The Mission Nightmare Haunted House is a fabulous Fraser Valley Halloween attraction. It takes place at the Silverdale Community Hall in late October.
The attraction runs between October 18th and 30th in 2024.
The Mission Nightmare Haunted House is one of a number of really good Haunted Attractions in the Fraser Valley. The most famous are Reapers Maze of Terror in Chilliwack, the Haunted Corn Mazes at Maan Farms, and Brinkworth Dungeon in Langley. Not far away, there is also Cougar Creek House of Horrors in Surrey.
This article includes the following information about the haunted house in Mission:
Dates and Location | Admission Price | About the Haunted House | Other Haunted House Details | Tips & Advice | Other Things to Do
Mission Nightmare Haunted House
Presented by the local Station 3 Fire Fighters Association, the Mission Nightmare Haunted House is a small-town Halloween event that’s worth driving out to see.
The attraction includes hordes of volunteers, a monster-load of creativity and ghastly amounts of enthusiasm. The end result is an exceptionally fun Halloween experience for the entire community!
Dates and Location
The haunted house runs from October 18th to 30th in 2024. The full experience is open from 7:00 pm until 10:00 pm on Wednesdays to Sundays. The attraction also operates between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, but without any live actors.
The attraction has been taking place since 2014 at the Silverdale Community Hall. The venue is located at 8760 McLean Street in Mission.
If driving from west to east along the Lougheed Highway from Maple Ridge or Vancouver, the turnoff onto McLean is very soon after the Shell gas station on your left.
Admission Price
Admission to Mission’s haunted house in 2024 costs $10 per person on Wednesdays to Sundays. Tickets for days and times without live actors cost $5 each. Tickets are usually available at the door.
The cost is low enough to keep it affordable, but helps cover expenses. Equally as important, partial proceeds from the event benefit the Mission Hospice Society.
About the Haunted House
The Mission Nightmare Haunted House is truly a community event. It’s typically presented by the local fire department, run by volunteers from the neighbourhood and sponsored by area businesses. The attraction is full of members of the community in costume and working behind the scenes, and proceeds from sales benefit local charities.
For a small community, the Mission Nightmare Haunted House is a popular event. Not including all the volunteers, attendance usually ranges up to a few hundred attendees on busier nights, which is impressive for a lesser-known event in a rural neighbourhood.
Queues can be as long as 45 minutes or even an hour on the absolute most crowded evenings, but while waiting in line people chat with their friends and neighbours, and folks are entertained by the occasional volunteer actor in costume.
In addition to the extent of community involvement, one thing that impressed us when we visited the attraction a few years ago was the degree of thought put into the attraction’s creation. While we were there, folks were entertained in the lineup, anticipation was purposefully built up, and the entrance was strategically designed for maximum effect.
Another aspect of the experience we noted was both the quantity and quality of live actors. Even the little kids in costume were confident, effective and obviously very well trained.
The Venue Experience
The Mission Nightmare Haunted House isn’t a high budget Halloween venue with fancy and expensive gadgets. Everything you see has been put together by volunteers, and the creativity and originality of ideas are impressive.
In the year that we went, inside the house there was a door in the wall that slid to another location, a giant on stilts, a prisoner getting electrocuted and a room with no doors that opened. There were people in virtually every room and peeking through cracks in the walls.
Despite it being a community hall, the haunted house felt like a real home in some parts, with steps you go up, hallways and a bedroom. There was also an area where you went outside to find derelict cars and crazy characters with chainsaws, plus an indoor cemetery and a room with a witch.
The most original element of the haunted house for us was when we suddenly found ourselves six-feet-under at the bottom of a grave with an undertaker looking down at us. That especially was most cleverly done!
Other Haunted House Details
Below is a list of other details about the Mission Nightmare Haunted House from a couple years ago that are good to know.
- The venue features between 15 and 30 live actors of varying ages per night, which makes it one of the most live-character-involved Halloween attractions in the Lower Mainland.
- The live actors are generally exceptional. When we went through they didn’t scream over-the-top or jump out, go boo and then wonder what to do next. They knew their lines, opened hidden doors and were subtle when appropriate. They were effective and an integral part of the experience.
- The venue is not wheelchair accessible as there are stairs in the building.
- The scare factor at the attraction is perfect for most families. It’s a haunted house, but there isn’t lots of blood and gore, nor overly frightening monsters. It is scary, but in a comfortable and reasonable way. That being said, …
- There are times, especially later at night when there are larger numbers of teenagers in the lineup, when the attraction “ramps things up.” During those occasions, the haunted house gets pretty intense and screaming can be heard from a long ways off!
- Families with young children are sometimes given flashlights, which is a great idea. The lights help visitors see slightly better in the dark, but also let the actors know little people are approaching and that the scare factor consequently needs toning down.
Tips & Advice
Below are some suggestions to help you make the most of your experience at the Mission Nightmare Haunted House.
TIP #1: Go! It’s a great haunted house and different from others you’ll see. It’s also very affordable and proceeds from ticket sales benefit worthwhile local charities.
TIP #2: If you don’t want to stand for long in line, go earlier in the season than later. Non-rainy days, weekends and just before Halloween night are the busiest times. On weekdays just before Halloween, especially wet ones, attendance is low.
TIP #3: If you’re from out of town, while in the neighbourhood, explore the area. For ideas on what to do, see below.
TIP #4: Sensory friendly nights are on Mondays and Tuesdays in 2024. There are no actors to scare you on these days, meaning it’s a good time for younger families to visit.
Other Things to Do
Especially if traveling to Mission from other parts of the Lower Mainland, additional things to see and do on the way and in the area include the following:
- Rolley Lake Provincial Park – a park with walking trails near Mission.
- Alouette Lake – a lake and walking trails at Golden Ears Provincial Park just north of nearby Maple Ridge.
- Greater Vancouver Zoo – a good zoo with numerous animals in Aldergrove.
- Fraser Valley – the region of the Lower Mainland that includes Mission as well as places like Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Harrison Hot Springs.
In late October there are also a number of other Halloween-related venues worth checking out in the Fraser Valley including the following:
- Pumpkin Patches and Corn Mazes – at places like Maan Farms in Abbotsford and Peteys Pumpkin Patch and the Maze of Terror at Fantasy Farms.
- Reapers – a fairly hard-core haunted attraction at Fantasy Farms in Chilliwack.
- Brinkworth Dungeon – a very popular haunted house in a residential neighbourhood in Langley.
For more information about the Halloween venue at the Silverdale Community Hall, see the Mission Nightmare Haunted House Facebook page.