On a Saturday evening in mid-October, the campground that Waukee knows as a place of pancake breakfasts and catch-and-release fishing goes quiet in a particular way. The pool is covered, the jump pad sits still, and somewhere back in the timber off Ashworth Road, a door opens. That is the premise behind the Haunted Hall of Tortured, Twisted Terrors, the seasonal walk-through haunt staged each October at Timberline West RV Campground, 31635 Ashworth Road.
The 2026 run brings the hall back on Friday and Saturday nights through October, and the Saturday, October 17 date runs from 6 to 7 p.m. for its gentler opening hour. That first hour is the detail that sets this haunt apart from the region's bigger, louder attractions. Rather than throwing everything at every visitor from the moment the doors open, Timberline dials the fright back for young attendees and, in the campground's own phrasing, "scaredy cats." The hall is recommended for ages 10 and up, and children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Admission is $10 per person, per night, with tickets sold online or in person at the camp store and camp office. Parking is free on-site near the Haunted Hall entrance, and the hall runs rain or shine; in the event of severe weather, Timberline posts updates to its Facebook page.
What makes the setting work is that it is not a warehouse or a converted strip mall. The haunt is tucked into the timber at a working campground, which means visitors walk past RV sites, cabins, and the camp store to get to it. The campground's own description leans into that contrast: the place you know goes quiet, and the hall opens, with dark corridors, cold air, and things that move when you look away. It is a low-budget, high-atmosphere approach, and it fits a campground that has spent recent seasons investing in novelty rather than scale.
Timberline operates two Iowa locations, Timberline West in Waukee and Timberline East in Newton, both marketed as family-friendly camping with RV sites, cabins, fishing, campfires, and weekend activities. The Waukee property offers full-hookup RV sites, rustic cabins, themed glamping campers, a swimming pool, a jump pad, catch-and-release fishing, and free pancake breakfasts, and it sits just minutes from Des Moines. The haunted hall first surfaced in local haunt listings in early October 2025 as a new attraction in Waukee.
That first season came with different terms. When the Des Moines Haunted Houses blog, an Iowa haunt directory that has been cataloging the state's attractions since 2010, first posted about the hall on October 6, 2025, it listed admission at $5 and recommended the experience for ages 14 and up, with anyone under 14 required to bring an adult. The 2026 listing has moved in a more accessible direction: the price has doubled to $10, but the recommended age has dropped to 10 and up, and the first hour of each night is now explicitly set aside as a milder experience. For families who found the 14-and-up guidance a dealbreaker, the change matters. It also reflects a broader pattern in the haunt world, where operators increasingly build in a "lights on" or low-scare window so that younger children and easily startled adults can participate without the full assault of a standard haunted house.
The economics are part of the appeal too. At $10 a head with free parking, the Haunted Hall is priced well below the region's established haunts. For comparison, Linn's Haunted House in Des Moines, one of the longest-running attractions in the area, charges $25 and runs 14 nights in 2026. The Des Moines Haunted Houses directory has also pointed out that advertised ticket prices at bigger attractions can balloon once online fees, taxes, and parking are added, noting that a $29.99 ticket to one area event can end up costing more than $59 with a $21 parking charge. Timberline's flat $10, free parking, and on-site ticket sales sidestep that entirely, which is a meaningful difference for a family of four deciding between a campground haunt and a theme-park-scale production.
There is also something to be said for the venue's scale. A campground haunt is inherently a small operation, likely run with the resources a seasonal business can spare, and that shapes the experience: shorter, more intimate, and more dependent on atmosphere than on elaborate animatronics. The trade-off is that it is genuinely walkable from a campsite, which makes it an unusual option for campers staying the weekend. A family can spend the afternoon fishing and swimming, eat at the campground, and then walk over to the hall after dark without loading everyone into a car.
For anyone planning around the October 17 date, the practical details are straightforward. The hall opens at 6 p.m. and the first hour is the gentler one, so families with younger children should aim to arrive early rather than late. Children under 12 need an adult with them, and the recommended minimum age is 10. Tickets can be bought in advance online or on-site at the camp store and camp office. The hall operates regardless of rain, so weather alone will not cancel a visit, though severe weather can prompt updates on the campground's Facebook page. Free parking is available near the Haunted Hall entrance.
It is a modest attraction by the standards of Iowa's haunt scene, which is precisely the point. Timberline West is a campground first, and the Haunted Hall is a seasonal layer on top of it, built into the trees rather than into a building. For Waukee families looking for a cheap, close-to-home Halloween outing that will not terrify a ten-year-old, that combination of low price, free parking, and a deliberately gentle opening hour is the whole pitch.