Enter if you dare: sprawling haunted warehouse opens in time for a Halloween scare
Oct. 22—CANTON — Pinhead's Graveyard is back and this time it will be indoors and in Canton.
Thomas Rickman purchased the building at 168 Main Street, right next to the newly redone mural near the railroad tracks, a year ago.
He's cleared out 14 oversized industrial garbage containers and has been building sets for the best-known horror characters in Hollywood — Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Otis, Spaulding, Chucky, Crazy Clown, Zombies and, of course, Pinhead.
Rickman said there were frequent visitors during the renovation who asked about plans for the building, but he said little.
"I felt so bad not telling anyone, but I wanted it to be a huge surprise," he said.
Pinhead's Graveyard has opened up in the Buncombe and Haywood areas at several different locations over the past 20-plus years and was listed as one of the top 10 outdoor haunted trails in North Carolina
The attraction most recently was held on Chestnut Mountain just outside Canton. The 450-acre mountain was purchased two years ago by the Southern Appalachian Conservancy and deeded to the town of Canton where it will be turned into a multi-use park.
That prompted Pinhead's Graveyard had to find a different location, one that was indoors where a lot more special effects could be used.
"We loved being in Canton all the years that we operated on the mountain and always had the dream of taking Pinhead's inside," Rickman said. "I started looking in Canton and was lucky enough to find this building. It's perfect. It was built in 1909. The inside is brick with old wood floors and has great character. It's an ideal haunted house spot. We've been walking around in there, and we hear footsteps, things moving and dropping. It's even sort of scared us."
The attraction opened Friday, Oct. 22, and will run into November since the building wasn't ready by early October when Pinhead's generally starts up.
The indoor location will allow the business to operate year-around. Rickman has plans to offer Christmas photos with some of the horror film characters, haunted Easter egg hunts and more.
So far, he has 16 rooms set up where thrill-seekers will be able to see a cabin for Jason, a house for Freddy Krueger at 1428 Elm St. and a set for Michael Myers that starts with house and transitions to a hospital.
There's a saw bathroom, a walk through a sewer to get to Pennywise, eerie television clips playing as a clown rides a tricycle and more.
"Now that we are completely inside, we're able to do a lot more," Rickman said. "In the woods, we relied upon our characters because we weren't able to build a whole lot of stuff. But now we've built elaborate sets and added some really nice lighting."
The building was filled with debris left by the previous occupant — 14 large dumpster loads, which made it challenging to get Pinhead's open in time for the season.
"It's been a hard, long journey but at least everything is done now," Rickman said. "We started building the haunted trail in August and it's definitely been a task getting all that done in a couple of months. Wanted to open this year, we're really looking forward to opening."
