A ‘terrifying’ trip to Boise will be chronicled on Travel Channel this weekend

Be afraid, Boise: We’re about to be in the national TV spotlight.

But, for once, the attention won’t make more out-of-staters want to move here.

“Destination Fear,” a Travel Channel series in its second season, will focus on the Old Idaho Penitentiary this weekend. The TV show’s stars drove here this summer and braved a night at the historic prison, which is supposedly haunted by the spirits of long-dead inmates.

The episode is scheduled to air at 11 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12.

“Destination Fear” is led by documentary filmmaker Dakota Laden. He journeys around the United States in an RV with his sister, Chelsea, his pal, Tanner Wiseman, and cameraman Alex Schroeder. They hang out in spooky places, sleeping separately, alone and perpetually wigged out.

Here’s the Travel Channel description of the bone-chilling Boise episode: “After many nights of torment by the paranormal, Alex finally gets his chance to pick a haunted location for the team to investigate. And he is ready to get even. He has planned the most terrifying experiment for Dakota yet at an infamous Idaho prison.”

(Located ... dun, dun, duuuuun ... next to a lovely botanical garden!)

By now, the ghosts at the Old Idaho Penitentiary must be getting used to this sort of TV hype. Dakota Laden is a former cast member of “Ghost Adventures,” a long-running Travel Channel series. That show also visited the Old Idaho Pen in its inaugural season in 2008.

The Idaho State Historical Society’s popular prison also hosted “The Lowe Files,” an A&E reality show, in 2017. That’s when actor Rob Lowe and his son spent a night there spooking themselves.

This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 4:00 AM.