Haunted Houses shut down in Darlington County
The Doctor will see you now…St. David’s Asylum, Society Hill.
Photo by Samantha Lyles
By Jana E. Pye, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
On what would have been the their biggest weekend of the season, at several haunted houses in Darlington County have been shut down by the South Carolina State Fire Marshal.
According to Darlington County Fire Chief Kenny Stratton, the St. David’s Asylum attraction will be open tomorrow night, Saturday October 31st for their hay ride and the children’s Halloween Carnival. Only the Haunted House will be closed. He suggests that people contact the other attractions directly to find out what other attractions may be available for the public to attend over the weekend.
St. David’s Asylum also posted on their Facebook page that tickets purchased after noon on Monday, October 26 from Cumulus Broadcasting will be refunded by Cumulus. Tickets prior to noon on Monday will be refunded by St. David’s Asylum directly.
St. David’s Academy proceeds will go towards the county Santa’s Fund. Read more here: Scaring is caring at St. David’s Asylum
UPDATE: Friday, October 30th at 1:30 p.m.
The News and Press called and sent an email to Leisa Kudelka,the Communications Director for the The Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Division of Fire and Life Safety that handles all media requests for the South Carolina State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Below is the emailed reply from Leisa Kudelka’s office:
“This is Jim Knight sitting in for Lesia who is off today. Below is the response to your question from the State Fire Marshal’s Office. I would suggest that you contact the Darlington County Fire Department for details on violations as they “shut down” the haunted houses.
We went to a Darlington County “haunted house” based on a citizen complaint that was received in our office Wednesday concerning the safety of the property/attraction. Our inspection resulted in the identification of numerous fire and life safety code violations as well as some issues with statutory compliance. Our office communicated with the Darlington County fire officials and the building was subsequently determined to be unsafe and occupancy was prohibited. On Thursday we received another citizen complaint identifying four additional “haunted houses” in Darlington County with the same concerns. This information was communicated to Darlington County fire officials and OSFM conducted an inspection of one of the four based on it being identified with specific fire and life safety concerns. The results were similar to the first property and the outcome was the same. We have been advised that Darlington County fire officials have “shut down” another of the list. This results in three properties/attractions being closed due to unsafe condition.”
The News and Press will update this story further as details are shared.
