The Haunted Hotel has officially returned for its twenty-fourth season and is one of San Diego’s greatest Halloween destinations. This local haunting exhibit was featured on Travel Channel’s “America’s Scariest Haunts” in 2009 and is San Diego’s longest lasting Haunted attraction. The ever-exciting Haunted Hotel will be open from Sept. 23 all the way through Halloween night on Oct. 31.

As the Haunted Hotel does every year, noticeable changes from the previous haunting season were easy to spot.

“We have a Zombie Alley, which is one of my favorite rooms, and then off of the Alley, we have a Zombie Basement, a new body bag room and the end room is a Torture Temple theme. The Torture Temple theme came from the escape rooms we had here this last year, two of them are in the haunt,” owner of the Haunted Hotel Robert Bruce said.

Some of the themes from last year are back though such as the Hellevator, Doll Island, and last, but definitely not least, the scary Clown Subway. All of these rooms are sure to give you a freight, so be prepared for the screams and horror.

Bruce started the original Haunted Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, two years prior to opening his Haunted Hotel here in San Diego. He had wanted to expand his horizons in hope of owning and running a haunting attraction full time. Looking for a large market, he found San Diego, which at the time had no real haunts. After research and looking at many different venues and dealing with skepticism from owners about leasing seasonal property for a short period of the year, Bruce found his prime location on Market Street and has been there ever since.

While discussing finding this ideal space, Bruce stated, “The owner here, he had some experience in the entertainment business, and one of the part owners of the building at the time, Ron Howard, was curious and they gave us a shot.”

“The spot was already zoned properly for entertainment and amusement. The right rating, sprinklers systems, and everything you need to open a haunt, we lucked into this spot,” Bruce continued. It seems fate played a large role in finding this perfect location for the terrifying and interactive exhibit.

Bruce and his business partner lease the basement of the building, which means that space is limited and there isn’t much room for expansion. However, Bruce and his team are masters at making it work. “We try to make the most of the space we have, by making it chalk full of scares, back to back to back!”

The process for creating the Haunted Hotel, and the other attractions Bruce works on, start in January with brainstorming ideas and then a giant haunt trade show in March. Building the Haunted Hotel starts shortly after the Haunt trade show and goes on all the way through to the opening day in September. Although the Haunted Hotel is only open for a month every year, the other eleven months are used to create the magic that will happen in the following haunting season.

If you love the Haunted Hotel you should check out his other attractions as well, such as, The Haunted Trail, The Scream Zone, and even the Escape Rooms (which are open during the off season of the Haunted Hotel). Although it was not possible to get some secrets and inside information for next years Haunted Hotel, there is no doubt it will be even more thrilling, chilling, and terrifying as previous years.