Chilling terror mixes with warm nostalgia as the Hiesan Haunted House rises from its figurative grave.

For decades, every summer ghosts, ghouls, and other terrifying creatures would appear in Kyoto’s Sakyo Ward. Once fall came and the weather cooled off the monsters would disappear, but only until the next summer rolled around.

This pattern continued until 2000. That summer, for the first time since they’d first shown up, the ghosts did not reappear and rampage. However, this wasn’t because of the efforts of onmyoji exorcists or proton pack-lugging Ghostbusters. Instead, the lack of supernatural activity came about because in early 2000, the Hiesancho Amusement Park, which had been in business since 1959, closed down, which also meant the end of its seasonal summer haunted house.

But as anyone who’s ever seen a horror movie knows, though it may seem like dark forces have been dispelled, oftentimes they’re really just lying in wait, silently and sinisterly gathering power until, right when you think they’re gone for good, they suddenly resurface. That’s just what’s happened with the Hiesancho Amusement Park haunted house, which has now returned even though its original home is gone.

Like many department stores, the Kyoto branch of Daimaru includes event areas, used to host things like limited-time art exhibitions, clearance sales, and regional food fairs. Since the end of July, though, the Kyoto Daimaru’s sixth-floor event hall has become haunted, as it’s the venue for the Reiwa Return of the Hiesan Haunted House (Reiwa being the name of the current Japanese imperial calendar era, which began in 2019, long after the amusement park closed). This isn’t a case of simply digging up the name of a previously popular attraction for some easy publicity, either, as the Reiwa Hiesan Haunted House was designed with the help of people who had first-hand experience with the original, and includes recreations of some of the pre-Reiwa iterations’ scares visitors must brave in its graveyards and ruins.

The department store haunted house is proving to be a big hit, with more than 10,000 people having made it out alive as of last Thursday. Daimaru says it’s especially popular with couples on dates and families with kids, with some groups even consisting of stout-hearted grandparents and grandkids, making for an experience both spooky and nostalgic.

▼ The promotional signage has a retro aesthetic too, harkening back to the haunted house’s original gory glory days.

Prices start at 500 yen (US$3.40) for elementary school-age kids, with tickets for middle schooler 1,200 yen and adults 1,500 yen, with a slight discount for paired two-adult admission at 2,800 yen. Children younger than elementary school age are admitted free of charge, but must be accompanied by a paying parent or guardian 18 years of age or older, either for safety reasons, economic purposes, or perhaps moral considerations regarding the potential psychological damage of sending a bunch of preschoolers into a haunted house to fend for themselves.

The Reiwa Return of the Hiesan Haunted House is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with last entry at 6 o’clock, through August 31 (though last entry will be at 3 p.m. on the final day). The organizers say mornings and evenings are comparatively less crowded, though whether an increased feeling of isolation as you’re being menaced by the ghosts inside is a plus or not is up to you.

Related: Daimaru Kyoto
Source, images: PR Times
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