Tucson's scariest haunted house returns for one last scream

Last year was supposed to be the end for the SlaughterHouse, Tucson’s Halloween scream fest that has scared the bejesus out of a generation of Tucson teens.

Owner Bobby Sutton had put the 3.77-acre property at 1102 W. Grant Road on the market last year and, in late December, had a purchase agreement in hand.

But like many well-laid plans, there were complications. Not deal-killing complications, but hiccups that pushed the closing back; Sutton believes the sale will be finalized in early January.

Sutton wouldn’t disclose the prospective buyer’s identity or plans for the former Farmer John Meats plant, citing a nondisclosure agreement.

But since there wouldn’t be any movement on the property or immediate use for the 26,140-square-foot building that housed SlaughterHouse the last 15 years, Sutton asked the prospective owners if it would be OK to scare the heck out of Tucson one last time.

“It worked for them, it worked for us,” he said.

This year’s haunt will be scaled down; with the sale pending, they already had begun demolishing the sets and themed rooms, including the popular Apocalypse zombie room upstairs.

But Sutton said his kids — daughter Sierra Martin, the general manager, and son Tyler Sutton, operations manager — spent months reimagining and reinventing the maze-like themed areas, from the boiler room to the graveyard, each with its own blood-dripping characters intent on making you scream, run and possibly wet your pants.

“We’ve had thousands of people pee their pants and they love to tell us about it,” Sutton said. “It’s a badge of honor for some strange reason that they come and tell you, ‘I peed my pants.’ And the actors hear about it and it goes around like a buzz, and everybody’s excited.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Sometimes people do more than pee, he added, which is why for several years they sold “replacement underwear” in the gift shop.

In addition to improving the sets, SlaughterHouse doubled up on actors to push the scare factor and added more props to the arsenal; Sutton estimated they have invested as much as half a million dollars on props.

“We’re going to go after people hard,” he said. “You’re going to see more actors than you’ve ever seen because we do want to go out with a bang.”

In the 21 years since Sutton and a few partners launched SlaughterHouse as “Tucson Screamers,” the attraction has garnered national attention.

It was called Tucson Screamers when Sutton and his partners started out in 2004 at Sports Park Tucson off Interstate 10 and Ina Road in Marana. It moved to the old Breakers Water Park two years later and then to a vacant department store at Foothills Mall before Sutton signed a lease-to-own agreement for the old Farmer John Meats packing plant on West Grant Road.

SlaughterHouse attracts tens of thousands of visitors each season and has earned national recognition from ScurryFace, a haunted house industry leader that ranks attractions nationally based on fan votes and in-person reviews.

In 2021, SlaughterHouse was ranked No. 1 in the country and has topped the state list several times since ScurryFace started the rankings in 2012.

It also had the reputation of being Tucson’s scariest haunted house.

“If you were a teenager in Tucson the last 20 years, you came to SlaughterHouse. It was kind of a rite of passage type of thing,” Sutton said, adding that it was the right time to end its run.

“We ran really good here, kind of an icon in Tucson,” he said.