{"id":325976,"date":"2025-10-23T08:07:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/325976\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T08:07:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:07:17","slug":"take-a-look-inside-chicagos-one-and-only-puppet-staffed-haunted-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/325976\/","title":{"rendered":"Take a look inside Chicago\u2019s one and only puppet-staffed haunted house"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world is full of things that go bump in the night\u2014closet doors that inch open seemingly on their own, floorboards that groan beneath an invisible weight, things that have haunted you since you were old enough to\u00a0fear your own shadow. But the world\u2019s most disturbing horrors don\u2019t bump at all\u2014they click; they creak. Puppets, as it turns out, are nightmare fuel carved from wood. Rough House Puppet Arts<\/a> is all too aware of marionettes\u2019 capability to shock, awe and terrify.<\/p>\n

Every October, Rough House transforms Steppenwolf Theatre\u2019s Merle Reskin Space into\u00a0House of the Exquisite Corpse<\/a>, Chicago\u2019s one and only puppet-powered haunted house. For its fifth iteration, the horror installation\u2014whose general motif changes every year\u2014resurrects with the unifying theme of \u201cblood.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED:\u00a0The best haunted houses near Chicago<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\nPhotograph: Courtesy of Rough House Puppet Arts <\/p>\n

Each artist\u00a0team\u00a0contributing to House of the Exquisite Corpse V: Blood & Puppets\u00a0interpreted the \u201cblood\u201d theme in wildly different ways, spawning vignettes\u00a0with\u00a0eerie titles like \u201cBlood & Power,\u201d\u00a0\u201cBlood & Family\u201d and\u00a0\u201cBlood & Sacrifice.\u201d\u00a0From ghastly post-apocalyptic fables\u00a0to grisly\u00a0allegories about the medical industrial complex, true-to-life horrors reside\u00a0in each of the House\u2019s rooms, each with its own\u00a0chilling tale to tell through physical performance, sound design and illusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet ready to be transfused! I mean, transformed,\u201d Claire Saxe, cofounder and artistic director of Rough House Puppet Arts says. \u201cOur annual Halloween production gives local artists the freedom to follow their own visions, create in their own style and be inspired by whatever type of horror freaks them out most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each room in the House does, indeed, feel like a personal dungeon of dread. Upon entering, guests convene in a makeshift foyer where they can purchase much-needed liquid courage from a bar slinging beer, wine and specialty cocktails. Then, in timed entries, guests trickle into the House\u2019s dark confines. With six total rooms, each chamber corresponds with a five-minute story that can be heard through headphones. Visitors weave through hallways, peep through keyholes and walk through hidden doors to encounter a litany of marionette-driven horrors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a runtime of 45 minutes\u2014and no intermission\u2014audiences will find no moment of respite from this house of horrors. Even the hallways connecting the House\u2019s rooms are haunted by screams, shadows and, of course, plenty of blood. Hearts are torn from teddy bears\u2019 chests,\u00a0papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 birds attempt to flap away from imminent death and the spine-chilling sounds of bones shredding and blood rushing will haunt audiences long after they escape the House\u2019s confines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\nPhotograph: Courtesy of Rough House Puppet Arts <\/p>\n

For those who dare to enter the House, arrive early for your\u00a0visit: There are plenty of frights awaiting you in the\u00a0production\u2019s lobby, which has been transformed into a macabre art\u00a0installation. Read \u201cblood oaths\u201d scrawled on blood drop-shaped posters and read up on the making of the show thanks to an \u201canatomical\u201d poster explaining the construction of the House. Audience members are encouraged to share their own ideas for five-minute horror stories via slips of paper attached to drooping, vein-like streamers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

House of the Exquisite Corpse V: Blood & Puppets is open Thursdays through Saturdays until November 1 at Steppenwolf Theatre\u2019s Merle Reskin Space. Tickets can be purchased here<\/a> for $21 to $46. Recommended for audiences aged 13 and over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world is full of things that go bump in the night\u2014closet doors that inch open seemingly on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":325977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[10336,960,5386,1818,18632,1072],"class_list":{"0":"post-325976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-categories-things-to-do","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-news-events-festivals","13":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115422458685764638","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}