PHOTOS BY CODY AMBROSE PHOTOGRAPHY

Castle Blood doesn’t have to work hard for atmosphere. A stately old building — one of the longest-standing in the city of Monessen — that served for decades as a funeral parlor makes for a natural Halloween attraction.

The mostly volunteer staff that works at Castle Blood isn’t content to rest on atmosphere, however. Instead of merely a maze full of screaming zombies, this attraction offers interactive challenges; on my last visit, one of the spooks at the entrance described it as “playing a game of Clue with the Addams Family.”

Some of the objectives are earthbound (such as logic puzzles that wouldn’t be out of place in an escape room), while others will be more ghoulish (though nothing is too gruesome for older children, Castle Blood does offer fright-free matinees one weekend per year). Whatever the challenge in a given room, it will be enhanced by the attraction’s richly detailed sets, coated from floor to ceiling in creepy artifacts.

“They felt they had to do a little bit more, a little bit different — living in George Romero and Tom Savini country,” says Chris Handa, the operations manager and “Magic Director” at Castle Blood. “They weren’t going to be the bloodiest, goriest, scariest; the game was a good way to use the talents of the people who were there at the time.”

The attraction is now in its 31st season, having started as a humble Halloween party in 1993. After long stints in nearby Bentleyville and Beallsville, the haunt moved into the former Yoney Funeral Home in Monessen in 2014.

It’s a marriage of attraction and location that has gained a reputation. “We’ve had people come from Florida, Chicago, Maine,” Handa say. “We’ve had people come from all over.”

As if the chill-giving artfulness of Castle Blood and the morbid history of the building weren’t enough, the building is also a frequent site for paranormal investigations; ghost hunters regularly inspect the premises (when it’s not being used as a haunted attraction, of course).

In other words: If the costumed ghosts don’t get you, the real ones might.

While You’re Here:
Does someone in your party prefer a certain other holiday to Halloween? Keep them happy with a stop in nearby Monongahela at Sweets by Mrs. C, a Christmas-themed candy shop.

Insider’s Tip
Buy early and online. Castle Blood doesn’t open quite as many nights as some haunts — Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Oct. 6-29, plus Halloween night — so sellouts are common.