Nightmare on 13th — Attraction in Salt Lake City

RESPONSE TO OWNER: I stand by my original review regarding wage theft and retaliation. Unfortunately, the owner's response dismisses these concerns and instead attacks my character and credibility. As someone who gave my all to Nightmare for 5 years, I'm saddened by this hostility.

Any dissatisfaction I've experienced toward Nightmare on 13th corresponds directly to the repeated incidents of the owner undervaluing, mistreating, and punishing employees who engage in protected activities, such as attempting to recover unpaid wages and/or advocate for fairer pay practices.

To further clarify the facts from my original review as seen below, I first discussed payroll concerns with the owner after the 2022 season when I made a wage claim to recover the missing 35 hours from my check. During our conversation, I gave suggestions for time tracking for the following year such as having hourly employees clock in and clock out instead of having their hours estimated. No changes were made to the pay structure despite this discussion. Instead, I was explicitly instructed by the owner in 2023 not to involve the Utah Labor Commission if my check was incorrect again and to come to him directly. I promised I would do so and I encouraged other employees to do the same. Many of us independently approached the owner about our incorrect checks at the end of the 2023 season.

Over the last year, while some of us have been paid what we were owed after approaching the owner, other employees who worked last year were fired in retaliation, coerced into accepting a lesser amount than what they earned, or given excuses for their unexpectedly low pay and did not successfully recover any of their missing wages. Many employees I've talked to are not comfortable asking about their missing wages because they like working here and don't want to be fired. This behavior is not conducive to a positive and equitable work environment that treats its employees with respect and fairness.

I encourage current and former employees to review their own pay records and verify the accuracy of their compensation, and to notify either the Utah Labor Commission or Nightmare on 13th of any discrepancies. It is my sincerest hope that employees will be allowed to take such actions in the future without fear of retaliation.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I'm a former actress of 5 years who resigned due to the owner's illegal wage theft and retaliation. I can no longer support Nightmare on 13th as an institution under its current ownership.

I truly loved working here and everyone I worked with. Unfortunately, hourly employees do not get paid for all their hours. Every person I've talked to who worked in 2023 did not get paid multiple hundreds of dollars of the money they earned. I tracked my hours in 2022 and was underpaid then, too.

Some of us recovered some or all of our unpaid wages from 2023 by approaching the owner directly. However, one of us was furiously screamed at by the owner that he isn't invited back, for politely asking if he would be paid for the hours he worked through text, then email, then in person. Forbidding somebody from future employment opportunities for making a good faith effort to recover unpaid wages is illegal retaliation.

I'll consider adjusting this review if the owner implements a legal and accurate way for hourly members of the cast and crew to track their hours. 180+ seasonal employees every year are being underpaid, as evidenced by the amount of employees who have contacted the owner and the Utah Labor Commission about their incorrect final checks. I am no longer able to stand by and watch my friends and coworkers, some as young as 14, get financially exploited.

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(Edit, due to owner removal/hiding. This review was originally posted on September 19th, 2024. This edit is to make it visible once more.)

I was an actress that worked at this establishment in the years 2020, 2021, and 2023. Nightmare has become an incredibly toxic workplace over those years. Your time as customers and employees is better spent elsewhere. The photo actors are constantly physically harassed by the customers, especially the actresses, who are encouraged to still take photos with those groups and to just block the advances. A typical night here sees groups of costumers come through back to back, some groups and lines reaching 10-20 people long. Busier nights can see multiple groups and lines of 50+ people, back to back, sometimes even longer. Line workers are encouraged to get people through as fast as possible. While employees are encouraged to pace themselves and to take care of themselves, they are encouraged even more so to push through to the end of the shift, regardless of what may happen. Employees are often shamed for calling out sick, with supervisors and actors stating that they came in while sick, “so you can too”. New employees are often left isolated from veterans, due to the social cliques that form. Unless you have a way to connect with them, or have connections to those who have connections to veterans or popular workers, you’re by yourself. And they usually quit within the first week of working because of this. There are many rooms throughout the establishment where employees are not visible on camera. And even in the rooms where they are visible, it can take many attempts and upwards of 5 minutes to have any supervisor respond - if they respond at all. I realized in December of 2023 that I was missing roughly 47.5 hours worth of pay. Through independent time keeping, calculations, and review of Nightmare policies, it was determined that employees were not being paid for the hour and a half before public opening, and the 30 minutes after public closing workers are required and encouraged to be at the establishment. I put in a wage claim, to receive those 47.5 hours worth of pay. Their original response to this was to claim that my claims, and other wage claims, were fraudulent. After providing the evidence for my case, the owners offered to pay 60% of the hours I worked, citing their lack of accurate record keeping as evidence for not paying the other 40% of my pay. I have not been the only one to make a claim, and I have not been the only one to see such pushback. Since then, employees who have made a claim have either been fired, or retired from working due to the owner’s previous actions, and current actions of stating that these claims are false, defacing, and fraudulent. They actively discourage employees from making claims, and actively push the narrative that those employees who made wage claims are causing drama, spreading misinformation, and acting off...

Terrible crowd control! I went two nights ago with some of my friends and I'll probably never go back again. We bought VIP passes online which really seemed to help us get in there faster, but the fact that the line was already moving really fast ended up absolutely ruining everything. The lady letting people in only waited 5-10 seconds before she let the next group in so the whole time we were in there we were walking into rooms just as the actors were trying to scare the group in front of us or going back to their spots to try and scare us. Most of the time, they would just pop out, scream right in my ear, and then walk back. We didn't feel at all like the actors really cared about their jobs or were really that into it.

Then the whole second half of it we were in a huge line of people about 50-75 long following each other. We tried stopping at time to help space it out but we got rushed a couple times from people telling us to hurry up and keep on moving. This place definitely gave us the feeling that they cared much more about taking our money and rushing people through as fast as they possibly could to make as much money as they could. This place has a lot of potential, but I think I only jumped like twice the whole time I was in there. There was absolutely no magic or excitement in there.

My friend even got shoved and got elbowed hard in his shoulder by one of the cast members dressed up as Jason. When we tried talking about it with another actor he simply said sorry and walked away. We talked about it with one of the workers as we finished and pretty much got the same treatment. There was even a few times when I noticed an actor hiding somewhere and started staring at them and they didn't do anything. They just sat there and tried to act like they were a dummy or something even though I could see their eyes moving and blinking. There were some of them that were just casually walking around like they were taking a stroll in the park or something, not really paying attention to anything or anyone.

Bottom line: get ready to be herded through there like cattle as fast as they can get ya with actors that don't try very hard to scare you plus the fact that you already know where they are cause you just saw them attempting to scare the group in front of you. Best haunted house in...