Mardi Gras season brings about plenty of mirth and merriment, and very little in the way of the macabre outside the black-veiled Merry Widows dancing at the gravesite of Joe Cain the Sunday before Fat Tuesday.

But even that is done with gaiety.

A new attraction aims to change that by scaring the MoonPie out of your pocket.

Nightmare Chambers, a haunted attraction at the OWA amusement park in Foley, is a mix of Halloween season frights with a Carnival theme. The results are the scariest thing to happen to Mardi Gras since the arrival of King Cake Baby.

Welcome to Slaughter Gras, perhaps the only Mardi Gras-themed haunted attraction in the United States.

Enter if you dare.

“It all started in Mobile, so why not come up with something cool for everyone to come out and enjoy,” said Seth Woodruff of Daphne, owner of Nightmare Chambers, which operates during the fall season as a haunted attraction but is now adding two more offseason attractions with Slaughter Gras and another during the month of May.

He said the addition gives revelers something different than the traditional parades and formal balls that are a hallmark of Mardi Gras along the Alabama Gulf Coast.

“I go to the parades every weekend, but I am also like, ‘What else is there to do?’” Woodruff said. “This is our first time of branching out from the fall. We’re seeing a lot of people in this industry coming out and doing Christmas (haunted attractions) and Valentine’s Day. But I think what makes us stand out is Mardi Gras. We’re definitely standing out there.”

Year-round, seasonal haunts

Slaughter Gras is part of an industry-wide trend of offering haunted attractions beyond the months of September and October, which is when thousands of haunted houses, corn mazes, barns, factories, chicken houses and more lure the masses during spooky season.

According to The Scare Factor LLC, which tracks more than 2,100 haunted attractions around the U.S., there has been an increase in more venues offering extra dates outside of the pre-Halloween season.

The purpose is to help fund renovations to the attractions in preparation for the Halloween season, according to the website.

Michele Ramsey, an associate professor of communication arts and sciences and women’s studies at Penn State Berks in Reading, Pennsylvania, said the rise of the off-season haunts is for companies to capitalize on spaces that are already in use as a haunted attraction, and find ways to generate added revenue.

Related content:

“My opinion is they are banking on Halloween lovers being willing to visit at different times of the year so they can continue to make money, which can help offset the costs of the much busier season of October,” said Ramsey, an expert on Halloween traditions who has weighed in on the holiday with AL.com before.

“I suspect that the places recreating haunted houses for different holidays may be doing so because their spaces aren’t big enough to run other events, so they are still looking for ways to maintain a revenue stream for upkeep of property and maintenance and other things like animatronics,” she said.

The year-round attractions also help fuel a holiday that is big business in the U.S. Halloween spending reached an all-time high of $10.6 billion in 2022, representing a 11.8% rise since 2021, according to the National Retail Foundation.

The average person spent about $100 on Halloween last year, which is above the Super Bowl and St. Patrick’s Day, but trails Valentine’s Day ($175.41 per person), according to the NRF.

Valentine’s Day also is the most popular time for a haunted attraction outside of Halloween, according to data compiled by The Scare Factor. Other holidays that include haunted attractions are St. Patrick’s Day, Friday the 13th, Halfway-to-Halloween in late April or early May, and Christmas.

Bloody Valentines

At least two haunted attractions in Alabama are celebrating Valentine’s Day on Tuesday with special attractions. Arx Mortis at Ghost Hill in Killen is hosting “My Bloody Valentine” and Warehouse 31 in Pelham is hosting “Bloody Valentine’s Day.”

Jason Sills, owner of Warehouse 31, said they have been hosting a Valentine’s Day-themed haunted attraction since 2014, to raise enough revenue “to help pay the bills for a month or two.”

He said the extra attraction, while not as successful as during the fall season, has “certainly been worth doing.”

“Everything is pretty much the same as the fall, but we bring in some broken hearts, change up the music, wardrobe and let the monsters have a little freedom to incorporate Valentine’s stuff,” Sills said. “We have had customers that come to the Valentines event that have never been in the fall due to high school or college sports, etc. It just gives folks another time of the year to experience something different.”

Besides, he said, who doesn’t like to toss a little shade at the annual lover’s holiday.

“So many people do not like Valentines that this gives them a fun alternative as well,” Sills said.

Sills said Warehouse 31 will have anywhere between 35-50 employees participating as characters during the Valentines attraction, which ran on Friday and Saturday and concludes with a 7 p.m. opening on Tuesday.

Scare zones

11

Slaughter Gras

At Slaughter Gras, 32 employees were called back into action. They came outfitted as creepy clowns, mad jesters, and other Carnival-like ghouls.

“Every one of them wanted to be back (for Slaughter Gras),” said Woodruff, who started Nightmare Chamber in Fairhope in 2007, and has seen it grown to become a year-round addition at OWA.

The feature has four different “scare zones” that concludes with a startling encounter with a masked reveler brandishing a chainsaw. All of the scaring takes place to the sound of Mardi Gras music playing overhead.

Chief Slacabamarinico likely would not approve, but Woodruff hopes Slaughter Gras is an embraced tradition during Carnival going forward.

The attraction will also remain open on the weekends beyond Mardi Gras Day on February 21. It’s advertised to close on March 5.

“We hope it takes off, obviously,” Woodruff said. “We are going to push it harder every year so people will say, ‘hey, they are open, let’s check it out’ or that there is something else to do during Mardi Gras other than going to a parade or a ball every weekend.”