If you’re looking for some real scares this Halloween season, be sure to visit Ridgewood’s only haunted house: The Ridgewood Slaughterhouse … if you dare.
The crew at The Deep End, located at 1080 Wyckoff Ave., transformed a 1,200-square-foot room into a chamber of horrors based on a fictional story about hundreds of New York City children who went missing between 1962 and 1972.
The story goes that those missing children were taken to an abandoned slaughterhouse in Ridgewood and killed. Police began investigating the slaughterhouse after receiving a call from a teenage girl trapped inside, the story continues. However, the girl — and the murderer — were never found. The slaughterhouse was soon condemned due to reports of strange paranormal activity.
Video by Derek Means.
“We wanted a concept that was truly scary, and [we] have a passion for horror,” said Jon of The Deep End. “We love classic slasher films, which means lots of blood and gore. What better scene for that than a slaughterhouse?”
One unique experience the The Ridgewood Slaughterhouse offers is an “escape room” element, where visitors (or victims) will have to find their way out a room. With the rise in the number of escape rooms popping up all over the city, the team at The Deep End wanted to incorporate that into their haunted house.
“There are no haunted houses in the neighborhood, and so many of the haunted houses in NYC are overpriced and exclusive,” Jon said. “We love creating unforgettable experiences, and truly love what we do. This is our way to bring the community together while expressing ourselves artistically.”
The Ridgewood Slaughterhouse was fully created by the team at The Deep End, using salvaged scrap lumber and real bones from the establishment’s restaurant.
“We built the entire house on a shoestring budget using entirely free/salvaged lumber and creatively recycled items for décor,” Jon said. “We pulled scrap wood from construction site dumpsters, saved and cleaned actual bones from our restaurant operations, and are now experts in making body bags. Our team really came together and did an amazing job making the house look how it does.”
The Ridgewood Slaughterhouse opened on Oct. 19 and runs until Nov. 1, Tuesdays through Sundays from 7 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $10 at the gate, or $8 presale, with the presale tickets guaranteeing entrance to the attraction for the day purchased.
Visit www.theridgewoodslaughterhouse.com to purchase tickets.
