Our Story.

Dalton Polomis and Ben Hurst met through their mutual love of creating haunted house props and designing new ways to scare people and were introduced to each other at the early age of 12 and 13. While Dalton focused on his front yard attraction '1518 Violent Lane', and Ben focused on his garage haunted attraction 'Hurst Haunted Garage', Dalton could no longer continue his front yard display due to road construction. Although this seemed like it would be the end of his haunting, Dalton was presented with the idea of possibly joining forces with Ben to produce a haunted house together. This is when "The Realm of Darkness Haunted House" was born, all within a family garage. Even with admission being free, they spent their own time and money perfecting the haunted house year after year, while also raising money for local families in need. 

What started as a small, homegrown haunt quickly grew into a full-blown nightmare. Dalton and Ben poured their hearts (and plenty of screams) into every detail — building sets by hand, designing original scares, and engineering new ways to make customers the center of the attraction. Year after year, their vision expanded, fueled by their dedication and the incredible support of the community. After 5 years of creating a nightmare in the family garage, the scary duo made the move into a small warehouse space nearby. This had not only increased the general size of the haunted house, but it also allowed them to work on the haunted house more time out of the year.

Moving into the new larger warehouse space started to get people talking. What was once attendance numbers of around 1000 people a season, slowly grew into multiple thousand year after year. This growth only pushed Dalton and Ben to become more obsessive with the project, resulting in them spending countless hours of time and energy into perfecting their craft. The new space had been a huge success, but after 4 quick seasons left them bottlenecked with the lack of space that was once so plentiful. With the project demanding more time, money, and effort, Dalton and Ben knew it was time to expand in multiple ways. 

In 2022, Dalton and Ben both left their engineering jobs behind to pursue their life-long passion project and move into a new larger facility. Although this was a risk and huge undertaking, with the help of family and friends they were somehow able to rebuild an entire new attraction and renovate their new facility in just 9 short months. Now in the new facility, Dalton and Ben have been focusing on not only creating the best attraction in the state, but also fostering an environment that guests and scare actors love. 

Dalton and Ben don't just want to scare people; they want to create an immersive experience where every shadow holds a secret, where every sound makes your heart race, and where you are the center of the story. Today, The Realm of Darkness stands as one of the most intense and interactive haunted houses in Wisconsin, drawing brave souls from all over the midwest. While the attraction continues to grow, the heart of it remains the same — two friends, a shared vision, and the love of a good scare.

Dalton and Ben couldn’t be more grateful for the support of their incredible visitors and community. Every scream, every laugh, and every wide-eyed reaction fuels their drive to make each year bigger, better, and darker than the last.

So when you step into The Realm of Darkness, know that you’re not just entering a haunted house — you’re stepping into a dream built by two people who live for the thrill of the scare.

Thank you all,

-Dalton & Ben