The Krusebel is an 8 hour overnight extreme haunt delivered by the folks at Castle of Chaos, which is located in Midvale, Utah. The director, Chase Dunfield, was the lead Chief Medical Officer at St. Jeffrey’s Asylum along with co-directors Magon Mahoney and Carley Dunfield, who portrayed nurses. All three directors put their blood, sweat, and tears into their performances and it really shows. Once I dressed up as a patient, I felt like this was getting pretty real…and yes, the pain was all real.

With any extreme haunt comes along a waiver and wow, this one was one hell of a waiver. Not only will you sign the waiver, but you will also be asked to recite certain portions of the waiver while being recorded that describes all the elements/activities that a participant may encounter. The Krusebel is not an entry level extreme, but that’s not to say the event isn’t safe. The safe word and safe action are both clearly defined prior to the onslaught that each participant will encounter. I observed it being used with fellow patients and the staff would immediately honor the safe word and do a debrief to ensure the participant is both mentally and physically fine.

The event itself is well orchestrated with a cast so large that a participant might not interact with all actors and actresses throughout the night. The acting was top notch and all acting was done so skillfully by each actor/actress that I felt I was at a real insane asylum. Throughout the evening, all of us patients were on edge not knowing when an orderly, nurse, or doctor might pull one of us out from the common area and take us for treatment. Treatment is designed to make us “better”, but let me tell you this. I don’t think I have ever screamed so much in pain in an extreme haunt, especially with the treatment and impact that was delivered to me. Over the course of the evening, we would be hooded and escorted to our treatments along with group therapy events that were just as torturous.

The Krusebel also gets in your head with several mind games they play throughout the night and make sure not to trust anyone there; even your fellow patients. I won’t go into details as this would spoil the fun, but the Krusebel does a very good job on the ability to test your friendship (provided you go with friends) or your trust with your fellow patients. I found out that someone threw me under the bus for a certain room when the orderly told me and all I can say in my head was like “&*#* me.” It’s even possible to stay the evening and not even visit every treatment room possible.

The part that I liked about the Krusebel was that it’s not a solo event but you will have plenty of solo parts. I always thought an extreme haunt would be fun to go with friends as it’s always exciting to compare and contrast each participant/friend’s experience after the show. Even though it’s not a “solo” extreme haunt. Most if not all the treatments are considered to be solo except for the group treatments which are still just as painful and torturous.

I left the Krusebel feeling a sense of accomplishment even though I didn’t succeed but I also left the Krusebel just being impressed with the staff that works there. I was able to connect with all the directors of the Krusebel and they all wanted my input on their show. That’s important to me and shows that they want feedback from their participants to make future experiences even better. While St. Jeffrey’s Asylum is no longer accepting patients, a new show and theme is set to arrive in Spring of 2022.