Overview:
From late nights and bruises to unforgettable scares, Denver scare actors share what it takes to bring Halloween’s darkest thrills to life.
Thick fog curls over the pavement as a line of thrill-seekers waits outside a Denver haunted house. The air is alive with nervous laughter, sudden screams and the menacing shapes of creatures prowling the crowd.
Inside the 13th Floor, Shelby Hains is one of the performers behind those scares. For her, haunting is about storytelling, improvisation, and sometimes even helping fellow actors navigate the chaos of strobe lights and smoke. One night, while playing a zombie victim, Hains turned an unexpected moment into comedy for the guests.
“This one actor was colorblind, and with all the crazy lights, he had a hard time with depth perception,” she recalled. “He would come over and put his face in my neck and growl, and I’d turn to the guests and say, ‘This is your fault!’”
On one occasion, she stood on a step that threw off his aim. “Instead of my neck, he went straight into my chest,” she laughed. “I just kept telling the crowd, ‘This is your fault!’ and tried not to break character.”
Haunted houses are a staple of the Halloween season, but for scare actors, the work is as demanding as it is rewarding. Hains has performed at the 13th Floor for four years, drawn to the job by her love of theater and a chance Indeed posting. “I’ve always loved Halloween, so I applied,” she said. “I fell in love with it. It’s addicting.”
Her current character is Orla, a witch with a tragic backstory she helped develop: a celestial being who fell in love with a human, only to curse all of humanity after his grisly death. “Her soul is gone,” Hains explained. “She has put a curse on the house so that all who enter experience eternal insomnia.”
At The Ritual Haunted House in Englewood, veteran actor Keith Bialo has spent nearly three decades in the industry. “My favorite part is just entertaining people, and so in addition to haunt acting, I work down at the Colorado Renaissance Festival as an actor.”
The differences between the two places Bialo works are that “at the Renaissance Festival, we like to give them happy moments. Here, I like to give people a moment where they go, ’That guy scared the crap out of me. It was terrifying, but he was kind of funny at the same time.’”
His character, Earlton Penny, is inspired by the cannibalistic villains of the “Wrong Turn” films. Together with another actor, he’s created a “brother duo” that thrives on terrifying guests in tandem.
Makeup is another part of the transformation. At The Ritual, Bialo designs his look fresh each night, while at the 13th Floor, Hains is painted by a professional makeup artist, Macey Ciradella, the makeup manager for the 13th Floor. Ciradella uses an airbrush machine loaded with alcohol-based body paint to ensure that the makeup stays on the actors while they work.
“We have specific curated looks for the haunted inside, so we stray away from having the actors coming with their own faces done,” Ciradella said. “The makeup artists have been like studying the lookbook, studying themes, so they know exactly what to portray on their faces that connects to the themes of the haunted houses.”
For both actors, the work goes beyond the walls of the haunt. They roam parking lots and queue lines, where the real psychological build-up begins. “At the back of the line, people are relaxed,” Bialo said. “But the closer they get, the more it shifts. That’s when the fear really sets in.”
Despite the fun, the job can be grueling. Haunted houses run late into the night, often after long workdays.
“Working as a haunt actor is both physically and mentally taxing,” Bialo said. “Long hours at my regular job and then nights spent at the haunt take their toll. Sleep deprivation is a real thing. Over the years, I’ve suffered bumps, bruises, cuts and concussions. Just last week, I hyperextended my knee pretty bad, but the show must go on.”
Still, he insists the payoff is worth it: “Like any form of acting, you have to like it to perform at your best. People are paying their hard-earned money for an experience, and I love to deliver that for them. Sometimes I have to work a little harder to scare them, but in the end, I always get them.”
Both actors rely on tried-and-true scare techniques. Hains prefers “pop scares,” sudden jumps that even rattle the toughest guests. “You can have the biggest, burliest guy claiming he’s not scared, and you pop out and get him every time,” she said.
Bialo likes silent intimidation. “I just get real close and stare. At first, they laugh, but then it becomes uncomfortable.”
Before her time working at the 13th Floor, Hains enjoyed attending haunts. “I love haunted houses because you’re allowed to feel whatever emotion you want to feel. Like you can scream, you can laugh, you can freak out, and no one will judge you because it’s a fair reaction.”
However, working in haunts now makes it hard for Hains to enjoy attending them. “You learn where all the alerts are for actors, so you don’t get scared anymore,” she said. Still, she visits other attractions to admire their design. “I like seeing the animatronics, the set pieces, and all the hard work that goes in.”
For those looking to attend any haunted house this Halloween season, both scare actors gave some advice. In fact, Hains provided a list of dos and don’ts:
“Do react honestly. Don’t touch anyone. If you have a hard time not hitting when you get scared, do keep your hands in your pocket. Definitely do use the bathroom before you go in. We’ve had people pee in our haunted house. Do have a good time. Don’t get drunk. You can drink, but I don’t suggest getting drunk because then your faculties are not as there and so sometimes we do end up with people swinging even though they wouldn’t usually swing.”
Overall, the biggest emphasis for Hains was “respect our performers. I think a lot of people don’t realize that we are performers, just like any movie that you go to or play that you get to see. You just get to actually interact with us.”
Similarly, Bialo adds, “sometimes you get people that’ll come in and try to be comedians. It’s like, let us do our jobs, and you’ll get a lot more out of the experience.”
Bialo also recommends that attendees take their time. “One of my biggest pet peeves is the people that run through a haunted house,” he said. “I understand that people get scared. I totally get that, but if you’re not taking your time and you’re rushing through, you are going to miss a lot of the small details that really make the haunt what it is.”
For the hesitant, Hains offered one final encouragement: “Let yourself feel the feeling. Just let it happen. It’s fun to feel it. And when you get out, it’s such a relief that it wasn’t real.”