Nevada State Prison Preservation Society exists to protect the Nevada State Prison, a nationally recognized historic site, and to share its story with the public. One of the clearest examples of that mission at work is the Society’s partnership with Dark Corner Creative, the team behind Dark Prison haunted house, now heading into its second full season on-site.
Co-founder Holly Spahr helped build that partnership from the ground up, and her story shows what two organizations can accomplish when they commit to working together.
When Holly Spahr and Dustin Ring founded Dark Corner Creative in 2022, they combined two very different skill sets. Dustin had spent over a decade building a beloved home haunt out of his garage in Northwest Reno, mastering lighting, sound, and pneumatics along the way.
Holly brought years of large-scale fabrication and museum installation work, along with a childhood love of haunted houses that started as a young actor at Netherworld, the country’s number one haunt in Atlanta.
Together they built Dark Corner Creative, and their first show at the National Bowling Stadium in downtown Reno doubled in size every year for three seasons straight.
A Partnership Takes Shape
From Holly’s first tour of the site in 2023, she says she was convinced. “The stonework, the pipes, and the weight of the building’s history made it the perfect setting for a haunted attraction,” she said, “and the only one of its kind in a penitentiary on the West Coast.”
Getting there took time and cooperation on both sides. Every set had to respect the historic walls, so nothing could be permanent or invasive, and some oversized pieces simply would not fit through the original prison doorways. Dark Corner Creative and the NSPPS Board spent years working through these details together, including developing a site-specific, timed-entry ticketing model built to work within the site’s occupancy limitations rather than against them.
When that approach was tested with Halfway to Halloween in May 2025, the event drew more than 2,000 guests in three days, a record for the haunt industry.
A successful full season followed in Fall 2025, leading to the signing of a five-year contract with NSPPS – a signal of how far the partnership has come and how far both sides intend to take it.
Built on Trust
The partnership goes well beyond ticket sales. For NSPPS, keeping a partnership of this size and complexity moving smoothly requires someone who can connect the day-to-day work on both sides. Lucia Maloney, General Manager of NSPPS, serves as Dark Corner Creative’s primary day-to-day contact, helping coordinate the many details that connect the creative team with the Preservation Society and the constraints of building a world-class haunted house within a nationally recognized historic site. Her role is the practical bridge that helps turn a shared vision into a partnership that works on the ground.
Maloney also highlights a level of investment and respect that makes Dark Prison more than a seasonal event on the calendar. “Holly and her team are critical partners that are helping carry out the Society’s mission to preserve Nevada State Prison and share it with the public. We are grateful they have committed to relocate to Carson City and Nevada State Prison.” – Lucia Maloney, NSPPS General Manager
Dark Corner Creative has paid for electrical upgrades that will benefit future on-site events, funded a parking lot expansion, hired formerly incarcerated individuals to help remediate spaces, and organized volunteer days to keep the yard and communal areas clean.
The company also promotes NSPPS’s own programming directly to its guests, with brochures and signage pointing visitors toward ghost walks, paranormal investigations, and docent tours. One of Dark Corner Creative’s executives, Guin Clark, personally volunteers with the Preservation Society, and every actor and crew member is trained to treat the site with the same respect NSPPS asks of anyone who steps onto the grounds.
“Working with a nonprofit dedicated to preserving history and serving the community is exactly the kind of partner we want to be. It’s core to who we are as a company.” – Holly Spahr, Co-Owner, Dark Corner Creative
Where History Meets Storytelling
Holly says that her favorite part of the work is the design itself, especially turning waste into art. A broken clock or an old couch can become part of an immersive set, keeping material out of landfills while building something people travel across the country to see. One standout is the haunted house’s “License Plate Factory,” a scene inspired by the license plate factory that once operated on the prison grounds.
Dark Corner Creative works to let the site’s real history inform its fiction, while keeping the two clearly separate. This approach keeps the storytelling in step with NSPPS’s own commitment to accuracy. Together, the show and NSPPS’s tours and programming introduce new audiences to the prison’s history from two different angles.
Some of the most meaningful moments at the show have not been about the scares at all. Former staff and formerly incarcerated individuals have come through, and more than once the experience has brought real emotion. One of the company’s executives, Ryan Loetscher, once had a former inmate break down in tears describing how healing it was to see the space used in this new way.
A Standard of Excellence & a Boost for Carson City
Last year, Dark Prison was named to the Haunted Attraction Association’s Platinum-tier “Iconic Haunts” list, the only haunted attraction in Nevada to earn that honor. It reflects the show’s safety record as much as its sets, including regular fire inspections, strong insurance coverage, properly structured seasonal staff, multiple crowd management certifications, and an annual C.H.A.O.S. safety certification renewed each year at major industry conventions.
The event has also become a meaningful driver of tourism for the region. Last season, Dark Prison drew 15,460 total attendees, with 82 percent traveling from outside Carson City, including visitors from more than 45 states and the United Kingdom. NSPPS and Dark Corner Creative work closely with Visit Carson City to help bring tourism into the region, and the historic site benefits from gaining new visitors who might otherwise never learn about Nevada State Prison’s history or the Society’s preservation work. Their partnership is a win-win.
Looking Ahead, Together
Dark Corner Creative now employs more than 100 people each season, along with a small year-round crew running its new prop shop, VEXA, fresh off winning Best New Booth at its first national convention in St. Louis. For Holly, the proudest achievement is the community the partnership has built, a home for people, herself included, who have found their people through haunted houses. Both organizations are already looking toward future seasons and toward new ways to build on what they have started together.
Listen for the shout of “Buffalo!” on-site. That’s Dark Corner Creative’s rallying cry, a reminder that even in chaos, everyone is in it together.
Visit Dark Prison and Nevada State Prison
Dark Prison’s 2026 fall season runs 19 nights, beginning September 25 and 26, continuing through October, and closing October 29 through November 1. Tickets are on sale now at darkprison.com. Guests who would like to see the haunt without the scares can also book Behind the Screams, a lights-on, no-actor walkthrough that pairs well with NSPPS’s own historic and paranormal tours.
Socials:
Dark Prison
@darkprisonhaunt on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok
NSPPS
@nevadastateprison & @paranormalatNSP on Facebook
The Nevada State Prison Preservation Society extends its gratitude to Holly, Dustin, and the entire Dark Prison team for their creativity, kindness, boundless energy, and partnership.
The Nevada State Prison Preservation Society is a volunteer-run 501(c)3 non-profit committed to the preservation and restoration of the historic Nevada State Prison, a nationally-recognized historic place, for present and future generations.
Our volunteers are the heartbeat that make it all happen.
Interested in getting involved? Please visit us at https://nevadastateprison.org/volunteer
Photo Credits:
- Holly Spahr (2026) (featured photo)
- Holly Spahr leads a haunt maintenance work day (2026).
- The Dark Corner Creative Executive Team (2026). From left: Vera Alexander – Director of Bar & Merch, Ryan Loetscher – CSO & Director of Production, Dustin Ring – Co-Owner & Director of Marketing, Tiara Quintana – Talent Director, Holly Spahr – Co-Owner & Creative Director, Matty Hawkins – Makeup Director, Guinivere Clark – COO & Front of House Director
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