Haunted Attraction & Immersive Entertainment Business Launches in Casper

A haunted attraction business known as "Turn on the Dark Entertainment, LLC" is bringing immersive experiences to Casper.

"I've always loved Halloween" says Nicholas Johnson, the owner of the LLC. "My interests growing up were dress-up, magic, costumes, painting, crafts, art, illusions and theatre."

In 2017, he moved to Casper where he attended college and received dual degrees in Theatre Performance and Technical Theatre.

Johnson said he always wanted to start a business that specialized in Halloween attractions like haunted houses, scare mazes, and theatrical seance/shows, but he was always told that Wyoming wasn't big enough.

About two years ago, he competed in the Visit Casper Business Challenge and his business model made it into the top five.

"We trucked along," said Johnson, and eventually found a Wyoming program for entrepreneurs to launch a crowdfunding campaign.

“I am overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement for being granted this opportunity. Words cannot express how eager I am to see my dreams come to life!”

“Turn On The Dark” uses UV paint, 3D glasses, black lights, special effects, and a cast of actors to bring the fright.

They have several events happening this weekend. They will be co-hosting a community mural project for Casper Pride, splattering a 24 x 8 foot mural -- which will be revealed Sunday morning before the march and later on display for the Art of Pride show at Art 321 for the month of June. The community is invited to help paint the mural.

On Saturday Johnson and his business team will be at David Street Station with a photo booth inlcuding props and lights.

"Sometime this summer, July or August" says Johnson, they'll have "a zombie laser tag experience with Old Town Family Fun."

Coming this fall, the LLC is putting together a giant haunted house with 75 custom themed panels. They plan to use black light and black light reactive paint. The patrons will wear chromodepth glasses that push cool colors to the background to make things both visually appealing and disorienting.

"Haunted house is a theatre. It’s a story from point A to B, set design, lighting, illusions, black-lights, fog, lasers...that kind of stuff really sets the scene and sets the mood." says Johnson. 

To learn more about the new business you can check out their Facebook page here.