With no cash to pay employees, adult haunted house shuts down

WENTZVILLE, Mo. -- The Mall of the Dead is no more.

Like a slasher movie and its numerous sequels, the adult-oriented haunted house went through numerous twists and turns in the past few weeks -- then closed Friday after a co-owner said he had no money to pay employees.

Occupying 200,000 square feet of a factory outlet mall 40 miles east of St. Louis, the Mall of the Dead opened Oct. 10. Visitors had to be at least 17 to get into the haunted house, described by its operators as depicting what happens after a genetic research company sets up shop in an abandoned mall and things go wrong with its experiments.

Before the Mall of the Dead opened, Wentzville police and city officials said some of its tableaux were so explict that the operators needed an adult entertainment permit. The owners then cut the more risque scenes, although they said they were being subject to censorship.

Co-owner Dean Kemper said Friday that even without those scenes, they were turning away people on the busiest nights.

But when workers showed up Friday, Kemper said there was no money to pay them. He said an investor exercised an option to receive money from the attraction, though Kemper said he wanted the employees to be paid first.

Some employees showed up Friday and said they were willing to work anyway, but KTVI-TV showed some angry parents, upset that their children wouldn't get paid.

Kemper said he was upfront with employees.

"I had to be honest with them, there was no money to pay them," he said.

Kemper said he expects to be back with a different attraction in the future.