MANSFIELD — The haunt season never really ends for Vic Amesquita and his “Escape from Blood Prison” show at the former Ohio State Reformatory.
A limited version of the award-winning fright event was again offered in July during the three-day Inkcarceration Music and Tattoo Festival.
There was a two-night Christmas-season haunt in 2021 — which will be back again this year.
But make no mistake — the Halloween-season spooky spectacular is when Blood Prison is at its primal fear best.
Amesquita, his crew and 80 to 90 scare actors are ready to fire up the screams again Sept. 24 when the infamous prison throws open its doors and cell blocks to thousands of people who want to be scared to their core.
2022 Blood Prison
Sept. 24
Sept. 30, Oct. 1-2
Oct. 7-9
Oct. 14-16
Oct. 21-23
Oct. 28-30
Blood Prison is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to midnight and on Sundays from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Tickets should be purchased online at www.bloodprison.com. Patrons will select their time slot when buying tickets, which organizers said should reduce line waiting times.
All patrons must be at least 10 years old. If your child appears to be younger than 10, please be prepared to show proof of age with a birth certificate or student ID.
“It’s a year-round operation,” said Amesquita, a Crawford County resident who made his fright bones working for Bob Kurtzman, a Crestline native and Hollywood movie producer, director, screenwriter and special effects czar.
Amesquita said relationships developed during his time with Kurtzman are still creating benefits to his fright business.
“It’s helped a lot because of what I learned, what I know and who I know,” he said from his office at the historic prison.
“My relationship with Bob and guys like Brian Demski, Sean Rodgers, Dave Greathouse … all those guys have lent their artistic abilities, which is great,” Amesquita said.
“I know a lot of people on the audio end, too. I don’t do a lot of that anymore because I am just too busy doing other things. But because of being in that background, I know the right people who can come in and help out.
“Our audio and visual stuff (inside the haunt) is just off the charts,” he said. “I am not trying to be biased … but it’s great. And that’s what I hear from people who come through the haunt.”
This year’s effort will include a mix of new frights, as well as familiar screams for people like The Warden’s Widow, a 6-foot-7, ear-splitting scream machine.
“Without giving too much away, we’ve got some cool, bigger props that we brought in. We brought in a lot more animatronics this year. We really added some stuff to our apocalyptic scene that I think people are gonna dig,” Amesquita said.
“We are around the 80 to 90 range for actors,” he said, “and that’s a good number for us. It’s probably the most actors we’ve had. There is a lot of turnover each year, but I have got some people who were with me when we started back in Crestline.
“There is a need for more actors each year. It’s not a full-time gig so people who do it like to have fun and a lot of times they can’t do it for more than one or two years,” Amesquita said.
The Warden’s Widow, perhaps the most popular actor at the event, is back again, prowling the lines of people waiting outside to enter the prison, as well as inside the haunt itself.
“She has almost 900,000 followers on TikTok. Her character has really taken off,” Amesquita said. “She told me she has got people from England coming over to see her.
“She’ll be out in the queue lines and walk the queue lines and she will also be inside working. She’ll jump from scene to scene … she loves working up in the house. She likes working everywhere.”
One significant change this year is a move to only online ticket sales, a process that includes the purchaser designating an arrival time.
“Our queue lines in the past were notoriously long — three to five hours sometimes. We decided to jump into the time-ticketing ring, which a lot of major attractions have already done.
“We’re hoping that will reduce the time people spend waiting in line. I’m hoping the longest anybody will have to wait in a general admission line is around an hour, which is no big deal,” he said.
Patrons who don’t purchase tickets in advance will have to use signs with a QR code when they arrive.
“That will take you to the next available tickets. But if you show up at 8 p.m. and there are no 8 p.m. tickets left, you gotta take the next available time slot. It’s all about getting those wait times down,” Amesquita said.
General admission tickets to the haunt are $35. An “ultra lightning pass,” which can reduce time in line even more, sells for $75. “Touch passes,” which allow the scare actors to be a little more physical with patrons, will also again be available.
