The Old Joliet Haunted Prison — Attraction in Joliet

Where to begin.

The spookiest thing about Joliet Haunted Prison is the location itself, which left me feeling a little leery about the whole experience once I left. Actually being there is a stark reminder of how much suffering happened there, and it makes attending a haunted house set in a place where people lived and died in tiny bleak rooms feel gross, especially in retrospect. Ah well.

But on to the quality of the haunt itself, which I will frankly say is scammy at the price.

Overall, the experience feels understaffed. There were just two scare actors wandering around when we got there, and they were barely engaging with people. Inside the attractions, live actors were far and few between, and mostly just walked around looking menacing rather than actively scaring us. Roughly 70% of the 'scares' are just mannequins and animatronics with lighting effects. The scariest thing in the whole place was walking down one corridor of empty cells expecting something to jump out - which never did.

DO NOT PAY FOR THE SECRET BARS.

The 'Secret Bars' are, in reality, two small rooms off the main haunt areas with a few decorations where you are offered a thimble-sized shot of orange juice and vodka at one, and cranberry and vodka at the other. We were expecting somewhere we could hang out for a minute and order a drink - nope! You pay $15 for a pair of tiny shots and no experience. I felt like I might as well have lit fifteen singles with a match.

The first haunt area was the best executed. It's inside the cell block, and there were some genuinely good scares and scare actors, but also broad swathes of nothing. For example, the walk up to enter the cell block had 0 scares and no ambience. Compare this to Hellsgate, my previous 5/5 experience, where they had everything from scare actors to fire dancers.

The worst part of the experience was the 'laser tag' section. By 'laser tag,' they mean you get a laser gun with infinite ammo that you can fire at mannequins and animatronics wearing collars that light up. That is it. There were two scare actors in this entire section. I've seen this billed as 25 minutes - it took us a whole 10 minutes to walk through. Unbelievably bad.

The final labyrinth at least had some claustrophobia going for it and a few good scares. It also had three (count them THREE) guys with chainsaws because they had clearly run out of ideas, no real theming, and a section in the middle where they had dropped stinkbombs that smelled so vile my friend threw up.

For the money, this just isn't worth it. Almost 70 dollars for a mediocre haunt experience and two thimbles of alcohol, when Hellsgate is around the corner? Save your money and don't...

There are haunted houses — and then there’s Old Joliet Haunted Prison, where the walls still remember the screams. The moment those gates slam behind you, the air changes — heavy, electric, and charged with dread. You can still hear the desperate echoes of “Let me out!” bouncing through the decaying halls as the Warden’s voice thunders back, ordering the inmates to shut up! The atmosphere is so thick with tension you can practically feel the ghosts of chaos pressing against you from every direction.

The sound immersion here pulses through your bones — every metallic door slam, every chain rattle, every tormented scream vibrates through your chest until you’re no longer sure if it’s the prison or you that’s breaking down. As the insanity builds, your mind starts to blur the line between fear and fascination. You don’t know whether to lock yourself away to escape the terror or climb the barbed wire to flee — but either way, you’re trapped in the most exhilarating way possible.

The actors are criminally good — every inmate and guard delivers an unnervingly real performance. Their energy is raw and their presence suffocating. They don’t just act in the prison — they become it. Each one feels like a twisted remnant of the past brought to life just to torment you. Their timing, improvisation, and intensity make this haunt not just scary, but disturbingly convincing.

It’s important to note — lines can get long, especially on peak nights. But trust me when I say, this is one haunt where it’s absolutely worth paying the extra to skip the wait. You’ll thank yourself when you’re stepping into the chaos sooner rather than later. Every minute you save in line is another moment you’ll spend lost inside this relentless descent into madness.

A massive shoutout to Tyler, Angie, and Derrick — your hospitality and leadership shine through every inch of this attraction. You’ve cultivated a team that thrives on intensity and precision, and it shows. Every scare, every scream, every perfectly placed moment of panic is proof of your passion and vision.

Old Joliet Haunted Prison isn’t just a haunt — it’s a full-scale psychological breakdown dressed as entertainment. The fear is raw, the immersion is unmatched, and the experience stays with you long after you’ve escaped those gates.

If you crave something dark, relentless, and unforgettable — GO VISIT OLD JOLIET HAUNTED PRISON! You might make it out alive… but your sanity...

Really sad to say my group and I ended up leaving, feeling very letdown and disappointed with our experience tonight. Definitely was not worth all the hype and praise that it has been given. Show was seriously understaffed and whatever actors that you would occasionally encounter truly appeared to be very uninterested in what they were doing. The actors didn't care to initiate much interaction at all with the audience. Everytime one would come in for their initial scare and/or make their appearance, that was the end of any show, character, and entertainment they would give. They would legit just pop out, then turn their backs on us and walk away or just lean off to the side. Hell, some did absolutely nothing at all but quietly stare you down as you or they walk by one another. Seeing haunt actors like this, that feel it perfectly okay to half play their role and not even try to stay in character and entertain the customers the whole time you're together, deeply angered and disappointed one of my friends and myself. We took it very personal and to heart that this is the type of show your actors have chosen to give, due to us both having been in the haunt industry and haunt actors ourselves for a combined 21yrs. We know that sometimes you get burnt out, we know that sometimes it can get rough in these roles on very long nights, and we know that it at times we get easily discouraged during a show making you wanna just give up, when you had just a minute ago, dealt with a very shitty audience member that wanted to be an ass. We truly know what it takes to be in this industry and what it means to all of us, and because of that we have to hold one another to a certain standard. Shows like what we saw tonight cannot and should not ever happen, if we don't think that we can hold ourselves to a higher standard of what we do in this industry then we don't deserve a single thought and should...