The Current - This Haunted Hike is so scary people are peeing their pants

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

If you love a good scare, perhaps a haunted house is in your Halloween plans —  like the ‘Haunted Hike’ in Vegreville, Alberta. It’s a nightmare-fueled experience staged in a building that was originally a creamery. But, this isn't your usual kids haunted house — this one bills itself as Alberta's scariest. So scary that some visitors are peeing their pants! We talk to the owners and creators, Jagger and Dawson Glowatsky about what it takes to create the scariest haunted house of the province.

The spirit of innovation is deeply ingrained in Canada, and Google is helping Canadians innovate in ways both big and small, from mapping accessible spaces so the disabled community can explore with confidence, to unlocking billions in domestic tourism revenue. Thousands of Canadian companies are innovating with Google AI. Innovation is Canada's story. Let's tell it together. Find out more at g.co slash Canadian Innovation. This is a CBC podcast.

Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. If you love a good scare, perhaps a haunted house is in your Halloween plans, this is a taste of the soundtrack at the Haunted hike in Vagerville, Alberta, about an hour east of Edmonton. It is a nightmare-fueled experience staged in a building that was originally a creamery. This isn't your usual kids' haunted house. This one bills itself as Alberta's scariest. Designing the tour takes a certain devilish skill set, and that's where Jagger and Dawson Glawatsky come in. They are the owners and creators of the haunted hike.

Jagger Dawson, happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Okay, Dawson, what do people experience when they visit the haunted hike? What's the pitch? You know what? I didn't, like, we were aiming for scary. I didn't know how we were going to do, but like at the end of it, I usually run, like, I work at the end when everyone's coming out, and people are just panting, they're catching their breath.

Like, they're really, really scared. So I think we really hit it, hit a home run with this. haunted house we did here in Vagerville this year. Walk me through, like, one example of something that they see. Honestly, I'm not going to lie. There's a lot of pop-outs. There's a lot of jump scares, but I've heard many people say they've peed their pants, so I don't know how to put it in a scary wise,

but we've definitely put some people pee in their pants over here, which I think is pretty good. Jagger, is that hyperbole? Or, like, you ever had to offer people a fresh set pants? No, we've literally had to clea pee up off the floor before. Ew. But, well, it's what you got to do for your Alberta, the scariest hon. How's there?

If you're making them pee, you've hit it. You've did the job. Never in my life, Jagger, have I heard anyone describe that as a bar for success. Oh, this is our bar. This is our bar. Okay, so you're jumping out at folks. I understand there are a lot of rooms. Like, give me an example of one room that really gets people going.

Well, we got this one room that's actually like a RV trailer. And I don't know. This one really gets people going the whole way through because we call it a 4D experience. And this trailer absolutely f***. Oh, sorry, probably can't, sir. This trailer absolutely stinks. We put this stink spray in there.

And when the people come in, they are absolutely just gagging. Like, they're already scared. Also the pee, I imagine. Well, they're trailing that long rhythm. So, I mean, it's a double-edged sword. Okay, I have to tell you guys, you're making me laugh. You're not freaking me out. But I'm a wimp.

I scare easily. Why is it that you think people want to do something that is so frightening that they lose control of their hearing? I think it gives you a feeling. Like, just the feeling of being scared is kind of like an adrenaline rush. And when you're going through a place that's like unexpected, you never know. know what's going to happen next. You're just on edge. It's like a feeling. Maybe that's why some people steal. They steal because they get this rush. I mean, I don't think you should be stealing,

but at least in a haunted house, you're getting some sort of feeling out of it, I think. Do you, Dustin, do you get the same sort of rush when you see how people react? I honestly, I think us just scaring in the haunted house is just a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We're having a blast scare in everybody. I mean, we got, I'm going to say like, 19 rooms. They're all very detailed that we put so much work into this. And I feel like when people go past the fifth room, they're not even looking at our detail.

They're just trying to find the exit. They're so scared. They're having fun at the start. And by the end, they're just running almost like they built the whole thing and nowhere to go. And they just want out of there, they're so scared a lot of them. So I think everyone's really enjoying it. I, we've had really great reviews.

Everyone at the end, they've driven, we're in a small town of Agarville, right? So people are driving over an hour to get here a lot of the times, and everyone said it's worth the trip. They've tried other ones, and this was scary. So we're doing a good job, I think, for our customer reviews here. Drive an hour to get so scared, you pee your pants. Understand. What a sales bitch. What a sales bitch?

Dawson, a lot of work goes into this, too. You were talking about all the rooms and everything. How long do you guys spend getting this thing ready? You know what? It was, we had such a busy summer this year. Us and our family, so our mom, dad, my brother, Jagger, we all all just kind of tackled these rooms. I'm going to say we got her done in like three months, but it was a hard three months.

Like it was putting everything, working weekends, getting it all done. And honestly, I think all our hard work was worth it at the end, just seeing people's reactions and the fear on their face when they're coming through here. Jagger, that's an incredible amount of work. Why do you do all this? Well, you know, in one aspect, it's a business. And the other aspect, it's because we just love doing it. We've done it.

This is our third run doing the haunted hike. So, I mean, it's just always been a part of our family. Like, Mom and Dad created the first haunted hike in, like, 2008 when we were young there. So now, like, it just became. and like, I guess, a part of just our family and who we are. So we just absolutely love doing it. It's our family Halloween tradition. We build

a haunted house and scare people, I guess. Yeah. Is there a, like, a philosophical grounding to all this? Is there like a key to a good haunted house? How do you freak people out that much? So, like, we took a tour down through the States, like

checking out a lot of haunted houses. And I think what makes us different is like a lot of haunted houses we go to it's kind of more on the theatrical level of like you got every room there's an actor and they're kind of like acting to you which I've always found not very scary whereas ours are all just absolute jump scares so like you don't see it coming it's coming out and door and they're pop-up scares so I think that's just kind of what sets us apart the other thing we've got is we've got actual like sounds and music in every room which not a lot of

haunted houses do so you just feel every bit of the experience you guys love this obviously Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. In closing, you're doing all this hard work to scare the good people of Alberta. I would like to ask both of you, and on Jagger, I'll start with you. What's the last thing that scared the heck out of you? Oh, what's the last, probably the last time I looked in the mirror. When I got my heat and power bill this month, I almost fainted. I was so scared. Third-degree scares.

Listen, guys, it is lovely to meet you. Good luck with the remaining days of the haunted hike. I hope you have to clean up whatever amount of urine you find appropriate, whether that's a lot or a little. I don't know. I appreciate you having us on. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Jagger and Dawson, Glowatsky, are the owners and create.

of the Haunted hike in Vakerville, Alberta. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.