Courtesy of Cutting Edge Haunted House
The Cutting Edge Haunted House drumline
It's a big year for Cutting Edge Haunted House, not just for its 30th anniversary — but also for coming up top in USA Today's 10Best Awards as the No. 1 Haunted Attraction in the U.S.
The honor took Cutting Edge by surprise, even leaving owner Todd James, well, shaken up.
"It was just an honor to be invited to the dance, but to actually win it was amazing," James says. "Definitely a surprise."
Both the landmark anniversary and national recognition are welcome highs for Cutting Edge which, like many other businesses around the country, faced an onslaught of challenges due to COVID-19. Some COVID-era practices are sticking around, like limiting capacity and letting patrons wait outside for a text to let them know when it's time to enter the building. That way, customers don't have to endure long lines as in years past and also get to enjoy the macabre drumline that performs in the parking lot.
"2020 was so rough," James says. "If I could just tell people 'happy Halloween' and 'thanks for being fans for 30 years' — we're just blessed to be operating in such a great town."
Cutting Edge originally opened in Austin in 1991 before moving to Fort Worth a year later and staying here ever since. Today, it's housed in a 100-year-old, former meat-packing plant on East Lancaster Avenue, following a narrative that the facility now processes human bodies.
"We really worked hard to be very scary without being gory," James says. "When we started, we wanted to be different. We don't do gore. We just do fright in a lot of different ways."
Cutting Edge is no stranger to awards. It once held Guinness World Records for being the World's Largest Haunted Attraction and World's Largest Walk Through Haunted House. Following its USA Today 10Best honor, Cutting Edge also landed at No. 5 among the Nation's Scariest Haunted Attractions per haunted house coalition America Haunts.
"It's like producing a Broadway show that you let the audience walk through," James says. "We try to be different. We try to embody the name 'Cutting Edge.' That's really important to us."
Tickets and more information are available at cuttingedgehauntedhouse.com.
