Indoor Haunts

GA Boecklings Eerie Estate

This award winning haunt only gets better every year with the addition of some new rooms, more creepy characters and more screams. As a matter of fact, we think that the Eerie Estate has more screams per square foot of haunt than any other haunted attraction in the tri-state! Just try keeping your cool in here. The rooms are meticulously decorated in late 1800’s decor, dimly lit and very quiet until BAM! The actors literally make you want to run through the rooms! But don’t run, you’ll miss the best that they saved for last…

Rating: 11 – FRIGHTMASTER

Happy Jack’s Toy Factory

Ever wonder why there are no toys left in the entire city of Sandusky, OH? They have all turned into evil little predators and now reside in Happy Jack’s Toy Factory! Seriously, the demented-looking Barbie’s alone would fill a warehouse. Nicely spaced scares, good creativity (loved the GI Joe room!) and other unexpected surprises throughout give this haunt excellent fun value while keeping it high on the scare meter. Not your mother’s Toys-R-Us for sure!!!!

Rating: 10.5 – FRIGHTMASTER

Club Blood

This is a dance club you may want to have second thoughts about going to after dark. The interior is a mix of loud dance music, strobe lights, creepy vampires and barrel mazes that keep you confused and yet terrified at the same time. The haunt is one of the shorter haunts but does manage to stay in theme throughout, maximizing the vampire cult idea. I did feel it needed something more out of the ordinary to give it a little variety but it was a good solid haunt and a lot of fun to go through.

Rating: 8.5 – Very Good

Outdoor Haunts

Blood on the Bayou

This was an excellent new outdoor haunt that meandered along a very dark trail flanked by very realistic creepy-looking river cabins. The creativity and design was through the roof on this haunt and the actors didn’t disappoint either. The voodoo witch doctor was incredible – dancing around and whispering in your ear. It sent chills down my spine! This definitely has potential and, with a bit more length and maybe a surprise at the end, could be a Frightmaster award winner! We were very impressed with this haunt and would like to see even more of it next year!

Rating: 10 – Excellent

Maniacal Mechanical Screamworks

This was last years’ Fright Zone but with an added twist. The addition of “Myst” looking back-to-the-future like space ships and chilling characters in flying coats, it was a big favorite this year. The fog makes it spooky but the actors and props make it terrifying! It’s 360 degree scares and no where to hide as you make your way through this outdoor walk that is a combination of futuristic thrills and old-fashioned in-your-face screams. An absolute must-see at Cedar Point Halloweekends!

Rating: 10.5 – FRIGHTMASTER

CarnEvil

You may think that if you’ve seen one clown, you’ve seen them all. Definitely NOT TRUE! Carnevil has some of the scariest clowns and freakiest patrons we’ve seen ANYWHERE!!!!
Don’t even try to walk through this outdoor haunt alone. The scares come from all directions and, with some of the best make-up and costumes seen anywhere in the country – this outdoor haunt rises way above all other circus/clown themed haunts in our opinion. Very realistic! If you’re not afraid of clowns beforehand – you will be afterwards!!!!

Rating: 10 – Excellent

Overall rating: 10.5 – FRIGHTMASTER

Visit their web site at www.halloweekends.com

Charlie the janitor has been a bad janitor again this year and left the bodies of the missing school children laying all around the old schoolhouse. If this place doesn’t give you the creeps from the very beginning, you better check your pulse to see if you are already dead. You start off going through the dark, 1950’ish playground with phantom children playing merrily at recess. But the mood darkens when you enter the school and are checked out by the not-so-nice school nurse (one of our favorites!). As you make your way through the dark hallways in this very old, foreboding building, you see room after detailed room of corpses, skeletons, monster animatronics and many not-so-happy school children. Your job is to find out where Charlie is lurking and avoid the same untimely demise as the children. This haunt is intense and the surprises are many and definitely NOT for the squeamish or faint of heart! The haunt is also very long so it’s worth a bit of a wait in line. Tip – watch out for Damien Reaper – one of the creepiest characters we’ve encountered in any haunt! He will send chills down your spine!

Rating: 10 – Excellent

Visit their web site at www.frightsite.com

Holiday Horror:

This is one of the two new haunts this year at Kings Island and was surprisingly good for a first year haunt. The rooms all kept with the holiday horror theme and were well populated with actors and grisly holiday themed scenes complete with a “rabid Easter Bunny” and a “Bad Santa”. The individual scenes were well decorated and the actors were very convincing. The only fault I could find with this haunt was it was maybe a little too well lit to really bring the fear factor into the visitor. Dim the lights and bring up the scare factor and this could be a Frightmaster contender! Watch for the Thanksgiving room – it is hilarious!

Rating: 9.5 – Excellent

Mysteria:

This is the second of the new haunts this year at Kings Island and, in our opinion, was a total miss with both theme and scare factor. This is basically a chain link maze that is populated by actors in weird beige spandex body suits. It is too well lit, the actors are not scary or threatening. Some of them looked like they really didn’t know how to act when people walked through. I really didn’t know how to act either since it wasn’t scary, funny or interesting. This was a miss for me.

Rating: 2.5 – Poor

Slaughter House:

This haunt is definitely not for the squeamish! Blood is counted by the gallons and body parts are numbered in the hundreds. The creepy characters within the rooms keep you moving along with a scream or just a grunt, all the while banging on pans, tables, limbs, whatever else they can get their bloody hands on. Well done haunt, if not a bit over the top with the excessive noise, still worth checking out.

