The night was stormy and dark.

Dense fog crept through the park.

Scarywood guests were in for a fright on season 10’s opening night, when the fear was real and the terror was stark.

“Someone’s jumping out right there, I can see him,” freaked-out 12-year-old Zephan Dynes of Coeur d’Alene said Friday night as he looked over his shoulder and clung to his friends. “Can I hold your hand?”

Masses of thrill-seekers were on edge as they navigated through dark paths barely illuminated by blood-red lights. Pelted by the rainstorm, they made their way through hay bale mazes and past clusters of creepy clowns, knowing something ghoulish waited for them in the shadows.

Scarywood Theme Park Haunted Nights, the sinister twin of mild-mannered Silverwood Theme Park, has returned.

“It’s like a tradition every year,” said Sarah Dzuris, who went to opening night with boyfriend Aaron Gillingham. “I used to come here when I would come up and visit. I moved up here from Texas four years ago. I’d come up here to visit my family and come to Scarywood before I even moved here.”

The couple were some of the first to go through this year’s new attraction, Dr. Delirium’s 3-D Rock House, which is at the edge of Coaster Alley. Heavy metal can be heard blasting from the disorienting 3-D funhouse long before visitors get to the entrance.

“This one was better than the other one,” Dzuris said. “There was two of the little spinning circle things, and the checkerboard thing they had was cool.”

With a tagline of “X Years of Fear,” Scarywood has turned down the lights and turned up the intensity to give visitors enough thrills and chills to last long past Halloween.

“This year we have the most haunters we have ever had, so there truly will be nowhere for our guests to hide,” said Silverwood public relations manager Kailey Lieuallen. “Be prepared because there will be something creeping around every corner!”

More than 200 actors have been hired to generate the fright in multiple scare zones and in haunted attractions including Blood Bayou, Total Darkness and Planet Zombie. Normally pleasant concession stands have changed to their Halloween alternatives such as Plagued Pizza, Deadly Dots and the Cursed Cauldron. Nick and Amanda Norton are presenting “Dillusion,” a mesmerizing horror magic show fitting for the season. Rides that are open include the Scrambler, Panic Plunge, Spin Cycle and Tremors, and, for those who dare, they can take a trip on the backward-running Timber Terror.

“They should definitely open up the whole park to more,” Gillingham said.

“We love coming the first weekend that it’s open because that’s when everybody has the most scare in them,” Dzuris said. “It’s always fun. Silverwood’s always a blast.”

The fright fest will take place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays now through Nov. 2, excluding Halloween night. Scarywood is intended for ages 13 and older.

Info: http://www.scarywoodhaunt.com