There’s a 1997 Cadillac DeVille funeral hearse parked in front of the Grand Theatre downtown, featuring a real casket inside and two skeleton clowns with red, glowing eyes in the front seats. It’s there to draw attention to a new haunted house set up inside the 124-year-old theater called Ghosts of the Grand.  According to its owner, Michael Evans, the Doomed Deville Hearse has transported many dead bodies over the years. Evans, 32, said he’d wanted to drive a hearse since he was a little kid. Now that he owns one himself, he can show it off in the weeks leading up to Halloween, his absolute favorite holiday.  “It has a history, and that is the whole point of why I want to take a hearse now as an adult, because I now understand what a hearse represents,” Evans said. “A lot of people see them as scary, dark things that are only used for sad times and I want to take that and use it for happy times. To get people to have their smiles, and see that it’s just a car, and even though it is used for dark things it can be used to brighten people’s days.”  Toni Gianetti and Sandra Cuperus pose in front of a hearse before entering the Ghosts of the Grand event in downtown Salem on October 17, 2024. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter) While the hearse is parked out front of the Grand to draw people closer and to get them considering the darker side of life, it’s what happens inside the theater that is pure creepy fun.  Ghosts of the Grand is an interactive haunted house experience that was scripted and put on by Salem resident, Chelsea Opfer. The haunted house has been open since the beginning of October and will run until Nov. 2. General admission tickets cost $22 and $28 and can be purchased here.  Salem Reporter took a private tour of the haunted house on Thursday, which had your correspondents tripping onto each other and shrieking in terror.  The experience takes the participant on a bizarre journey into the bowels of the theater along with a “tour guide” named Raven who initially seems charming and accommodating.  Raven might even seem a little off kilter at first as he intentionally stumbles over his words and tries to explain how the tour works. The effect is disarming, but don’t let Raven fool you.  Soon enough things began to get weird, and Raven led your correspondents deeper and deeper into the bowels of the theater where reality began to slip, and the creep factor intensified. So much so that Salem Reporter’s photographer, on-edge from the spooky atmosphere, screamed in terror, frightening an innocent bystander as they exited a theater public restroom. Raven remained unflappable in the face of your photographer’s extraneous fear. Your correspondent’s nerves were also shot by the time Raven abruptly slammed the door and a gloomy room filled with mismatched television sets, some crackling with white noise, came into focus. A cryptic warning crackled from one of the television sets as Raven motioned for us to continue on through a back door.  A room filled with mismatched television sets, some crackling with white noise, on October 17, 2024 (Laura Tesler/ Special to the Salem Reporter) Soon enough it became clear your correspondents had entered a new realm.  “Do you want to play with me?” a soft voice said from the gloom.  Your correspondent turned to see a creature with a distorted face slowly approaching with a small old fashioned children’s doll in its hands.  “N…no? Not really,” your correspondent croaked.   The creature’s face instantly distorted in rage.  “WHY NOT!?” the creature bellowed before disappearing behind a corner.  At this point your correspondent was legitimately freaked out. Soon after, your photographer, in a fit of fear, tripped and fell to the amusement of the creatures lurking in the dark.  After breaking character to make sure your photographer was alright, Raven continued the tour.  As the tour continued a cast of other terrifying characters began to emerge around each corner. They included a bloodied “resident doctor” who does not understand personal space, a bumbling madman who asks you to “pick a card, any card,” and even one who tried to help.  The resident doctor at the Ghosts of the Grand on October 17, 2024 (Laura Tesler/ Special to the Salem Reporter) A hungry cannibal searches for fresh meat on October 17, 2024 (Laura Tesler/ Special to the Salem Reporter) Opfer, in an interview before your correspondents descended into the nightmare, said Ghosts of the Grand is her first haunted house production. She writes and sells murder mystery parties through her company, Murders Inc., and so her particular form of expression meshed well with her latest project.  Opfer scripted the entire Ghosts of the Grand experience and said all the actors were hired through a casting call. She said they are all really into their roles and put their own flourish on their characters.  “I was really focused on making it story driven. I did not want every corner to be a jump scare, that’s not typically scary to me when I’m going through haunted houses. Ours is actually in three different acts. So you start on the balcony overlooking the theater and watch act 1, and then you go upstairs to the initiation room where we built a 50 by 50 maze and that’s act 2,” Opfer said. “It’s also very immersive so you get to make choices, and you get to be involved a lot. And then you go down into the basement and it gets real creepy. And that’s the final act, act 3, so there is a conclusion to it as well.”  Opfer said she loves Halloween and said her dad showed her all of the original Halloween movies when she was 8 years old. Now she loves being scared and scaring people.  “We’ve had so many people in the community who showed up for us…and I’m hoping in the last couple of weeks we will finish with a bang,” Opfer said. “We’ve gotten a decent amount so far but I would like it if we were a little busier. Because especially my actors, and my builders and my set designers, we worked really really hard on this so I would love it if more people came to see it.”  Following the haunted house experience guests can hang out at a secret speakeasy where the drinks are strong and spooky. Your correspondents calmed their nerves as gummy eyeballs looked up from their specialty Halloween drinks. A Halloween themed beverage served on October 17, 2024 (Laura Tesler/ Special to the Salem Reporter) There’s also a chance to browse a number of Halloween related vendors selling crafts, treats and other items. One vendor, Sierra Harris, is the person behind Cereal Killer which specializes in Halloween themed treats she makes from scratch.  Harris is also Evans’ mother, and said her son’s interest in hearses likely began when she took him to a hearse themed car show as a child. She also raised her son to love Halloween, a holiday that is dear to her heart.  “I seem to be attracted to the darker side of life and I do believe there is maybe an afterlife and there is something to celebrate after the fact,” Harris said. “I am his mom and I am the one who raised him on Halloween instead of Christmas basically. We are a creepy family.”  A guest at the speakeasy at the Ghosts of the Grand event in downtown Salem on October 17, 2024. (Laura Tesler/Special to Salem Reporter) Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE – If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Ghosts of the Grand is Salem’s newest haunted house experience appeared first on Salem Reporter.