"Cade Willamon’s Real Ghost Adventures"
Planet Ant Theatre
Hamtramck, Mich.
Aug. 11, 2025
On July 3, 1929, a cult leader was found mysteriously beheaded inside his home in Detroit, with his wife and children discovered dead in a similar fashion throughout the rest of the house. The brutal murder of Benny Evangelista and his family remains unsolved to this day, but it – with its bizarre backstory – has become the subject of Planet Ant Theatre’s “Cade Willamons' Real Ghost Adventures.” The immersive theater experience aptly bills itself as part haunted house, part escape room and part live Choose-Your-Own-Adventure.
The show started with a waiver. Participants had to acknowledge they they were messing with the occult at their own risk, and that Planet Ant was not responsible for any accidents, emotional triggers or hauntings that might take place during or after the experience. From there, we were invited to read a display and watch a PowerPoint presentation to learn about the murders and their relationship to Planet Ant to prepare for the evening ahead.
Here’s the scenario: Planet Ant — which is about 4 miles from the Detroit murder site — had recently been experiencing some supernatural phenomena. Paranormal expert Cade Willamons — after receiving a mysterious dream about a big purple house (one of Planet Ant’s distinctive features) — arrived at the theater to find a series of relics from the Evangelista murders buried in the theater’s basement. Now, we were being tasked with examining those relics and taking part in a séance where we could speak with one of the dead to choose a demon to banish, hoping to get rid of the one causing the theater’s problems.
After the introduction, the escape room–like portion of the evening began. First, we were taken to the relic room inside the theater’s main stage area, where we found a range of creepy objects with clues about the murder — including a huge eye hovering from the stage. One corner had a setting of old furniture; another featured a video from Willamons explaining the relics, near a decapitated, kneeling dummy in Evangelista’s grim murder pose. Most distinctive was a set of five hanging papier-mâché figures, which represented Evangelista’s celestial gods.
After decoding some mysterious letters and finding the right keys, we moved across the street to Planet Ant’s second theater to explore Willamons’ living quarters on the upper floor. Between the small kitchen and living room, we found strewn bits of paper with weird symbols and messages, situated among a setting of period(ish?) mirrors, photos, a creepy doll and other household items.
After more decoding, we were brought downstairs for the main event: the séance. We finally got to meet Willamons and his assistant, Dr. Jeff Smith (with his “PhD” in the paranormal), and were invited to sit at their round table, which was covered in a black tablecloth and candles, with red cloth napkins and black obsidian rocks at each place setting.
From there, Cade determined who among the four of us would be the Chosen One (it was me!) responsible for being the sole communicator with the supernatural world. As a group, we had to select a demon to communicate with and were allowed to ask three questions to determine what happened and whom to banish. At the end, we exited the building and were given an ending card — one of a possible eight — and learned we’d messed up and chosen incorrectly.
I’ll start by saying “Ghost Adventures” was a ton of fun and my favorite experience at Planet Ant so far. It was, however, often confusing, and I had very little idea of what was going on most of the time. The opening displays and PowerPoint were a bit redundant but also somewhat unclear. There was so much information — covering the Evangelista murders, the theater’s curse, Willamons’ elaborate backstory, and instructions on our goal for the evening — but by the end, I still had to ask what our goal was exactly (to banish theater spirits that seemed pretty tame or exorcise whatever had gotten into Willamons’ head?).
I think streamlining the content and design — while still keeping its dramatic tone — would be helpful, as well as arranging the display in a clear order: murders history, Planet Ant hauntings, Willamons’ visions and discoveries, goal of the evening.
I love a good escape room and really enjoyed exploring the mysteries of both the relic room and Willamons’ living quarters — but again, was often confused. I would have liked more time to explore the relic room, and I was mostly just along for the ride in the second room with the three other participants (one of whom I suspect had some inside knowledge).
By the time we got to the séance, we were all hyped up to begin — though had forgotten most of the instructions, including the Latin spell we were supposed to use. Having a reminder right beforehand would have been helpful.
I have zero paranormal sensitivity, so I enter these things eager to be proven wrong but not really scared. When we entered pitch blackness and were surrounded by creepy sounds, I loved it. I would later find out my more supernaturally attuned friend found herself uncontrollably swaying back and forth — but she loved it too. My biggest frustration was that I couldn’t clearly hear the spooky responses we’d gotten from our ghost, and I didn’t want our third question to be, “Could you say that again?”
Afterward, we had a nice chat with the actors and staff and learned there had been a couple mishaps. And since we had a relatively small group — four out of a possible maximum of 11 — we missed a lot of clues that are easier to find when there are more people looking.
Later at home, I did a deep dive into the history of the murders, and a lot more of the experience made sense — and was more impressive — when I understood Planet Ant’s attention to detail. I had originally thought those papier-mâché gods were just weird Planet Ant creations, but when I found a historic photo, I realized the depictions were pretty accurate to the real history.
I went into the experience mostly blind. I had never heard of the Evangelista murders before, and it took me probably longer than it should have to realize it was theater based on real history and not an actual ghost hunt (although the final séance was apparently borderline), which is a credit to the production. The actors did a great job — especially the one who played Willamons, who was creepy as hell.
Those who go into the show with a base knowledge of the Evangelista murders will likely appreciate and understand more of the experience, so I recommend reading up beforehand. While I was in the dark much of the time — both figuratively and literally — I had a great time, and now I’m planning to try again to pick up on the details I missed and hopefully get a better ending.
