SEATTLE — Looking for a free haunted house experience? Head to South Seattle!
Family-owned Stonehouse Café on Rainier Avenue South hosts an annual haunt that’s open to the public.
It's small in size but big in jump scares, built with love by Stonehouse Café’s owners, the Heigh family. Celebrating Halloween is kind of in their DNA.
"I like candy. I'm a big fan of candy. I like scaring my mom, too,” laughed Robbie Heigh. "A lot of the decorations in there are our old costumes."
"Like literally — the masks in there are twenty years old, plus," his brother Max added.
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For 2022, they created a “Haunted Carnival” that winds through several rooms. It resembles their own house growing up — their creative mom built out the garage for kids to walk through while trick-or-treating.
And just like their childhood neighbors, everyone who survives the tricks can also enjoy a treat.
The haunt leads to Laina's Handcrafted Ice Cream — a small-batch ice cream side business the Heighs launched during the pandemic. Every scoop is made on-site, and seasonal flavors include kettle corn, caramel apple, cotton candy, and “vampire's blood” — a vegan option made with charcoal ice cream and cherries.
Everyone who walks through the Haunted Carnival gets a taste, and the entire experience costs exactly zero dollars.
"Not everyone has money they can just toss out to spend $30 on a haunted house or whatever it might be these days, so I think it's just a fun thing to offer to the south end of Seattle,” Max said. "We get a kick out of families coming every year, making this a part of their tradition to stop by the Stonehouse and see what we've got going on."
Laina's Haunted Carnival runs Oct. 28-31 and is open from 10:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. (Halloween hours are 4 p.m. – 8 p.m., with “Trunk-Or-Treating” in the parking lot.)
The ice cream shop is situated immediately north of The Stonehouse Café at 9701 Rainier Ave. S.
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