The original Haunted House was built prior to the fall "shoulder season"[1] of 1978 to boost attendance and as a test for building a larger facility the following year.

The trial jury found the defendants not guilty of criminal charges;[2] however, Six Flags paid millions in civil damages to victims' families.

A facade of false turrets and towers lent the illusion of height to the one-story structure, completing the look of a foreboding medieval castle.

After crossing a drawbridge over the surrounding moat, visitors entered the castle and felt their way along a 450-foot (140 m)-long convoluted path of dim corridors, occasionally being startled when employee actors dressed as mummies, vampires and other creatures jumped from hiding.

Various theatrical props and exhibits were in view, including coffins, ghoulish mannequins, hanging spider webs and skeletons.

Alcoves along the route were used to present vignettes of famous and infamous characters and events from movies, horror and ghost stories, and sometimes real life, with live employed actors portraying the stars of the scene.

The park built a wooden front that resembled a white, two-story house with forest green shingles and shutters, contained by a wrought-iron fence and gates, and accentuated with stucco planters.

The staffing requirements for the haunted house were drawn from other areas of the park; they were clowns and street performers when they were not acting as vampires or serial killers.

[citation needed] Having passed the test, the Haunted Castle was assembled on a new site in 1979, consisting of seventeen interconnected aluminum trailers leased from same manufacturer[5]—eight to a side mirroring each other—with separate corridors and a common control room in the center.

Attached to its exterior were painted turrets and towers of plywood on wooden frames intended to emulate a medieval façade.

During peak attendance times both sides of the attraction would be in use, and thousands of visitors would come to the Haunted Castle throughout the normal hours of operation.

[15] The township considered the castle a "temporary structure", even after it had been at the park for five years, based on the fact that the trailers were still on wheels.

[4] The castle lacked a building permit, a certificate of occupancy, fire and smoke detectors, and sprinklers despite repeated recommendations by the park's own safety consultants.

[17][18] The panel said the state's Uniform Construction Code[19] required the owners to install smoke detectors and several other common safety devices before the castle opened.

[17] Eight days after the fire, a statement by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said a thirteen-year-old boy had called the police after hearing radio reports that investigators were looking for witnesses.

He said the older youth used a cigarette lighter to find his way down a long corridor that was dark because of a malfunctioning strobe light, and he eventually bumped into and ignited a foam-rubber wall pad.

The indictment also charged two park executives, the general manager at the time of the fire and his predecessor, with manslaughter for reckless conduct in ignoring repeated warnings of safety violations.

[26] A defense forensic pathologist said arson might be the cause, saying that "high levels" of benzene in the victims' blood "could indicate some sinister reason for the fire".

A park official testified that having an employee assigned to walk continually through the attraction was a good alternative to the smoke alarms.

Interviewed after the trial, the jury foreman blamed Jackson Township officials for repeatedly allowing the Castle to exploit flaws in the fire code.

[4][30][31] The two park executives charged separately with manslaughter avoided trial and possible imprisonment by entering a pretrial intervention program that allowed them to perform community service.

New York City Board of Education, the State of New Jersey, Ocean County and Jackson Township were also included in the various suits.

[43][44] The film says that two earlier visitors on the day of the fire reported finding an exit door chained shut, but they were not called as witnesses.

Some visitors and employees Smith interviewed thought doors were blocked at times for the security of the actors and to keep people from going outside to smoke cigarettes or marijuana.

[43] Smith also says that diagrams[6] of the castle and its exits used in the trial were inaccurate, and did not show a metal fence erected to protect actors from hostile guests, something that would have made escape more difficult, and was found at the scene.