The Cursed Carnival is coming for Western’s second annual haunted house

 After bringing a Haunted House tradition back from the dead last year and seeing people line up around the block to get in, Western Colorado University students are opening the doors of the old Masonic Lodge once again for three nights of scares, screams, and carnival-themed chaos.

This Halloween season, The Cursed Carnival Haunted House will be open for terror from 6 to 11 p.m. October 29-31 at 120 N. Iowa St. in Gunnison, where scare actors will join the festivities for the final two nights. Evenings with scare actors are not recommended for young children.

 The event builds on the haunted house Western graduate student Adam Collins revived last Halloween after hearing stories about elaborate haunted houses that once brought together Western students and members of the Gunnison community. Those events had disappeared in recent years, prompting Collins to see whether students could bring the tradition back.

 After only about a month of preparation, the event was a huge success, with some patrons standing in line for over an hour to get in. And it became clear that the revived haunted house would have to become an annual tradition once again.

"Last year, we were figuring everything out as we went, and people loved it,” Collins said. “This year, we’ve been able to build on what we learned and make it bigger and better. We want this to become something students and the community look forward to every Halloween.”

 Admission to The Cursed Carnival is $10 for community members, $5 for Gunnison and Crested Butte students with ID, and free for Western students with ID and children under 5. VIP admission is available for an additional $10.