How two US friends turned a small haunted house into a multimillion-dollar Halloween business

The company operates haunted houses in several American cities (Pictures: 13th floor) Two friends who opened a haunted house in a Denver shopping complex in 2002 with their own money have turned it into a multimillion-dollar entertainment business over the past 24 years. Chris Stafford and Warren Conard started the attraction in Colorado, charging visitors around $15 per ticket. By 2026, their company, Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, had expanded to 18 seasonal Halloween attractions across the United States, paying around 4,500 workers during the 2025 Halloween season.The business has come a long way from its early days, when the two friends had limited money and had to find inexpensive ways to create frightening experiences. Today, the company operates haunted houses in several American cities, alongside escape rooms, axe-throwing venues and other entertainment attractions. During the 2025 Halloween season alone, it paid around 4,500 workers.Stafford, the company's CEO and founding partner, recently spoke to People magazine about how the business began. His interest in haunted houses developed long before he entered the business world. As a teenager growing up in upstate New...