Six Flags celebrates the 25th anniversary of Fright Fest

Tiny the Spider and her three young ones are in place on the side of the American Eagle roller coaster at Six Flags Great America.

The 25th anniversary of Fright Fest is underway at the Gurnee amusement park, led by the demon overlord Nox, who presides over ghouls, ghosts, demons, monsters and zombies for six scary weekends with six haunted mazes and six hair-raising shows,

"Fright Fest is reborn again in 2016 for our biggest haunt yet with no mercy after 6 p.m., two new haunted houses and two spectacular new shows," operations director Dameon Nelson said in a news release. "All of this comes with your favorite characters including the lumberjacks, clowns, werewolves and the most complete Halloween event anywhere in the world!"

It takes eight employees to bring Tiny to life, installing the 40-foot-wide, 40-foot-tall, 200-pound spider on the side of the wooden roller coaster. Tiny has been climbing on the coaster since the first season of Fright Fest in 1991, with her babies joining her in 2000.

Six Flags announced the spider had died in 2012 but brought her back to life during a resurrection in 2013.

Fright Fest began Saturday, Sept. 24, and runs through Oct. 31 on weekends and on Columbus Day and Halloween.