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Experience the new immersive horror at Eloise Asylum

By Sarah Shurge complex and was used for Wayne
Summer has ended and “spooky County administration until it closed
season” is upon us. It’s officially time in 2016. But its doors didn’t close of-
for cider mills, jack-o-lanterns, ficially. The building is said to be
pumpkin spice, scary movies, and haunted and paranormal tours are
most importantly, haunted houses. offered throughout the year.
Michigan gained a new haunted One of the other buildings still
house this month as Eloise Asylum standing on the property is the old
opened a new walkthrough immer- commissary, which is currently
sive horror experience on Friday, Oc- being used as a shelter for families
tober 1st. struggling with homelessness.
Legendary Detroit rocker and Tickets for Eloise Asylum’s new
horror enthusiast Alice Cooper was haunted attraction start at $40 for
in Westland on Thursday, September two walk-through attractions and the
23rd, to see Eloise Asylum’s haunted VIP tickets cost $65 and will give you
attractions for himself. front of the line privileges. The new
Hundreds of fans stood in the walk-through horror experience is
rain to witness and support Cooper expected to last 35-40 minutes.
as he attended the dedication of A portion of the proceeds from
Alice Cooper Court, a stretch of road Alice Cooper with Big Jim from Big Jim's house on WCSX' morning show with the the event will be donated to the
off Michigan Avenue located by the homeless shelter on campus, so you
former Eloise Psychiatric Hospital. new Alice Cooper Court sign. Photo by WLND can scream for a good cause.
Cooper - with his pocket knife in as you walked past. Uniformed doc- pital. At one point, the Eloise Hospi- Eloise is located at 30712 Michi-
his hand and his wife, Sheryl God- tors and nurses attending to patients tal, Infirmary, and Sanatorium was gan Ave in Westland and is open se-
dard next to him - also cut the rib- with brutal mutilations and burns. the largest psychiatric facility in the lect nights from October 1st through
bon to open the multi-million-dollar Icicles glimmered on the silicone United States, consisting of 78 build- November 7th.
haunted attraction. molds of real feet in the freezer sec- ings over 902 acres. For more information or to buy
This momentous occasion could tion. The Kay Building is one of only tickets, visit eloiseasylum.com or
not have happened without Owner Every room had something new five structures that remain of the call (618) 719-5615.
and Developer John Hambrick, and exciting to look at and experi-
Owner and Operator Matt Hertzog, ence. There was so much that made
and the two operations managers me stop and stare in amusement
Jay Kays and Jim Werner. and amazement. Everything was so
The 30,000-square-foot state-of- realistic and life-like that at times it
the-art haunted experience includes was hard to tell what patients were
scare technology such as Cold Spark props or real actors.
Pyrotechnic Stimulators, a Tesla I tend to be a little desensitized to
Coil, Advanced Projection Mapping things sitting in chairs or crouching
Technologies, and more. in corners considering most of the
Members of the media got a first time they are props. So, I walked
look of the immersive haunted expe- into Eloise with the same mindset.
rience on September 23rd. It was a That quickly changed when doors
cold and rainy afternoon. The sky would slam open or someone would
was an eerie gray creating the perfect jump out at me and I would yell out
atmosphere for a sneak peek of high- in fright. Kays laughed at me every
tech horror. time I did.
Kays led the tour I took part in. The tour ended after we saw
As someone who enjoys scary about one-third of Eloise Asylum’s
movies and haunted houses, I was new haunted attraction, but I wanted
thrilled to get a preview of the trans- to see more. Parts of the main floor
formed Eloise Asylum. and all of the basement will remain
Throughout the tour, we walked a mystery to me until I buy tickets
past cobweb covered couches and and return to see the rest.
chairs facing an old TV playing noth- Kays explained that much of
ing but static noise. A dark room oc- Eloise Asylum’s haunted attraction
casionally lit up by the flashing lights was designed to mimic the history
of an electric chair. The glow from an that happened in this historic build-
old x-ray film reader box illuminated ing.
a wall full of patient files. In 1839, the Kay Beard Building
There were patients crying on the started as a poor house and farm
floor of showers, lurking in the shad- house. It eventually was developed
ows, or yelling and grabbing at you into an asylum, sanitarium, and hos-

16 · October 2021 · The Wayne Dispatch