Suds? Check. Terror? Check. Columbia’s newest haunted hot spot is a car wash

You usually know what you’re getting when you pull into a car wash: The soap, the high pressure rinse, the tire shine, the terrifying monsters covered in fake blood scaring the life out of you.

Well, maybe that last one is a little outside the norm. But it’s just one of the things you might encounter if you venture out to one company’s Midlands car wash locations on certain nights this Halloween season.

Hurricane Express Wash, which has six locations across the Columbia area, is turning its car washes into what is being called the Haunted Hurricane on select nights. Flyers for the event encourage residents to “Experience the Haunted Storm” during the spooky season.

The Haunted Hurricane experience will run from 8-11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the month, plus Oct. 30 and 31. There are Hurricane locations at 6212 Garners Ferry Road, 7841 Garners Ferry Road, 4501 Hard Scrabble Road and 9650 Two Notch Road in Columbia; 1010 Kinley Road in Irmo; and 3112 Augusta Road in West Columbia.

October typically brings a plethora of spooky experiences in the Midlands, from the Deceased Farm haunted farm in Lexington to the Dark Castle Halloween attraction in Elgin, the Hall of Horrors in Cayce, and beyond.

But now you’ve also got a chance to get scared by some costumed ghouls and get your car squeaky clean at the same time.

“It’s a great way for a customer to kind of try out our car wash and see all the features and how clean your car can actually get at our car wash, with the best equipment in the business,” Hurricane marketing director Melissa Broom said. “But with this you can also experience a little bit of fun after hours, in the dark, and go through and have a spooky experience.”

Broom said Hurricane bought thousands of dollars in costumes, fake blood, fog machines and other Halloween accessories for the staff that is working the haunted evenings.

The Haunted Hurricane experience will start the moment customers pull onto the car wash lot, Broom said, with costumed characters providing thrills to those waiting in the queue. Hurricane facilities are the type where customers remain in their car as it rolls through the wash tunnel itself, and Broom said there would be costumed ghouls and goblins inside that tunnel who will “pop out at different places” to provide some scares as the vehicle is getting washed.

Car wash technician Ben Noles, who works at the Augusta Road Hurricane location, said he will likely work at one of the company’s haunted car wash experiences several nights in October and added that he hoped to be one of the characters “in the tunnel” scaring customers.

“I think it will be a great experience for people,” Noles said. “It’s unique.”

Tickets for the Haunted Hurricane are $30 per car, or $25 per car with a discount with the Hurricane Express Wash mobile app.