With an hour left until opening, crowds of people begin to line up outside a large lot in Melrose Park. Outnumbered workers hurriedly set up line barriers to accommodate the influx of people. Inside, a crowd of equal strength can be heard, prepping for the night. Actors rush to complete their makeup, others check on the props, and supervisors watch over the busy scene like hawks. At such an elaborate haunted house like 13th Floor, there is no time for anyone to just stand around.

Having been featured on MTV and USA Today in previous years, 13th Floor Haunted House has a high reputation as one of the best haunts in the nation. This year looks to be just as successful, if not more.

The House’s newest design features two themes, “Feral Moon” and “Dead End District: Wrong Turn,” which in total require around seventy actors to pull off. The first part of the House, “Feral Moon” brings back the classic werewolf story, but with a modern twist. After finishing the first theme, customers are lead directly into “Dead End District,” an amalgam of various sets such as a hospital, casino, and woods, incorporated together to give off the feel of walking through a small town.

For extra authenticity, the majority of the set is built on location and real props are donated from closed facilities. In the casino set, there are real slot machines. In the hospital, there are real, previously used morgue cabinets.

What truly completes the sets is the acting. Every day, each actor undergoes nearly two hours of makeup, some of which is done by previous contestants on the professional special effects show, “Face Off.”

13th Floor relies on acting more so than other houses, due to the fact that they aren’t centered around jump scares. They do have their fair share of jumps, which is necessary for any haunted house, but in order to rise above competition, they don’t rely on gimmicks and cheap scare tactics alone.

“We don’t do profanity or nudity,” supervisor JD Epperson said, and, motioning to a tunnel of body parts, “We only push the limit on gore.”

The House emphasizes horror, not shock value, and that is a big part of its prosperity. Where other houses would show insulting scenes, 13th Floor shows innovation in the form of enormous animatronics; physical and visual illusions, such as tilting floors and holograms; and special events, like their Blackout Nights.

It is obvious that this method works. Epperson revealed that in this year, over ten groups have had to be let out early and even more guests have peed or vomited in fear. The scariest part? Those stats only included the opening week.