Review of the 13th Floor - Haunted House in Denver

The 13th Floor, located at 6100 E. 39th Ave in Denver, Colorado, is based on the premise that most buildings do not include a "13th floor" and instead label it as the 14th floor. For various reasons, 13 is considered to be an unlucky number in countries all around the world, and for that reason, most building owners, despite their own beliefs, decide to omit the 13th floor. According to the Otis Elevators company, as written on The 13th Floor website, approximately "85% of the buildings with their elevators do not have a named 13th floor."

There are many ideas, stories, thoughts about how the number 13 came to be so unlucky. And according to the website, it is also thought that sometimes the 13th floor, although not accessible to most, is there but only used for "top-secret governmental departments" or other questionable activities. This being the case, it became more common to build these "secret floors" in the basement of various single story buildings. This way there was total secrecy and those involved could enter the "13th Floor" with ease.

The haunted house was set up in a building as described above. A single story building. If you know Denver, you know this location seems to be a bit odd before you even get there. 39th and Monaco? Where could they possibly put a haunted house there? It is an area with many, many single story warehouses, therefore the haunted house doesn't look so scary from the outside.

The cost to get into the 13th Floor ranges from $15 - $30, and coupons can be found around town (Conoco gas stations). There is an extra charge to get into the Vertigo Tunnel - read on further, but don't waste your money. The line to get in was fairly long - the wait was about 40 minutes (which for some haunted houses is actually a short wait). It felt as if you were in line to get into a rave. All you could hear was loud music pumping away from inside, and you could see an occasional blast of colored lights each time they let more people inside.

They pull a "Disneyland" on you when they finally let you in the door, it turns out that there is another line inside. This one was much shorter, but expect at least 20-30 minutes inside. This is where you enter the Vertigo Tunnel, if you paid the extra money for it. The first 15 seconds is great - you walk through a tunnel that appears to be spinning around and you are walking on an angle. After that, it is just a handful of people who are hidden behind corners, and jump out to scare you or they are screaming something as you walk by. Not worth the extra money.

After getting back in line, listening to loud music with the fog machines at full force, watching some goth-like ladies dance, you inch your way to the front where you see the waivers posted on the entrance. "We are not liable, don't enter if you are pregnant, there are live animals inside, please be respectful, do not attempt to kill or injure the animals..." Yes live animals. Wasn't sure what to think about that.

When you finally get your turn to enter the 13th Floor, a guide takes you to an elevator that shakes and shimmies, and takes you "down" to the hidden, secret 13th Floor. It starts off standard - dark, smoky, people behind the corners jumping out at you. The problem is, it remains pretty standard. There wasn't anything terribly spectacular. We soon found out what the live animals were when we were confronted by a pleasant actor holding a snake. A garter snake that was smaller than the toy snake my nephew plays with. Oh well, I bet some people don't like snakes and perhaps that could come across as scary. I also saw a couple of rats that the actors were holding. Aside from that, don't let the live animal warning scare you.

The best part was towards the end when you walk through a dark, pillow-y tunnel (hard to explain, but pretty cool). Aside from that, I think it was average. It says on the site that you should allow children if they are old enough to see a PG-13 movie. I would say that pretty much says it all. PG-13. If you want a real scare, I heard their "sister" haunted house, The Asylum, is pretty awesome. And a couple of years ago I went to the Spider Mansion. That was good.

I took a poll of the 8 people we were with - rating from 1 to 10 of how scary or worth while it was. The average score was a 5 (with a margin of error of +.25). Take your PG-13 kids - probably a great, fun place for teenagers to go - but if you want a REAL scare, you may want to look elsewhere.