New Haunted House in Mount Pleasant Along I-94 Not Opening This Year

The owners of a new haunted house along Interstate 94 in Mount Pleasant have abandoned plans to open this year. 

Cory Stephans, owner of the Abandoned Haunted House in the former Vance's bar just north of Highway 11, confirmed on Monday that plans for the Halloween attraction are on hold until 2012.

The delay is caused by ongoing work on plans for the building's sprinkler system, Stephans said. The village's Fire Department must approve the plan before crews can start building walls inside of the building. 

At issue is the volume of water the sprinkler system must contain. Stephans said they planned to use flame retardant materials and paints to minimize the risk of fires to patrons and the 60-some employees needed to run the haunted house. 

"We've been to haunted houses all over the country," Stephans said. "This will be the highest protected haunted house we've seen."

Stephans and his business partner, Matt Mars, bought the building at 2819 SE Frontage Road in April and had  to run the haunted house. But work stalled without the sprinkler system plans. 

Mount Pleasant Fire Department Division Chief Mark Pierce confirmed Monday that the village has not received a sprinkler plan for the haunted house.  

"The do have a designer working on one, I know," he said.

The delay in plans is something of a setback for Stephans and Mars, who had intended to open this fall. The 15,000-square-foot building is ideally located between Milwaukee and Chicago and has relatively little competition. 

"It couldn't be a better spot," Stephans said. 

The owners behind the Abandoned Haunted House have a record of success. Mars runs four haunted houses throughout Wisconsin, including the Burial Chamber in Appleton, and Mars Haunted House in Milwaukee. Stephans said he ran a haunted house in Milwaukee.