Beloved Tempe haunted house Terror Nights canceled for 2026

Darlene and Richard Stoudt originally planned to spend Halloween weekend spooking visitors at their three-bedroom Tempe home, which they transform into the popular DIY haunted house Terror Nights.

But an unexpected scare halted those plans.

The couple canceled this year’s edition of Terror Nights after Richard, 60, suffered a stroke in late September. For the first time in 26 years, the couple won’t be operating their home haunt, which brings in thousands of visitors during Halloween week each year.

“We’ve been doing this for so long and it’s one of our favorite things, so it was a hard decision to make,” Darlene Stoudt says. “His health is more important and doing it without him just wouldn’t be the same.”

Canceling Terror Nights this year robs local Halloween revelers of one of the Valley’s most beloved home haunts. In previous years, the DIY attraction has taken over much of the Stoudts’ nearly 7,000-square-foot property with a maze of themed rooms filled with frightening scenes, while a spooky graveyard haunts the front yard.

This year, such fantastical creations are absent. Instead, a sign outside informs visitors that Terror Nights has been called off. Darlene posted similar messages on the haunt’s social media pages but fears some people haven’t heard the news.

“We’re dreading it a little bit. We don’t know if people are going to come to the door or not,” she says. “We have a sign out saying it was canceled because of a ‘family emergency.’”

Darlene Stoudt says she’s also disappointed because this year’s Terror Nights was “going to be one of our best ever,” including bringing back a room inspired by blockbuster horror flick “The Conjuring.”

Richard Stoudt had finished building three-quarters of this year’s haunt when his stroke occurred. Darlene says their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren offered to complete the haunt, but the couple ultimately decided against running this year.

“After some discussion, we thought it wouldn’t feel right. Richard just adds all these little extra details that I don’t think any of us could have done without him,” Darlene says. “Because he loves Halloween, it’s his favorite time of the year and this has always been one of his favorite things.”

‘It’s always been his passion project’

Richard Stoudt’s love of the spooky season came from his obsession with“Halloween” and its iconic villain, Michael Myers. A huge fan of John Carpenter’s 1978 horror film, he wanted to dress up as the character to frighten trick-or-treaters at his parents’ Tempe home.

There was just one problem with his insidious plan: neighborhood kids would easily spot him while he hid behind trees on the property. So Richard came up with another way to serve up scares.

In 1990, Richard and his friend Tony found a solution. They used refrigerator and television boxes from long-running Tempe store Walt’s TV & Appliance to fashion a makeshift maze where he could hide before leaping out.

“They named it The Tunnel and made it more of an L shape. Then they were like, ‘Let’s put stuff in it like decorations,’” Darlene Stoudt says. “We were just friends then, but I thought it was great.”

Over the next few years, the homemade haunt got even bigger, eventually taking over the garage and front yard.

Richard’s fascination with Michael Myers also grew, and he dressed up as the masked killer to terrorize visitors each year.

“The whole haunted house could change. There’s always going to be Michael Myers,” Darlene says.

After the Stoudts moved to their Tempe home in 1998, they initially created a series of smaller Halloween displays. By 2000, Richard wanted to go big again with scaring people.

The couple’s first walk-through haunt at the house encompassed their front yard, carport and side yard with a series of rooms packed with eerie decorations and fearsome-looking characters. By 2008, it had expanded to the backyard and grown into more than a dozen themed rooms.

Richard also conjured up new ways to frighten the public. Darlene says they’ve built more than 50 different rooms over the years, including a morgue, butcher shop, creepy doll room and various scenes inspired by movies like “Jeepers Creepers” and “Annabelle.”

One room based on “The Ring” featured an old television with its screen removed so a character dressed as the ghostly Samara Morgan could emerge. Other rooms featured clowns, Jason Voorhees or various monsters.

Darlene says they bring back certain rooms every few years, while others were retired after a single Halloween.

“It’s always been his passion project. He just comes up with these rooms and some are better than others,” Darlene says. “We had a wedding room once. We had a sanitarium room twice. You name it, we’ve done it. The ‘head collector’ was a great room for a couple of years. Everyone loved that one.”

Not everyone’s been a fan of the Stoudts’ home haunt. Complaints from a few neighbors over the years and issues raised by Tempe officials caused the couple to scale back to just a Halloween yard display in 2009 and 2010.

For the most part, though, residents of their neighborhood have embraced Terror Nights and the sense of community it’s created. Some have even been inspired to decorate their own homes. Darlene says she’s watched children who once visited Terror Nights return years later as adults.

She also recalls baking hundreds of cookies to hand out at the haunt.

“Oh my God, I’d make 800 cookies every year,” she says. “That about killed me.”

A frightening situation

In late September, Richard was working on this year’s version of Terror Nights when he began feeling unwell. He was slurring a few words, but initially thought it was just exhaustion.

After coming inside, Darlene says he asked, “Do I sound weird?”

The difference was immediately noticeable, and she rushed him to the nearest hospital. Richard was released that day, only for his condition to worsen by the following morning.

“He couldn’t walk anymore and we were like, ‘What the hell is going on?’” Darlene says.

The couple returned to the hospital for more tests. Darlene says the stroke affected his left side, particularly his hand.

Richard now uses a walker, but his left hand has been slower to recover. Darlene says he’s about to begin physical therapy and doctors have told her his recovery could take months or longer.

Meanwhile, the couple began dealing with the unfinished haunt outside. Darlene says her family just dismantled what Richard had already built.

After years of scaring neighbors and other locals, Darlene says spending a quiet Halloween at home is a big change.

“It’s kind of sad right now that we’re not doing it, but for health reasons we just can’t (this year),” Darlene says. “He’s a little disappointed.”

Will Terror Nights in Tempe open in 2027?

Even before Richard’s stroke, Darlene says Terror Nights may have been on borrowed time. The couple had already discussed how much longer they could keep running their haunt.

Building the attraction has become more physically demanding as Richard has gotten older. The couple knew they couldn’t keep doing it forever, but didn’t think they’d be stopping this year.

Darlene says the couple hopes to bring Terror Nights back in 2027. Whether that happens, though, will depend on Richard’s health situation.

“We don’t know how his recovery is going to go and he’s the glue for the whole thing,” she says.

Even if Terror Nights never serves up scares again, Darlene says she’ll cherish memories of watching visitors’ reactions to Richard’s creations.

She’s seen grown men abandon their wives inside the haunt and terrified visitors drop to the floor and crawl out of rooms.

“We’ll get through this and hopefully we’ll be able to maybe do a couple more (years) in the future if we’re able to,” Darlene says. “It’s been a long adventure and a lot of fun and just to hear the screams and see the smiles on people’s faces is all worth it.”