Northeast Louisiana residents will no longer have to travel to Shreveport or Alexandria to get scared this Halloween, because Monroe now has a haunted house of its own.

Chris Alyea, owner of the new Evil Visions Haunted House, said he wanted Monroe to have something fun and exciting to celebrate Halloween.

“Everyone that I have talked with is very excited to get a haunted house back in this area,” he said.

Alyea has been a “home haunter” for eight years and decided last year that he wanted to go commercial with his passion.

Rachel Corbit, a junior elementary education major from Delhi, La., hadn’t heard of the new haunt but was excited about the news.

“I want to go,” she said. “I’m pretty excited to have a place like that around Monroe again.”

Evil Visions will not only have the haunted house visitors associate with Halloween, but also a simulated attraction called “The Last Ride Coffin.”

This attraction is billed as taking its passengers “from the funeral to the grave.”

ULM students are looking forward to visiting the new haunt and are glad there is another option after Calhoun’s Edge of Madness ended its run in 2007.

“A new haunted house is great. There isn’t much to do in Monroe,” said Tim Russell, a senior mass communication major from West Monroe.

Russell thinks that even though Edge of Madness had a huge following, Evil Visions will be successful as well.

Evil Visions is located at 501 Desiard Street in downtown Monroe.

This new haunted house has its opening night on Friday and will be open every weekend through Halloween night.

Tickets can be purchased online from their website or at the ticket booth beginning at 6 p.m. every night the haunt is open. Gates open at 7 p.m.

Visit their website at evilvisionsmonroe.com for more details.