If you like people banging on your windows and corny decorations as you drive through a car wash, the Tunnel of Terror fits the bill. At a hefty $25, junior pre-dental hygiene major Kaleb Ballard, junior kinesiology major Logan Buum and I, a junior accounting major, braved the never-ending depths of the Tommy’s Car Wash Tunnels of Terror.

As we drove into the packed car wash, someone banged on my window—I freaked, thinking I hit a pedestrian. Looking through my passenger seat, I saw not a hurt and angry pedestrian, but Freddy Krueger. Surprisingly, that made me feel better (though I did lock my doors.)

During his high school years, Ballard was a scare actor. He was able to provide some interesting insight into the potential behind-the-scenes for scare acting—of which the Tunnel of Terror had plenty.

“I was a scare actor in my junior year of high school,” Ballard said. “It had its drawbacks of course. It was very tiring because I worked until 1:00 a.m. while still going to school at 7:50 a.m. A few of the customers were also rude, and some tried to sexually harass the actors, but that happens in any job that deals with the public.”

Reaching the front desk, Annabelle herself gazed into my soul until I handed her cash. She then kindly greeted me and handed me a few tickets for a free car wash before waving us through. Unfortunately, the free car washes are only for the month of November, but I appreciate being able to spread $25 between multiple washes instead of one. I am more likely to share these tickets with friends as an inadvertent way to call their car dirty, though.

The car wash blocked off the complimentary vacuums, something we were a little excited about due to the state of my car’s interior.

As I paid, Buum decided to make eye contact with the actor scraping her nails down the window. This, obviously, began a staring contest, lasting a whopping 40 seconds, until the actor broke away and laughed.

Buum joyfully claimed his victory before laughing about holding up the line.

“The job itself was really fun,” Ballard said about scare acting. “I enjoy acting, and being a scare actor adds a certain thrill to it. You get direct feedback on your performance when the visitors scream or laugh. It was always fun to try new things and see how people responded to it.”

I had never driven through a car wash myself, and being a passenger only once or twice before, so the new experience was scarier than the scenery. I survived, as Jason Vorhees directed me onto the conveyor belt.

The Tunnel of Terror itself was underwhelming, to say the least. In between a barrage of soap suds, I saw the occasional blood splatter and body stuck to the ceiling, but I went in with low expectations to begin with. Ballard and I both agreed that the experience was fun due to the funny interactions with the actors.

“I don’t think a haunted house is a haunted house without actors,” Ballard said. “That goes for a haunted car wash too, and in my case, a haunted corn maze. Scare actors add more to the experience than typical decor, because it adds an interactive element and makes it more immersive.”

While $25 is a little steep, keep in mind you may also receive a couple of tickets for free washes—bringing your total down to at least $12.50 a wash.

Do not go into this expecting a grand show, and you may be entertained as we were.