Ryan Kozar started Deadmonton as a part-time passion project 13 years ago.
Holed up in a tiny warehouse near MacEwan University, he and a small, dedicated group launched the city’s first professional haunted house.
More than a decade later, it has transformed into a massive production — and become a staple of Edmonton’s scary season.
“It’s kind of like my big sandbox that I get to play in,” Kozar says. “I get to create these weird things and unique experiences for people. When people come through, you get to see the excitement and that they appreciate what you’ve done. A lot of people will acknowledge the hard work that goes into the show.”
Running this year until Nov. 7 in the old Edmonton Sun building in Eastgate Business Park, it features three spaces: Cursed, the Asylum and the Rejects. The devil is in the details: elaborate decor, dedicated actors (around 175 of them, up from nine that first year), and carefully selected or handcrafted costumes.
For more than a decade, Betty Feniak, who also worked as a production designer at Edify, was the mastermind behind those designs. She passed away in August after a brief battle with cancer.
“She was loved by everyone and was a huge part of Deadmonton’s success,” Kozar says. “Leading the costume department for more than 10 years, she was a caring, soft-spoken sweetheart who was widely known as everyone’s ‘Haunt Mom.’”
This article appears in the October 2026 issue of Edify
