A privately-owned haunted house attraction on Hollis Avenue in Queens Village, called A Haunting in Hollis, has attracted a lot of attention lately due to safety hazards. Attractions like this should not be allowed to operate without thorough inspections and safety measures in place. Allowing dangerous spaces to be accessible to the public, especially for entertainment purposes, puts lives at risk.
The haunted house, which had a maze, escape rooms and even an option to stay overnight, was open for 22 years but has recently been shut down by the New York Fire Department, for valid and concerning reasons.
Solainne Moncero-Tannis, a woman who visited the haunted house experience left with severe injuries. She claimed she broke both ankles after sliding down a 20-foot chute known as “Satan’s Slope.”
The attraction has been in operation since 2002, but it was shut down by the city following Moncero-Tannis’ accident due to safety concerns. She filed a lawsuit, which alleged the slide landed directly on concrete, causing her to obtain injuries.
Moncero-Tannis underwent surgery and had to relearn how to walk. Upon further investigation, police found several other safety violations, including blocked exits and structural alterations that posed significant dangers to guests. As a result, New York City officials issued a full vacate order for the attraction.
Moncero-Tannis claimed that the defendants had prior notice of the defective condition of the slide at least 15 days prior to the day of her injury. Other people claimed to have sustained injuries on the slide.
The FDNY commissioner labeled the haunted house a “death trap” after discovering numerous life-threatening safety hazards during a recent inspection.
Other violations included electrical issues and holes in the walls and floors. FDNY officials noted that these conditions could have led to a tragedy if a fire had occurred at the location.
The haunted house had been a neighborhood attraction for years, with long lines of visitors gathering each Halloween, including celebrities like Nick Cannon. Despite its popularity, the Department of Buildings issued a full vacate order and the owners of the haunted house were served with summonses.
“The interior was altered, it had a very heavy fire load, there was a lot of plastic hanging,” Thomas Currao, FDNY Chief of Fire Prevention, said. “There was a smoke machine that was illegal, like you couldn’t find a small place that had more hazards in it.”
The fact that such unsafe operations are open to the public for years is alarming. As thrilling as these experiences may be, safety should always come first. Businesses must prioritize the well-being of their guests, and the lack of oversight raises serious concerns about what else might be slipping through the cracks unchecked until disaster occurs.