The NYC Department of Buildings shut down a haunted house in Hollis earlier in October, citing unsafe conditions. But on Friday, it got the green light to reopen, which is not sitting well with some visitors who claim they were seriously injured inside. NBC New York’s Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
A haunted house in Queens proved to be too horrific for some who have filed lawsuits claiming they were injured inside the frightful attraction.
A Haunting in Hollis was shut down Oct. 5th after the FDNY called it a “death trap,” citing various safety hazards inside the two-family house that had been illegally converted into a commercial haunted house.
On Friday, the New York City Department of Buildings gave it the green light to reopen saying the operators had fixed many of the issues, including installing fire-rated sheetrock on multiple walls, removing flammable materials, added exit signs and egress paths, and fixed open electrical wiring.
But Solainne Mancero-Tannis of Jamaica, Queens, could not stay silent after learning the haunted house was allowed to reopen and operate.
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“I’m all for people having fun on Halloween as long as it’s safe,” said Mancero-Tannis.
It was on Friday the 13th during Oct. 2023 that Mancero-Tannis and her family visited the haunted house. She recalled the various rooms with actors sneaking up on them to scare them. She described narrow hallways, stairways and having to walk up and down the two levels to all see all the rooms.
But she says the real scare would be a slide called “Satan’s Slope.”
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“I went down the slide very quickly crash landed and didn’t even see anything, it was pitch dark. I crashed into the bottom and hurt my ankles,” said Mancero-Tannis. “All I remember is the impact.”
She said she slammed feet first into a concrete wall at the end of the slide, shattering both ankles. She needed surgeries and screws and metal to put her ankles back together. A year later, she is not back to normal, having to walk very slowly everywhere she goes and she is still undergoing physical therapy.
She is now suing the operators of the haunted house.
“Her goal was number one to try to shut it down and make the public aware,” said her attorney Mike Goldberg. “And then to hopefully to try to get us some compensation for her injuries.”
There are at least four other lawsuits against the haunted house, some victims claiming they too were injured on the slide.
Lawrence Carra, an attorney for the haunted house operator, said the slide has since been removed. He told NBC New York that “the parties were allegedly injured as a result of their conduct and not ours,” that “we try to provide a safe and proper environment for the entertainment of our guests.”
He also said guests likely ignored warning signs posted by the slide, but Mancero-Tannis said there were no warning signs and no workers around who could answer questions about the slide before she took the plunge.
“To go to a place thinking you’re going to have a good time and then you come out as injured. It’s not okay. It was very hurtful, very humiliating and devastating for me.”
