These west suburban haunts provide real frights this Halloween season

The Halloween season is officially here!

Explore the ghostly side of Kane County on a spine-chilling ghost walk in Aurora, “cemetery” tour in Gilberts or a “monster purge” in Maple Park.

Uncover the hidden mysteries that lie within Kane County with these area attractions.

Greenbriar Cemetery 49 Greenbriar Drive, Gilberts www.greenbriarcemetery.com

In October, Matt Nausid’s suburban home undergoes a most sinister transformation as the ghosts and ghouls of Greenbriar Cemetery stake their claim to the front yard of his Gilberts residence.

Passageways wind through the space, every inch of which is utilized. Along the way, visitors to this haunted hollow will uncover a traditional cemetery scene as well as a place where long-dead pirates pillage and plunder. The third motif is one Nausid terms a “rotten patch.”

“The patch is new as of last year with farm field characters like scarecrows and pumpkins,” he said, adding that it’s where onlookers can expect the most interactive elements.

The motorized figures that fill the space shake, rattle, roll. The love-it-or-hate “jump scare” is also employed here as sensors throughout ensure no one goes unnoticed by the undead.

“We probably have a mile of cordage to connect all of it,” said Nausid, estimating that as much as 75% of the display moves in some fashion.

Adding to the atmosphere is a host of projections, spooky lighting effects and rolling fog.

Free and open to all throughout the month, Greenbriar Cemetery represents a true labor of love for its owner.

“I try to build as much as I can and be as creative as possible,” said Nausid, who grew up working on elaborate Halloween displays with his father.

Co-host of the Voodoo Podcast, Nausid is a part of a vast community of “home haunters” who live for Halloween and all its terrifying trappings.

Select weekends bring live scare actors — some of whom hail from the large-scale 13th Floor Haunted House in Schiller Park. Keep an eye on Greenbriar’s social channels to learn when performers will be on the scene.

For those with young children, Nausid recommends arriving around dusk before things intensify.

Monster Purge

45W050 Beith Road, Maple Park www.monsterpurge.com

This Halloween attraction turns the tables on the things that go bump in the night.

“At Monster Purge, guests ride in a real monster truck and embark on an epic paintball hunt,” said Lon Czarnecki, who owns the business with his wife, Amy.

Outfitted with a long line of paintball guns, the 45-foot-long custom-built monster truck/bus takes passengers-turned-expungers of evil beings on a journey through a small town overrun with grisly and gruesome monsters.

“Our job is to clear out the scourge,” Czarnecki said.

“Hot zone shooting” lasts about 12 to 15 minutes. Adrenaline-pumping music and lights amp up the excursion.

Monster Purge takes place from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays and from 6 to 11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays throughout October. Its final day is November 2.

General admission tickets are $34.95 and include 100 rounds of paintballs. VIP tickets are $50 and come with 300 rounds and first seating. Passengers can purchase additional rounds aboard the bus (cash only).

Children under six are not permitted.

And for those fielding even more nightmare fuel, there’s Evil Intentions Haunted House just next door. Relocated from Elgin, this haunted house brims with live actors whose sole mission is to scare the wits out of those brave enough to enter. Due to the intensity, it is advised that children under 13 are accompanied by an adult.

Aurora Hauntings Ghost Walk

Tours meet in front of Two Brothers Roundhouse, 205 N. Broadway Ave., Aurora www.americanghostwalks.com/tour/aurora-hauntings-ghost-walk

833-446-7813

In downtown Aurora, the night air carries stories. They are of lives cut tragically short.

Of beings powerless to move on. Of ghosts.

Diane Ladley has been telling ghost stories for much of her life. Her creation, the Aurora Hauntings Ghost Walk, takes the living on a tour of several downtown spots, where strange and sometimes unseemly things have been known to occur.

“We start off at Two Brothers Roundhouse, which is itself deliciously haunted,” said Ladley of the 150-year-old space.

Among the spirits located there is a man “who exudes a feeling of dread,” she said.

The Paramount Theatre is another stop.

“When I was doing research there, I happened to run into some of the workers and they spent hours taking me around this huge building and telling me stories,” she said. “They reported hearing footsteps pacing back and forth across the stage and a ghostlike shadow revealed by the main stage light.”

And then there’s the 22-story Leland Towers, which dates back to 1928. Now an apartment complex, the building once served as a luxury hotel for Chicagoans escaping city life. But, as Ladley and other tour guides share, its glory days contain something darker than pure glitz and glamour.

Those on the two-hour tour are equipped with electromagnetic field sensors, which light up when detecting electrical energy in the area. When an apparent source cannot be identified—and Ladley is quick to point out that nothing is rigged for dramatic effect—one can, and perhaps, should, surmise that a figure from the other side remains just out of reach.

The outdoor tours are historical in nature, with guides recounting tales of murders and crimes in the city’s past. Participants are asked to keep this in mind when considering it for a family with younger children. Tours are offered at 8 p.m. on Friday nights and cost $25 per person.