Netherworld has long been a Halloween fixture near I-85 just north of the Gwinnett-DeKalb line, but the seasonal attraction is down to just more than a week in that spot. At the end of this season, the high-tech haunted house will move to the southern end of Gwinnett County near Stone Mountain.
The final day will be Nov. 5. So far, the final season has brought out regulars who wanted a final visit at the Norcross location, and those who had never made it to the attraction but didn’t want to miss it.
“Customers have been sharing great stories of the memories they have of Netherworld and our Norcross location. First dates, engagements, growing up coming to Netherworld in Norcross etc.,” attraction founder Billy Messina told InsiderAdvantage. “We’re also hearing from people saying ‘I’ve been meaning to come for years and knew I had to visit before you moved to your new location.’”
While some will miss the Norcross site, that will mostly be from nostalgia. Messina promises the new location will more than make up for the lost history.
“The new location is going to offer us so many exciting opportunities that just would not have been possible at our current location,” he said. “Like us, most customers are both sad that we’re leaving, and excited to see how Netherworld will evolve in the new location.”
Netherworld opened in Kennesaw in 1997, then moved to Norcross a year later. It has been in its current site in 1999. It grew until it filled the site. Just before Halloween last year, the business announced plans to move to the other end of the county.
It will go near the site of the recently demolished Olympic Tennis Center, close to where U.S. Highway 78 crosses from DeKalb into Gwinnett. The new location will give Netherworld a larger site with more space for support services such as costume design, set design and office functions. There also will be more haunts.
“The new building will allow us to expand into areas like the Escape Games that we already have rolling, a monster museum, VIP areas and things that most businesses take for granted, like office space so we can all be more productive,” Messina said.
