State Regulators Aim To Keep Real-Life Monsters From Haunted Houses

(CBS) -- If you search the internet hard enough you'll find headlines mixing the thrill of a haunted house with the scare of criminal charges.

So, how are operators of these fright factories ensuring customers are safe?

CBS 2's Jeremy Ross reports.

Peter Koklamanis is supplying the shiver down your spine and the spike in your adrenalin.

His Dungeon of Doom has terrified fans of fright for nearly two decades.

State government has safeguards in place to ensure the monsters surrounding you aren't of the real-life variety.

Operators must provide a detailed list of employees to a state inspector from the Illinois Department of Labor. The state also requires haunted houses to check their workers with the national sex offender registry and perform a criminal history records check.

Koklamanis says he has turned down some employee applications in the past, showing that the system does work.

"It puts me on my toes as an owner to making sure I'm following up on it," he says.

His hope is to terrify about 20,000 customers this year -- and he knows that won't happen unless his customers are safe.

While there are required checks for employees, that's not the case with volunteers, according to the state's website.

The haunted house CBS 2 visited does not use volunteers.