scarers are volunteers.  However, a handful of scarers are a part of a separate program that began three years ago, called the Crypt Creatures. 

“The Crypt Creatures are a small group that are actually paid. They are trained differently, they’re decorated differently, and they have very high priced costuming. We went to that to try and increase the quality of the show, because the volunteers are volunteers; they’re not experts, if you will, and so we wanted to have trained people,” Mr. Karlowicz stated. 

The scream park now hosts about 25 Crypt Creatures. These terrifying individuals will be evenly spread throughout the facility. 

“You might get a volunteer that’s not that good, but hopefully in the next room, you’re going to have a Crypt Creature who is excellent,” said Mr. Karlowicz.

The money from Niles Scream Park goes to nearly 65 various community and school organizations in the area. Last year, Niles Scream Park donated over 125 thousand dollars. With the recent addition of escape rooms to the scream park’s repertoire of activities, it really lives up to its motto: “We’re a frightful nightful.” With plenty to see, and a good cause behind it all, the Niles Scream Park is a fantastic destination for anyone seeking to have the “yell” scared out of them. 

“I just hope people will come out and have a fun time. It’s a great concept because the people come, they have fun, and the money that they pay gets funneled back into the community, so it’s a double win,” Mr. Karlowicz concluded.