Basement of the Dead co-owner Jason Seneker walks through a spooky chapel inside the Aurora haunted house during a tour last week. (Suburban Chronicle photo)

Jason Seneker and his family are in the business of fright.

And their pair of downtown Aurora haunted houses — open again for the Halloween season — deliver the chills and thrills.

Aurora’s Basement of the Dead and Shattered 3D Nightmare — two adjacent but distinct attractions — are scary theatrical shows with sets, characters and tragic storylines all set in the basement of a riverfront brick structure.

But there’s a backstory that lends an eerie authenticity.

“The actual history of this building is kind of shrouded in mystery, we can’t find much documentation of what happened in here,” said Seneker, who oversees the seasonal family business. “We’ve done research. Something bad happened inside this building. There was a fire here, but it’s tough to find records.”

Seneker suspects there could be some spectral presence and a paranormal investigator agreed.

“As much as I hate to say it, the answer is ‘yes’,” he said. “After my family doing work down there for so long and hearing enough stuff that we’ve heard and seen and happened to us, I was pretty confident that (ghost hunters) would be able to document something.”

Seneker said the company — S.T.A.R.S. Paranormal — claims to have recorded sounds and talk of a fire and the presence of a woman.

“They found some really weird stuff,” Seneker.

But spooky residents don’t seem disturb a steady stream of visitors to the sites, located in the rear of century-old brick buildings at 42 W. New York St. and adjacent to west bank of the Fox River.

“We’re blessed to have a place like this to run a haunted house because most other places are in strip malls — not that there’s anything wrong with that — and they’re trying to create something like this and we already have this tremendous setting.”

Enter, if you dare. A hanging corpse greets visitors just inside Basement of the Dead in downtown Aurora. (Suburban Chronicle photo)

The front features the cheery Ballydoyle Irish Pub and Restaurant. The back is a different story starting with wandering monsters and creepy hosts at creaky metal doors welcoming visitors.

Now in its 13th year, the two attractions are a series of dimly lit or blacked out mazes with surprises and scares at nearly every turn.

Shattered features the tale of a crazed clown whose wife was killed when a sledgehammer trick malfunctioned. A tour of the clown’s lair features three-dimensional effects and numerous characters enhanced by 3D glasses and ultraviolet flashlights each visitor is issued.

Basement of the Dead is a more traditional haunted house and home to Al and Imus, father and son maintenance workers who were maimed in a basement explosion. Equipment from the site’s former life as an industrial laundry are scattered throughout, some converted to macabre uses.

“We pride ourselves in being dark, scary,” Seneker said. “Room designs we try to make as much movie quality as we can. We put a lot of time and effort into the set designs and costuming. We train our actors to be scary. We let them do whatever they want and the only restriction is we don’t ridicule people or embarrass people. We’re here to scare people.”

There’s also no touching. Resident monsters will run and jump, scream and get in faces of visitors but there’s no deliberate physical contact.

“Of course, in the darker areas, something may accidentally bump into you but our monsters will never grab you,” according to an FAQ on the attraction’s web site. “Sometimes you may be grabbed by someone in your group who is too scared or trying to scare you even more.”

Basement of the Dead was founded by the family of George Carpenter around 2000 and Seeker’s family took over six years ago. Shattered 3D was introduced in 2013.

: A creepy clown figure greets visitors outside Shattered 3D and Basement of the Dead, located at 42 W. New York St. in downtown Aurora.

Basement of the Dead has collected its share of honors. The Chicago Tribune named it the No. 1 Haunted House in Illinois one year, Hauntworld Magazine called it among the top 25 in America and tops in Illinois while HauntedHousechicago.com dubbed it a “No. 1 Haunted Attraction.”

Basement of the Dead and Shattered 3D Nightmare are each open Thursdays through Sundays, plus Wednesday, Oct. 28. Entry begins at 7 p.m. most days, 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

General admission is $20, $25 for both attractions. VIP admission permitting front of the line access is $45. Tickets are available on site or online.

Call (630) 896-2466, email basementofthedead@gmail.com or visit 42fear.com for more information and discount offers.

— Downtown Aurora haunted house presents a Basement of the Dead —