Halloween’s Not Just For Kids!

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We needed some Halloween fun! So we looked at what was available in and around Pueblo, CO. We missed getting tickets to the Haunted Walk at the Riverwalk in Pueblo, but, we did find the “Darkside of the Abbey” in Canon City. We had never been to the Haunted House at the Abbey before. So we decided we were in and bought tickets. To maintain compliance with all the Covid 19 rules we bought our tickets online, printed them out and away we went. Off for some frightful fun!

Now according to Wikipedia, the Abbey in Canon City was started by the Benedictine Monks in 1924. They had established their first foundation in Boulder, Colorado. It was the Priory of St. Mary in Boulder. They had originally been sent from St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe, Pennyslvania, as the community grew in Boulder more monks followed. Eventually they settled in Canon City in 1924 and established the “Abbey.” It was a large monastery built in Gothic Revival Style and it was raised to abbey status. A boarding school was opened and there was an attempt at establishing a winery there. The winery did not do well, but the boarding school did well through the 50’s and 60’s but then enrollment declined and the Abbey school was closed in 1985. By the early 2000’s the monastery community consisted of about 20 monks. In an attempt to provide an income for themselves they decided to try to plant a garden and produce wine. A viticulturist was hired and a year later the Abbey started producing wine.

The winery and tasting room opened to the public 2002. Visitors are welcomed to the serene and beautiful Rocky Mountain Vineyard.

The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey is now a first class winery and event center. It is on the Registry for National Historical Buildings.

Now it also hosts “The Darkside of the Abbey,” as a yearly frightful event that raises funds for the Abbey. 2020 will see 2 full stories as guests navigate 2 full stories of Ullathorne Hall in the Abbey.

The work that went into creating this wonderful, hauntingly frightful haunted house is amazing. As you stand and wait you wind through scary halls with different paper mache mannequins representing the likes of Lizzie Borden with her story written on the walls. Or there is a representation of the Annabelle doll.

Another mannequin is a nun with the story of her and a monk written on the wall behind her. They also tell about Ed and Lorraine Warren the paranormal investigators that investigated a lot of different paranormal hauntings, like the Conjuring and Annabelle to name a few.

The wait wasn’t boring at all, as we had a lot of stories to read on the walls and plenty of spooky people and mannequins to scare us as we waited. There was a live zombie running in and out of the hall, hanging from the roof and running across your feet in the dark.

Then you enter the really scary place, total darkness! You just have to keep walking and feeling the walls until you come to a light, or some scary monster or ghost or ghoul jumps out and goes, “BOO!”

Then you ride a scary box, and then when you get out you are in the asylum for the insane, with patients there from the past! If you’re lucky the imprisoned patient in the padded room will let you out after she keeps you blocked in for awhile.

All in all this was one of the scariest and best done haunted house I have been too in a long time.

Even though this has been one of the worst years ever, our couple hours of escape was what we needed. We had a good scare and we had fun!

If ever you’re in Canon City at Halloween time, the Darkside of the Abbey is worth checking out and having some Halloween Fun. All safety protocols for Covid 19 were followed. Just get out and enjoy!