Get ready to be scared

Michael Grimes spends most of the year thinking of new ways to scare people, even though he may not be a fan of Freddy Krueger.

"I do not like scary movies, I do not like haunted houses, I'm not big into suspense," he said. "You're much more apt to watch me watch a romantic comedy."

But despite his taste in popular culture, Grimes is the man behind two of Carson City's haunted houses: Grimes Castle The Dungeon and Grimes Castle The Labyrinth.

The Dungeon features a series of rooms filled with severed heads, bloodied walls and a foggy London street. It takes about 20 minutes to get through the 6,000-square-foot maze. Located at 1809 N. Carson St., it opens for the season at

6:30 p.m. tonight.

The Labyrinth, which offers the scares without the blood and guts like the Dungeon, is located inside the former Gottschalks and opens Oct. 8.

Grimes, who has worked in television production, started the venture five years ago when he purchased a haunted house after taking a niece and nephew to one in town. On Wednesday, he still was working on the finishing touches of The Dungeon.

"This place has the smell of a dungeon," Grimes said of the warehouse located behind A to Zen Thrift. "It's musty."

For every ticket purchased this year, $1 will be donated to Friends In Service Helping, a Carson City charity. The haunted houses will not accept cans of food for discounts.

Even though he may not be making a fortune on the haunted houses, Grimes said he's invested each year in improving the venture since he purchased it in 2005. Last year the Dungeon attracted about 1,500 people and this year Grimes said he hopes to attract twice that many.

"When we started I think I had 120 flats, I now own over 600," he said. "Between the two haunted house I'm five times where I was five years ago."