There are constants when the calendar turns to October in Waukesha.
The Friday Night Live music series has ended for the season. The Farmers Market in downtown Waukesha enters its final month and leaf pickup begins as the days become shorter and the air becomes cooler.
Oh, and screams can be heard regularly from the Waukesha County Expo Grounds.
The screams begin Friday night as the Halloween season officially kicks off when the Wisconsin Feargrounds opens its haunted doors.
And this year, Tim and Ann Marie Gavinski have given visitors a new haunted experience. Shadowlands joins Morgan Manor and Morgana’s Torment.
Morgan Manor is the first house visitors will experience and the Gavinski’s say to “expect the unexpected from the minions who stalk you looking to create terror as they feed on your fear.”
Morgana’s Torment is the basement of the Manor and “will push you to your limit as darkness befalls this maze as pitch black corridors, claustrophobia and crazy lights distort your perception.”
Now, Shadowlands is the “most interactive of the attractions with a deluge of minions taking terror to the highest level.”
Tim Gavinski said Shadowlands, for one year, replaces Unstable and once visitors finish that "house," they become the hunter in a fourth thrill called Revenge.
Gavinski said for $5 additional dollars visitors get a paintball gun and go after "zombies," who are equipped with head and body protection. Individuals get 20 shots to go after five zombies in a shooting gallery.
This is the ninth year of the Feargrounds and Gavinski said he and the staff are already looking forward to the 10th anniversary.
Gavinski said there will be a new house called Carnevil next year and Unstable will return. Gavinski added that there are 150 employed at the Feargrounds.
It costs $30 for all three haunted houses or $45 for a three-haunt combo speed pass. It costs $13 or $25 for a speed pass at just Morgan Manor.
While there is a limited quantity each night, a discounted early-bird three-haunt combo pass is available online at $20. Those individuals must check in at the box office between 7 and 8 p.m.
After Friday and Saturday, the remaining days the Feargounds is open is Oct. 12, 13, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 31.
The box office on Fridays and Saturdays is open from 6:45 to 11:30 p.m. and on Thursday, Oct. 25, Sunday, Oct. 28 and Wednesday, Oct. 31 from 6:45 to 9 p.m.
On that last day, on Halloween, Morgan Manor will be the only house open for a special Lights Off tour. Flashlights will be provided.
The Wisconsin Feargrounds, located at 1000 Northview Road, has consistently been named one of the top haunts in America and in the state by the Haunted Attraction Magazine and by Haunted House websites.
For more information, visit wisconsinfeargrounds.com.