Scarcity Haunted House 2024 is back at the Billings Depot this fall, just in time for Halloween hauntings, but this year the theme focuses on some of the scariest stories in all of Montana.
The official theme is "Haunting at the Depot", and it dives into real Montana ghost stories and legends. The event gore-ifys ghost stories all for a good cause and its organizers say it is known as one of the scariest haunted houses in the entire region.
“I love seeing it come to life when we're writing the story,” says Tiffany Oedekoven, a volunteer script-writer for Scarity Haunted House.
Oedekoven is obsessed with Halloween and horror movies.
“It's a lot of fun coming up with these ideas and then actually getting to see it acted out and seeing people screaming and terrified,” says Oedekoven. “I wanted a frozen head in a refrigerator, and I found a story for it.”
The real story says a plane full of veterans crashed in Billings in the 1940s, killing multiple World War II veterans, who are memorialized at Veterans Park.
“The plane crashed and the morgue ran out of space for the bodies and so a local grocery store put the bodies in their refrigerators,” says Oedekoven.
Although historians say that part of the story is likely just a legend, the fake frozen head is fundraising for local nonprofits with every ticket sold.
"We've hit a hundred thousand actually in six years, but this year we're hoping to get a hundred thousand this year," says Oedekoven.
This year’s proceeds go to the historic Billings Depot, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Her Campaign.
“We've had people go to Salt Lake City before, haunted houses. We've had people go to Denver, Vegas, and they said ours is up there with some of the best,” says Sean O’Daniel, Scarity founder and State Farm agent. “Big picture is to make this a national haunted house where people from other states come and enjoy Billings.”
Tickets range from $10 to $40 and can be purchased on the Billings Depot’s website andvia the Scarity Facebook page. Thursdays are accessibility and family night, while other nights feature more extreme scares and are designed for older audiences. Age 13+ is recommended.
