A new haunted house billed as “sickeningly realistic” is terrifying visitors – not with jump scares or gore, but with a faithful, fully-immersive simulation of the U.S. healthcare system.
The attraction, “Nightmare Care,” begins innocently enough: guests fill out 14 pages of medical history before waiting 45 minutes to enter. From there, visitors navigate a labyrinth of paperwork, automated phone menus, and surprise medical bills lurking behind every corner. “This is way scarier than any clown or zombie,” reported one guest with a rare chronic illness. “A guy in a hockey mask can’t charge me $8,000 for walking past him.”
Each room has a distinct theme. In “The Diagnostic Loop,” ten doctors chant, “It’s probably just stress.” Meanwhile, the “Prior Authorization Pit” forces visitors to beg a masked insurance rep to approve a prescribed medication, only to be dismissed: “Nice try, fatty!” It’s rumored that on the second floor, you are informed you need an urgent procedure, but have to wait three months to see a specialist. “It’s less of a haunted house and more of a slow psychological breakdown,” said another trembling guest. “I had a panic attack in the ‘Pharmacy Surprise’ room.”
There’s no monster chase – just the quiet dread of needing life-saving treatment and knowing your network changed last Thursday. Creative Director Hannah Wilkes remarked: “We wanted to create something truly horrifying! Like its inspiration, “Nightmare Care” is designed to profit off your pain.”