Compton worked in haunted houses growing up and he recalled his mom encouraging him to open his own. Compton opened Dayton Scream Park in 2002.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“It was a dump site,” Compton recalled. “The road was blocked off by the city with guardrails and I got both property owners to agree to let me rent the place.”
With the help of the family that owns McMahan’s Mobile Home Park on Valley Pike, Compton was able to clean the property up in about four weeks.
“The reason I knew about the land was we rode four wheelers down here and dirt bikes down here growing up,” Compton said. “We used those original trails and opened them up, and just grew and grew and grew, and then eventually bought the place and turned it into everything it is now.”
Continuous investment into the haunt
Every March, they go to the TransWorld’s Halloween & Attractions Show in St. Louis, Mo. to get new props. This year, they’ve made their largest investment yet.
“Usually, our budget’s around $50,000 a year,” Compton said. “We try to stick to that, but we had some really good years since COVID.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
They spent nearly $100,000 on two scenes that are housed in separate semi trailers, which include the haunt’s two new, largest props.
In addition, many scenes throughout the haunted compound have been upgraded and redone.
In previous years, they’ve spent most of their budget on smaller stuff that their actors wanted to change.
“The thing about all the actors that work here is a lot of them design, paint, (and) help build their own scenes,” Compton said.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Over the last three years, Compton purchased the 20-acre property that he once rented.
“Now that we own the property, we can do it a lot bigger,” Compton said. “Infrastructure has been everything — the compound, the electrical, the plumbing... Once you do it all, that’s one less thing you have to do the next year."
They are able to keep the structure up throughout the off-season and typically start working on it in May to prepare for the eight weeks that they are open.
A ‘semi-scary’ hayride
Last year, Dayton Scream Park added a hayride with tickets costing $5.
Compton described it as “semi-scary” with lots of decorations and animatronics. There are no actors.
For those that don’t like haunted houses, this is a great alternative.
“Eventually, we’ll probably build it into being full-on haunt, but that’s going to take a long time,” Compton said.
Future plans for the junkyard
Dayton Scream Park is planning to not use its junkyard this year, but Compton said if they end up with extra actors they could add it on.
Next year, they are turning this one-acre area into a Christmas-themed scene.
They had previously bought Krampus-themed decorations to do a Christmas hayride last year, but ended up not doing it because they were worn out at the end of the haunt season.
A heavily awarded haunt
Dayton Scream Park does not have a specific theme. Compton said they are known for their “Hollywood area” with actors dressed as Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger.
It takes most people between 35 to 45 minutes to finish the haunt.
Through the years, they’ve received several awards from Ohio Valley Haunts, a Cincinnati-based promotion and review group for haunted attractions.
“We’ve won the Actor of the Year more than anyone else ever has,” Compton said. “No one’s ever won Actor and Actress of the Year except us. No one’s ever won Actor of the Year back to back except us.”
Dayton Scream Park has made Ohio Valley Haunts’ top 10 list.
Creating a ‘fall family’
Compton’s favorite part of the haunt season is the camaraderie they’ve built with their actors and volunteers.
“We call it fall family,” Compton said. “We have over 100 people that work here.”
From Compton’s 16-year-old daughter working at the haunt to a man that has never missed a day in the last 23 seasons, the haunt is truly a family affair
His wife, LeeAnne, started doing makeup at the haunt about five years ago.
“My favorite part is just watching the people become a different person,” LeeAnne said. “It’s so cool just to see some quiet little kid sitting there and then all of a sudden he puts his mask on and he’s back there just having the time of his life.”
A lot of hard work goes into building a haunt
When asked about Dayton’s haunt scene, Compton said it’s just as good as other major cities.
“You would actually be surprised,” Compton said. “As small as Dayton is versus like Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, we have three haunts here. Cincinnati only has four. Columbus only has three and Cleveland only has four.”
Many haunts are located outside of major cities.
There haven’t been many new haunts in the area because “it’s very hard” due to “zoning and then being legit with the fire department and all of the building codes,” Compton said.
“There’s a lot to it,” he added. “We’re out here full-time for four months minimum and that’s standard. We’ll still have our weekends through the summer and sometimes a three-day weekend here and there, but most of our summer is building it.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
MORE DETAILS
Dayton Scream Park, 4040 Wrightway Road, is open Fridays and Saturdays through Nov. 1.
General admission tickets are $25 and are sold 8 p.m.-midnight. VIP tickets to get to the front of the line are available for an additional $25. Parking is free.
The haunted attraction has a merchandise store with hoodies, t-shirts, cups, stickers, etc.
Dayton Scream Park is hosting a trunk-or-treat 6-8 p.m. Oct. 23. There will be a DJ, costume contest and face painting. Hayrides will be available for $5.
For more information, visit daytonscreampark.com or the haunted attraction’s Facebook page (@dytscreampark).
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
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