"Jason" torments Lizzy while Joseph Song takes it in stride. Gargoyle photo by Andrew Warner (click to enlarge)

WHEN YOU FIRST think of Halloween, thoughts of crazy costumes, carved pumpkins, and creepy ghouls come to mind.

When we were little we all dressed up as something actually scary (e.g. a ghost), and we were easily frightened by the other people traveling the neighborhood in their ghoulish costumes.

Some of us ate candy apples, and some of us were forced to feel bowls of spaghetti, being told that it was someone's internal organs.

But an adventure that has been continually overlooked by many is visiting a haunted house.

On Saturday, I decided to go to my first real haunted house.

When I was a child I tried to make my way through the one offered annually at Dallas & Co., but after having made my way through the first 10 steps I screamed, cried, and turned around, and thus I don't really count that as a true haunted house experience.

So this past weekend I went to the Fear Factory in Rantoul, which, as its Web site proclaims, is the No. 5-ranked haunted house in the state of Illinois.

Parking was free, but it cost $10 per person to enter the building, located at 320 Letchworth (for directions, click here).

Now, I am one of the most easily scared people. I don't mind being frightened, but I have shivered in terror at every horror film I can remember watching. Nonetheless I was willing to brave the Factory. As I arrived in Rantoul I thought the city itself looked pretty scary at night, so I figured I was doomed for the night anyway.

The adventure begins

Lizzy tries to warm up before heading inside. Gargoyle photo by Andrew Warner (click to enlarge)

Upon arriving, I saw that the Fear Factory is an actual factory building decorated with huge signs and a scary voice over the intercom that continually reminds you not to smoke.

There are also large metal trash cans set up throughout the entrance with fire in them, and two masked figures looming around scaring people.

One of them was Jason (from "Freddy vs. Jason"), who towered over me and was completely decked out in big, black overalls and a sharp sword. The other was Jigsaw (from "Saw").

Jason was mean to me. He stalked me, and I screamed a lot … and this was before we even went into the actual haunted house.

At one point I decided to run away from him because he had hit his sword hard against the fiery trash can and started to walk toward me. I ran into the parking lot figuring that he was supposed to stay at his post for his job. No. Instead he followed me into the lot and prowled for me as I ducked behind cars.

The line to enter was long. We had decided not to buy the speedpass for $15 (which would have gotten us to the front of the line), so we were forced to wait at the end.

While we waited, Jason continued to stalk me, and on one occasion he whipped out his sword and put it against my neck! As all this was happening, the movie "Halloween" was playing on small-screen televisions.

At the Fear Factory, everyone goes in groups of approximately six people, and the walk-through takes about 18 minutes.

All cell phones and lights are prohibited, and they ask everyone to turn their phones off when entering. Each group is given a tour guide who leads the way with a rope that every group member is expected to hold on to.

I was in a group with four other girls. I had let go of the rope when we first walked in and instead held onto the hood of the person in front of me.

The tour guide shuffled us through multiple different rooms, each with a theme. One room had an open casket with a nun praying by it, another was a haunted nursery, and yet another was a library. There were countless rooms, and the only light provided was a black light (if any).

I had people pop out at me from everywhere, and there was undeniable screaming every few seconds. One person hid on the ceiling and dropped down, and another was on stilts.

You learned to second-guess every object, because even though it might look like a doll, it could actually be somebody waiting to jump out at you. No matter what, though, I was always taken by surprise.

Lost in dark space

Joseph and Lizzy meet up with Jason again. Gargoyle photo by Andrew Warner (click to enlarge)

You hardly ever could find the exit or entrance yourself, which only increased the adrenaline rush.

Your tour guide knew which walls to push and which bookcases to shift to take you into the next room. But, just to clarify, your tour guide was not one of those friendly guides you find when you go on vacation.

No, instead it was always a person dressed in a costume, who didn't speak and who lured you into dark scary corners and wouldn't show you the way out until you were sufficiently terrified.

Nonetheless, there was something comforting about knowing that there was a person there who could help you if something went wrong, or could show you the way out. And then … they leave you.

In my group I was the second person in line holding onto the rope, and when the tour guide indicated that she was going to turn around and we needed to proceed without her, the girl in front of me and I froze. We refused to go any further without the tour guide, but it was no use.

A goblin of some sort would then approach you if you refused to go on without your guide and would yell at you and scare you until you agreed to move.

Every hallway and staircase in the Fear Factory was narrow, offering just enough room for one person and one person only — so we could not hold hands. And if you were anywhere but last in your group, it was impossible to turn around and go back without the compliance of everyone else.

We proceeded to a giant slide, which everyone must go down individually. You can't see to the bottom because of the fog and you know there is something waiting down there.

The girl in my group who was going to go first was just about to slide down when a creature skittered up from the bottom and started clawing at her hair.

Technically you aren't supposed to touch anything in the Fear Factory, and nothing in the Factory will touch you … but that rule hardly applied. If you weren't being touched or poked, there was often someone either about to jump out at you or close enough for you to feel their breath on your face.

Eventually we all slid down and made our way through the remaining rooms.

At the very end there was a man, and he asked who was the most scared in our group. Everyone else proclaimed that I was, so the man insisted that I go outside first.

If you do not want to go first, do not tell that man you're very scared — trust me, they make you go first.

I told him I would rather sit there inside than proceed first in the group. But he told me that if I didn't go first, then he would send the rest of my group on without me and I would be stuck alone.

So I went first.

You might not want to know the ending. It involves a chainsaw. And running all the way to your car.

I was completely horrified and had no voice by the time I got back to Champaign. So, of course, I would highly recommend every Uni High student to take full advantage of this haunted adventure. You're only young once!