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Imagination Emporium students bring haunted house to life

Piper Voge (Bindy Agency), and UIndy students Chelsea Marshall and Jillian Conrad
Piper Voge (Bindy Agency), and UIndy students Chelsea Marshall and Jillian Conrad

Students in the Imagination Emporium design agency are working hard to give people a fright this Halloween. Hotel Holmes is a new haunted house in Irvington —just east of downtown Indianapolis — organized by the Bindy Agency, and the Imagination Emporium is helping to bring it to life.

The Imagination Emporium is a full-service, student-run experience design agency who works with real-world, community clients. Each semester, the Imagination Emporium works with a community partner—either for-profit or nonprofit—to research, design and implement multisensory environments and experiences.

This semester, the agency is helping to create Hotel Holmes, a walk-thru style haunted house that is based on the life of H. H. Holmes. Holmes is thought to have murdered as many as 200 people between 1886 and 1894. Holmes evaded authorities and fled to Irvington, where he stayed for a brief while. Visitors to Hotel Holmes will feel like they are stepping into the lobby of a 1890s hotel.

“This has been a wonderful opportunity for the students, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed working on the project,” says Experience Design Director Dr. Samantha Meigs.

Hotel HolmesThe haunted house is presented as part of the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival, the largest Halloween fest in the U.S.

More information about the Hotel Holmes and the students’ experience is available in an article published by the Indianapolis Star and this article published by Southside Times.

If you go:

When: 3 to 11 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, 3 p.m. to midnight Friday, Oct. 28, noon to midnight Saturday, 3 p.m. to midnight Oct. 30-31.

Where: 5529 Bonna Ave, #10. 

Tickets:$10 presale, $15 at the door, $20 for VIP timed tickets. Appropriate for ages 15 and older.

Info:  hotelholmesindy.com