Scary doesn’t begin to describe this maze
You have to sign a waiver, a “safe” word can be spoken if you are too frightened to continue and while cockroaches may fall from the ceiling, that could be among the least shocking of the shocks at this Halloween maze.
As you walk through 17 rooms in this 30-minute experience, each door leads more deeply into the manifestations of the twisted minds of Heather and Robbie Luther of Tustin.
Nothing is seemingly off limits at the 17th Door, which follows the story of a college-age girl named Paula, who is tormented by her peers and dabbles in drug use before she eventually commits suicide.
“We wanted to have an impact on people and do something more extreme than they’re maybe used to,” said Heather Luther, 36. “We knew that in order to get the reactions we wanted from people, we had to go a step further.”
The attraction, which is not for the fainthearted, certainly pushes the bounds of what is culturally acceptable and is more gruesome than the mazes at Knott’s Scary Farm and Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. However, it is not as demented as mazes like McKamey Manor in San Diego, which has been described as a few hours of legal torture and requires participants to pass physical and mental health tests beforehand.
Heather Luther said she and her husband, after 12 years of brainstorming and years of working office and construction jobs, finally decided last year to take on their own Halloween attraction.
The 17th Door officially opened last month in a former furniture shop at the Tustin Marketplace.
A visitor’s thoughts will race while walking through the 17 rooms. Are those real cockroaches? Can it get any darker? Is it time to scream mercy? How could the next room be even worse?
Interactivity, which has been growing in popularity at Halloween attractions for the last few years, is a big component of the 17th Door.
In various rooms in the 6,000-square-foot attraction, visitors have to do as one of the 50 scare actors tells them, such as putting food in their mouths or opening their hands to hold something that squirms — while in complete darkness.
Those who suffer from claustrophobia or a severe fear of the dark should be forewarned.
The guests have to sign a waiver acknowledging that they understand what awaits them. For those who chicken out during the maze, a safe word, “mercy,” can be used.
“We had something like 169 people say mercy during opening weekend,” Heather Luther said. “At most places, they’re escorted out immediately, but we don’t want to have the people who scream mercy miss out on anything. We give them an option to bypass the room they scream mercy in and join the group right after. But if they are too scared to continue, that’s OK too.”
Heather Luther said she would describe the attraction as more of a psychological thriller movie than a typical haunted house. This is because of mature themes, like suicide, drug use and rape.
While the couple impose no age restrictions, they recommend that no one younger than 15 goes through the attraction because of these sensitive subjects.
Heather Luther said she and her husband began constructing the $10,000 project in April and hope to bring the 17th Door back for years to come. Their lease on the Marketplace space ends in November.
“We put too much into this for it not to be a repeat thing every year,” she said. “I’m sure it will change a little bit here and there, but we’re fully committed to this operation. It wouldn’t make any sense for us to just be here for one year.”
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IF YOU GO
What: The 17th Door
Where: 2856 El Camino Real, Tustin
When: Various nights through Nov. 1
Cost: $23 for general admission and $28 for a speed pass
Information: the17thdoor.com