Opening in 1992, the Haunted House was a classic ride that represented part of the Tussauds’ first major investment into the park. Although you couldn’t tell from the outside of the house, the ride building was in fact the size of a football pitch!
Fact File
- Location: Gloomy Wood
- Manufacturer: Mack Rides
- Capacity per coffin: 6
- Opening Year: 1992
- Closing Year: 2002
Having taken an eerie tour through the ominous neighbouring graveyard, visitors would enter the house itself, where they would queue under the watchful eyes of the house’s former occupants. In fact once they’d entered the dimly lit surroundings of the house’s play room they could be forgiven for thinking their eyes really were following you. Having been entertained by Emily and Henry Alton, visitors moved on to be greeted by a coffin style car, in which groups of six would be taken on a scary 8 minute journey of the house.
The ride would take you on a tour of the house to meet some of its more interesting inhabitants, some residing in the seemingly endless Great Hall or the more sinister sounding Ghost Corridor and Hall of Spiders. Once departing the house itself, the coffins would weave through the Ghoulish Garden before heading into the finale in a deadly looking swamp.
The Haunted House was replaced by Duel in 2003, which brought an interactive element to the ride. Many of the features of the Haunted House transitioned to the new attraction with the only major loss being the Swamp scene which disappeared under the mad professor’s lab at the end of the ride
For a definitive guide to Alton Towers’ Haunted House, its construction and history, you may want to visit HauntedOne’s Haunted House Website.
