Aug. 29, 2019

Zac Tenneboe is getting ready to deliver frightful fun headed into Halloween.

He’s turning a warehouse north of Sioux Falls into Terror 29, which will offer haunted tours Friday and Saturday nights from Oct. 4 through Nov. 2.

Tenneboe started the project in April and has been carving the 3,800-square-foot warehouse into different rooms. Friends, family, and interns and apprentices from local theater departments have been helping build the haunted warehouse, sew costumes and design makeup.

Tenneboe, aka Zstonish, is a professional magician and comedy show hypnotist, so he plans to incorporate magic and illusions into the haunt, along with “scareactors” in elaborate makeup and costumes, scary props and disorientation effects that he said will make someone question, “Wasn’t I just in this room?”

Wanting to do something different from the typical hospital or asylum setting, Tenneboe is giving the first section of the haunt an abandoned warehouse theme, taking advantage of the actual setting. Then, it “goes into a circus freak show with lots and lots of clowns. There will be a headless woman illusion that will be cool to see and other oddities.” Customers can visit a museum and gift shop too.

The warehouse is in an industrial area on the northwest corner of the Renner and Crooks exit for Interstate 29. Coincidentally, a neighboring monument company’s tombstone along the highway marks the turn into the development.

In a twist on a VIP first-peek offering, Tenneboe is selling a limited number of tickets through Saturday for an “RIP” preview night Sept. 28.

For $30, ticketholders will tour the haunt, get a behind-the-scenes look, receive a swag bag, interact with the characters and enjoy a party.

“We’re going to give them a lot of bang for their buck.”

Tickets for the regular haunts go on sale Sept. 1.

While the regular haunt will be vividly intense, a kids’ day on Sunday, Oct. 27, will offer a “dulled down” version of the haunt along with activities such as balloon twisting and face painting.

Another alternative offering that will be worth a second visit, Tenneboe said, is the “lights out” day Nov. 2. Guests will be given a flashlight, and all of the lights inside the haunt will be turned off.

“You’ll go back to the same haunt and get a different experience.”

Creating a haunted attraction seems to be more fun than work for Tenneboe. He’s a fan of horror movies and loves “The Munsters” TV show from the mid-1960s. Growing up, his parents created haunted spaces in the garage and backyard for Halloween. His father, also a magician, would entertain trick-or-treaters with illusions like a “ghost” flying across the window in the front of the house.

Terror 29 will be a professional level enterprise, Tenneboe said. He went through eight hours of training to get his “chaos certification” at a national trade show for Halloween attractions.

He envisions Terror 29 becoming a year-round business that could be a “full-fledged shop when it comes to Halloween.” His crew’s experience in costume, makeup, prop and set design and could be used for other projects.

He’s planning a Bloody Valentines in February that would make a good date night for couples who love horror, and he might offer haunted birthday parties “for kids who are too old for Chuck E. Cheese.” He thinks there could be demand for haunted weddings and a haunted camping experience in the woods.

“There’s all sorts of different things that we’ll branch into. The focus is to do the haunt this year, then’ll we’ll switch into gear and start working on future goals.”