Halloween: Louisiana 13th Gate Is Lucky in Horror

Oct. 25, 2011— -- As if bringing to life 13 of most people's worst fears, including being buried alive or locked in an insane asylum, were not enough, Louisiana's 13th Gate has a new addition that is crawling with the dead who come out of the ground right at your feet.

Necropolis 13 is a New Orleans-style, above ground cemetery with more than 400 crypts, underground catacombs and a voodoo fire show that will leave you wondering if you still walk among the living. It is 40,00-square-feet of fear that is now across the street in Baton Rouge from 13 gates of extreme terror.

"Everyone is different and everyone is afraid of something different, so no matter what you are afraid of, we have something waiting for you," Midnight Productions owner Dwayne Sanburn said.

To enter the cemetery, you have to walk 13 steps down to an open grave, which is more than 100 feet underground into the catacombs and onto the underworld.

More than 50,000 people a year crawl through a crematory oven, try to escape the Claustrophobia Tunnel or the chainsaw of a crazed serial killer and make their best effort to keep balance over a rickety bridge where hundreds of real snakes lurk below.

Unlucky number 13 draws thrill seekers to the 13th Gate to see if theirs might just run out, especially if it falls on a Friday.

"When we have a Friday the 13th in October, that is usually our biggest night," Sanburn said. "I think people kind of like the idea of the mystery and the unknown, but usually it is the weekend before Halloween that is our busiest."

The 13th Gate is open from the last week of September to the first weekend of November, but these masters of horror are at work year-round to make your worst nightmares come true with more than 160 actors, 12 special effects and airbrush artists and a professional movie crew.

Easily scared by things that go bump in the night? Well, the 13th Gate's location in the swamps of Baton Rouge might just send you running from this indoor-outdoor haunt upon the sight of ghost-like trees and slimy water before you even make it to the first gate.

Welcome to your worst nightmare, all 13 of them.