Tenth-grade twins Kai and Katherine Eichhorn have been crafting haunted house experiences out of their Pacific Beach backyard since they were in fourth grade – a tradition they picked up from their grandpa. This year, “Trails of Deadwood” will take the public through a thrilling western ghost town, featuring an immersive custom-built motion-simulator ride and a haunted trail.

Built by Kai Eichhorn when he was 13 years old, the “Canyon Coaster” will plunge thrill-seekers into an abandoned mine shaft. From there, the coaster launches riders into the eerie, mist-covered streets of Deadwood, a town seemingly frozen in time with a dark past. Scare actors will engage the audience with heart-pounding storytelling and sinister interactions.

Founded by the Eichhorn family, Eichhorn Experience – a subsidiary of their company Evoneering Entertainment – hosts interactive ride experiences as a way of blurring fiction with reality.

Growing up, Kai and Katherine Eichhorn were fascinated by Disneyland and Universal Studios rides, specifically by the stories they told. Kai Eichhorn looked to his dad’s engineering background to begin creating experiences of his own.

Their first haunted house in 2018 was called the “Mystic Motel,” crafted in the family’s garage for their neighborhood friends to visit. In the years following, they hosted “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey,” which incorporated their first outdoor haunted trail, and “The Trail of No Return” with live scare actors and detailed decorations.

“It connects you with the community and you get to hear so many people’s ideas so that we can incorporate them into our future experiences to make them even better,” said Kai Eichhorn.

In 2022, with the help of their dad’s coworker Michael Cabrera, chief engineer at Valtech Engineering, the twins’ haunted house experience was amped up to feature its first 4-D motion simulator ride. The coaster, which will also be in this year’s “Trail of Deadwood,” took a year for Kai and Cabrera to build and made its first appearance in “Experience King Kong,” a haunted house inspired by the King Kong ride at Universal Studios.

This year’s ride takes inspiration from the family’s summer travels from San Diego to Wisconsin. Kai Eichhorn got to work engineering a spooky rendition of the western landmarks seen throughout their road trips, while his sister and family crafted the storyline and decorations of Deadwood.

“I’m so proud of my brother, not just because he designed, custom-coded, and custom-built a motion simulator ride, but for everything he has put in to make these events special for other people,” said Katherine Eichhorn. “As his twin, seeing him be so committed and so invested in making his vision a reality is incredible. He doesn’t realize how talented he truly is.”

Around 150 people came through their haunted experiences each year, amassing roughly 1,000 thrill-seekers since Eichhorn Experience was founded.

This year’s experience is roughly 30 minutes long and will run on Oct. 23, 26, 28, and 30.

“All of the hard work pays off when we get to see the smiles on people’s faces,” said Katherine Eichhorn. “The fact that we have put together something that brings joy to our community is the most fulfilling part.”

Tickets to the experience can be bought on the “Trails of Deadwood” page. To learn more about the Eichhorn Experience, visit https://evoneering.wixsite.com/main.