A Queens haunted house attraction shut down by the city for a horrific list of safety code violations hopes to rise from the dead in time for Halloween.
The owners of “A Haunting in Hollis,” which was set up in a private home, have hired a contractor and plan to fix the dangerous conditions that led the city Department of Buildings to issue a vacate order for the property in the wake of several lawsuits by customers claiming they were hurt inside the house.
“I don’t know why it happened, I’m just gonna fix it,” the owner of the home, who didn’t want to be identified, told the Daily News. “I’m so sad.”
The popular Halloween attraction on Hollis Ave. near 212th St. — billed as the “#1 haunted house in the tri-state” — was closed down Oct. 5 after firefighters conducting an inspection “identified numerous hazards,” including blocked exits, holes in the walls and the presence of combustibles that could easily catch fire, the FDNY said.
The FDNY called the Department of Buildings, which found even more violations, including that the owners had built three new staircases inside the home without a permit and that “fireproofing material had been removed from the walls at multiple locations.”
“Our inspection found that the two-family house at the location had been illegally converted into a commercial haunted house amusement with a maze outside the building,” the DOB said. “Inside the haunted house, we found 40 paying customers at the time of the inspection.”
“A Haunting in Hollis” opened Sept. 27, offering seven horror-themed escape rooms, plus two pitch-black mazes with live actors terrifying you at every turn for a $30 ticket. Actors dress up as classic horror movie characters like Michael Myers from the “Halloween” film series and Terrifier the Clown.
The seasonal attraction, which opened about five years ago, has racked up five lawsuits from patrons who were injured while going through the attraction.
The lawsuits included an allegation by Queens resident Solainne Mancero-Tannis, who said that she broke both ankles while falling down “a dangerous and defective slide” inside the home on Oct. 13, 2023.
Other lawsuits charge the owners of the haunted house with not providing customers with a safe place to walk and “creating a trap and falling hazard.”
An attorney for the owner has responded to at least three of the lawsuits, claiming in court documents that those who were injured were informed of the risks at the haunted house, but went anyway.
“[They] fully understood the danger and risks incident to its undertaking, but despite such knowledge, freely and voluntarily assumed and exposed herself to all risks of harm and the consequential injuries and resultant damages,” attorney Lawrence Carra said in a response to a lawsuit filed by customer Yadira Morales Roman last year.
“We are taking all of the summonses and complaints very seriously and are making sure that they are being immediately addressed under the supervision and consent of the Department of Buildings,” Carra said Saturday about the vacate order. “The most important thing is that the customers are safe and that we ensure their safety by promoting a safe facility which provides entertainment to the community.”
The owner of the attraction, who wished not to be named, said the building was her grandmother’s. The home has three stories and a basement.
“I used to go to this church,” the owner said, pointing to the church across the street from the haunted house. “I used to sing in the choir.”
The dangers the city cited are easily fixable, she and Carra said. One of the blocked entrances was nothing more than a black plastic bag draped on the doorframe which could easily be removed.
The gaping holes in the wall were put in for effect, but can quickly be patched up, she said.
“It’s an aesthetic thing,” the owner said. “I ripped out some of the walls just to make it look scary. When I took off the sheetrock, we had [exposed] lattice. It’s wood that runs horizontal. If you ever look up a picture of a haunted house, it’ll show, like, a hole in the wall, with [lattice]. So once I figured that out, I was like, ‘Oh, let me show some of this lattice,’ and [the city’s] like, ‘That’s a fire hazard!’”
The owner said she is working with a contractor to get all the violations mended with the hope of reopening by next weekend.
“When I went to DOB I was crying because this is my grandma’s house,” she said. “When I start setting up, [people] are yelling out their windows. They’re like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait, it’s finally here! When do you open?’ and it’s been like that for years.
“This is a community thing for me,” she said.
Neighbors said the owners hire retired cops and correction officers to act as security so people waiting on line don’t erupt into a scene from a slasher film.
“There was one year the line was all the way down the block, but they had it under control,” neighbor Alex Harper, 68, said. “It’s always been in an orderly fashion.
“People take their children there,” she said. “They find it to be fun and amusing.”
