13th Gate Flashlight Fright Nights

The 13th Gate in downtown Baton Rouge calls itself Louisiana's ultimate haunted house, a 40,000-square-foot attraction at 832 Saint Philip Street in the old Steinberg's Sporting Goods building, almost under the I-10 Mississippi River Bridge and next to Pastime Restaurant. Guests move through 13 realms built for extreme ultra-realism: a life-like pirate ship, subterranean passages filled with live snakes, and an outdoor zombie-infested graveyard. Sets, effects, actors, and makeup are pitched at a Hollywood scale, and the house changes from year to year.

Our take: Use the pay lot in front if you want the limited security, and do not park in the Past Times lot.