Rating: 10 – Excellent

Urgent Scare:

This was another “heavy on the gore” haunt that remains pretty much the same year after year. The hospital setting theme is well played with nurses and doctors directing “patients” through the winding, dimly lit corridors. The actors were very believable but the rooms became a bit too repetitive after awhile. This is a good haunt but needs a little changing up with a few more dark areas to build the suspense. Not bad, though, and the animatronics were great!

Rating: 9 – Excellent

Club Blood:

Club Blood is like a vampires’ fantasy. The actors are very convincing and are having fun at the same time. This is a haunt where you are scared but laughing at the overall scenes. Great costumes, fun dancers, good all around haunt! Very well laid out. As you progress through your night of partying it gets more and more intense. Definitely check it out!

Rating: 10 – Excellent

Massacre Manor:

This was one of our favorite haunts of the night because of the old style haunted house theme. You enter the first room and the “real estate salesman” explains that the house has just gone up on the market and has a bloody secret. You see a cute picture of a happy, smiling girl on the wall. As you progress through the winding halls, the pictures of the girl get increasingly more malevolent and threatening and at the end, you are surprised by the girl herself. I thought the haunt was superior in many ways to the rest of the haunts at Kings Island because they didn’t use buckets of blood and body parts to build a scream filled walk through. The only improvement I would make is after the terror built to the ending climax, the last room with the girl was a bit weak and needed something more, such as maybe if the girl had a chainsaw and chased people out with it. She mostly just stood there, I think she may have had a knife or something, but it wasn’t very effective as a final “gotcha”. This again could be improved to make it a Frightmaster contender.

Rating: 10 – Excellent

CarnEvil:

This is one of the better carnival in 3-D themed haunts that I’ve seen. Starting with the realistic-looking (does this guy do this in real life??) ringmasters who meets you at the door and explains the rules. This guy is a great actor and really knows how to give you the creeps before you even enter the haunt. The rooms are fun house style rooms with some jump out scares and hidden gotchas. The addition of the bubbles was fun but got a bit slippery as you walked through. This would be a more PG rated haunt maybe for the tweens in your group. Fun but not too scary. Good actors, good decorations. Nice haunt.

Rating: 10 – Excellent

Overall rating: 10 – Excellent

Visit their web site at haunt.visitkingsisland.com

I was very impressed with the Hannah House. As you entered the house you immediately went into the basement. There you met a little girl by herself holding a doll. She was extremely creepy, kept asking us things like, “Do you want to stay here?” and “Which way do you want to go?” in that chilling, child-like voice. It was very unexpected, which made it all the more scary. Standing outside the house and looking at it gives you the creeps. It is very eerie, even more so knowing that the house itself really is haunted. You definitely get the haunted feel when you’re outside of it as well as when you’re inside it. The actors were phenomenal for their first night. The vampires were very scary. Some of them were making noises mimicking the vampires of the movie 30 Days Of Night. The characters were convincing in some areas, but could use a bit more acting in others. In the first floor of the house you meet Alexander Hannah, the man who built the house. He was very convincing, but when you get up to the second story of the house and meet his wife, she is not so convincing. The vampires, the little girl and the clowns were very good. They also had different actors portraying things in the forest as you’re leaving and they chase you, which is a nice extra scare.

Hannah Haunted House is a good scare and with a bit more creativity or thought (more into playing upon people’s fears of the dark and ghosts) they could potentially have a legendary haunt. All in all, they did pretty good with what they had to work with.

*Review written by Stephanie, a friend of HauntedHouseTour.com

Rating: 7 – Good

The haunted boat was longer and more challenging this year than in the past. The captain has opened up two new areas of this creepy floating nightmare never before explored and it just increases the already longest haunt in the tri-state. The animatronics were excellent and the captain was there to invite you to “stop by for dinner and stay forever”. The tour takes upwards of 30 min so it’s well worth the price of admission. Everything about the boat is creepy, inside and out. We would have like to see maybe a few more actors inside and maybe a bit more dark time but still one of our tri-state favorites!!!! Beware! – this haunt will definitely give you nightmares!!!!!

Rating: 9.5 – Excellent

Visit their web site at www.ussnightmare.com

This is the fifth year for Gene and Brenda Webb’s excellent outdoor haunted hayride and it just keeps getting better and better each year. Located in the country on a lonely road in Petersburg, Ky, this outdoor haunted hayride has the perfect setting and the perfect theme. It’s “Children of the Corn”, “Jeepers Creepers”, and “Joyride” rolled into one terrifying trip. We won’t spoil it by giving away the details – just expect the unexpected. No – seriously! If you have not been to this haunt yet this year – GO! If you’ve already been – go again!! It is worth the drive and the best outdoor haunt in the tri-state!!!! Watch out for Freddy! He tends to appear when you least expect it!

Rating: 10.5 – FRIGHTMASTER

Farmers Revenge (Sandyland Acres indoor haunt)

Farmers Revenge is an indoor haunted house/dark maze and the newest addition to the Sandyland Acres attraction. THIS is the way dark mazes in haunted houses should be designed! The walk-thru was dark – not just dimly lit, but “can’t-see-your-hand-in-front- of-your-face” dark. It was also quiet…..creepy….eerie…. then all of a sudden something slithers in front of your face! Just about the time the claustrophobia starts edging upwards into pure terror the maze opens up into a room where more scares await. There were enough dead-ends and fake doors to keep you disoriented and wishing that this nightmare would end! But after all – that’s what you came for and this haunt doesn’t disappoint!!! Great job for a first-year haunt Gene and Brenda!!!! We want to see more of this one next year…maybe a bit longer? We can’t get enough of a good haunt!

Rating: 10 – Excellent

Visit their web site at www.sandylandacres.com