New Haunted House coming to Brandon

By: 
Gracie Terrall, Journal Intern

Gracie Terrall/BV Journal

The entrance to Brandon’s newest haunted house, Terror 29. They will open their spooky doors October 2022. 

Gracie Terrall/BV Journal

Zac Tenneboe, owner, started Terror 29 in 2019. Pictured is Tenneboe posing with a prosthetic head named Spud.

 

 

Volunteers at Terror 29 work to put up the walls and decorate the haunted house located at 1420 E. Cedar St. in Brandon. Terror 29 will open its doors to the public later this year. 

Terror 29 is set to open its doors this October in its new Brandon location. 

Terror 29 started in 2019 as owner Zac Tenneboe wanted to recreate the “home haunt” his parents put on for the neighborhood when he was a kid. Tenneboe said his family has always been fans of the macabre and Halloween, his parents were married on Friday the 13th, hence his passion for carrying on the tradition. 

“It’s really just the itching of going back to my childhood and doing the home haunt,” Tenneboe said about starting Terror 29. “Now that I’m an adult, I want to do that. I was gonna just do it at my parents’ house, then somehow it turned into ‘Well, if I’m going to do it, I should just do it right and go big or go home.’ So, we found a building and essentially turned a home haunt into a professional haunt.”

The former location, which was off the Renner and Crooks exit along Interstate 29, is where the brand’s namesake comes from. Although the location is changing, local fans will still be able to get their fix of horror at Terror 29 in Brandon.

“I’ve heard some people joking and asking if we’re going to change it to Terror 90,” Tenneboe said. “But the brand’s established now, especially with the following we have on Instagram and TikTok, you can’t just get rid of this brand. It’ll always be Terror 29 even though we’re on I-90 now.”

The haunted house’s new location is 1420 E. Cedar St. and comes with two buildings, allowing Terror 29 to expand their spooky thrills. 

Terror 29 will be open every weekend in October as well as Halloween night to bring Brandon and surrounding communities the scare of the season. Tickets start at $15 per person, with a fast pass option for $22. Tenneboe said the wait time in years past has been over an hour, so they are also looking into a third ticket option that would allow guests to cut the line entirely. He has not determined the value of those tickets yet.

Tours will start in the north building where guests will be led through multiple horror-themed rooms. The party then moves outside and continues into the second building where they finish up the haunted house in Terror 29’s gift shop. 

Here, horror enthusiasts can pick up their favorite horror movie memorabilia and Terror 29’s own branded merchandise. 

Stan Krumholz, who’s helping Tenneboe construct the haunted house, said the new tour will be about 15 minutes long. 

Krumholz said he met Tenneboe about three years ago while his family was visiting all of the haunted houses in the area. Terror 29 was their final stop and Krumholz’s son, Aaron, a fellow horror enthusiast, started talking with Tenneboe and eventually they started helping out with Terror 29. 

While the haunted house operates mainly during October, they have done some special events throughout the year including a “Halfway to Halloween” event in the summer. Tenneboe also said the new location comes with improved air conditioning and heating, which allows them the opportunity to host a holiday themed haunt that features evil elves in the future. 

“In November, that first Friday and Saturday are lights off,” Tenneboe said. “All of the lights are turned off in the haunted house and you’re given a flashlight. All the actors are in there, the fog is still in there, some special effects are still in there. So, you’re with a flashlight trying to see ‘Where the hell am I gonna go?’”

Most of the decorations adorning Terror 29’s halls are from Tenneboe’s personal collection that he’s had since high school. The rest of the haunted decor and mechanics were purchased from haunted house conventions.

As a graduate of Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Tenneboe started recruiting volunteers to act and work the house from Roosevelt’s theater program. He said he will reach out to the Brandon Valley High School theater department and other surrounding schools for this year’s season. Terror 29 typically requires around 20 actors scattered throughout the haunted house.

When Tenneboe isn’t busy scaring the neighborhood kids and operating Terror 29, he performs as both a magician and hypnotist around the area at birthday parties, community events, school dances and more. Tenneboe’s father was a magician and he would often tag along with him to his events across the Midwest. 

Tickets for Terror 29 go on sale Sept. 1. For updates and more information, visit their Instagram and TikTok @terror29haunt and their website https://www.terror29.com.

 

 

2022 Haunt Season

 

Times: 

Thursdays from 7-10 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays from 7-11 p.m.

 

Dates:

9/29

9/30

10/1

10/6

10/7

10/8

10/13

10/14

10/15

10/20

10/21

10/22

10/27

10/28

10/29

10/31 

11/4 Lights Out

11/5 Lights Out

 

Category:

The Brandon Valley Journal

 

The Brandon Valley Journal
1404 E. Cedar St.
Brandon, SD 57005
(605) 582-9999

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