Folklore Haunted House – Ackworth, GA – 17 Oct 2020 Covid19 Edition.

Another first visit for us. We again took advantage of online tickets and arrived around 10:00 on Saturday night. This year, Folklore features two haunted houses that can be ticketed separately if you like: The Manor and Asylum ’67. Parking could be found at the site and overflowing into some nearby businesses, closed for the night. In deference to the plaguedemic, a Folklore employee was enforcing their mask policy at the entry. We didn’t see any signage for the RIP line, but friendly staff pointed us in the right direction.

The Manor was an exploration of the grotesque. Well lit scenes of gore abounded. If there’s a shortage of props featuring body parts, rot, blood, guts, bugs, and gruesomeness of all kinds, it might be that The Manor has cornered the market. Scare actors prowled these scenes, many in equally gruesome masks. They weren’t the scary ones, though. A few had well prepared scares hidden amidst their props.

Standing out in my recollection is the praying nun in the defiled chapel. At first glance, it looked like a static scene with several mannequins arrayed about, then one of them jumped up and started screaming that we were invading her sanctum or violating her prayer. It was both sudden and a bit disturbing.

The exit from The Manor included the now almost familiar chainsaw wielding maniac chasing patrons out. Another staff member was stationed just outside the exit to slow down any fleeing victims attempting Road Runner impersonations.

From that exit, we looped around to the entrance to Asylum ’67, and after a brief wait, entered with the couple that had joined the line just after us, a rare treat this year.

Asylum ’67 was a slightly less gory scene, nominally of a mental hospital gone bad. There was a bit of an institutional feel to the setting of twisting corridors inhabited by actors who had license to say any nonsense that might provoke a reaction. There seemed to be fewer actors on this side of the haunt, but I might have missed a few from my position at the head of our short line. Plus, we ran into the group in front of us a time or two.

The exit turned out to be the same as for The Manor, both haunts funneled through the same chainsaw gauntlet.

We encountered about 30 scare actors in the combined haunt, and several more walking around the waiting area keeping folks entertained. The waiting area also featured some concessions and a carnival game or two.

And that ends this year’s Atlanta haunted house crawl. Stay tuned for more updates on haunts in north Alabama.

Containment – Lithia Springs, GA – 17 Oct 2020 Covid 19 Edition

Wow! There is the one word summary of our first visit to Containment tonight. I bought VIP passes for the 8:30 time slot. There was some confusion at the gate about this, but the staff quickly got us where we needed to be and bang, we were in the haunt.

For once, being a group of just two was awesome. We had the undivided attention of around 30 scare actors, some of which were encountered multiple times. Many of the scenes featured lots of interaction, starting with the doorman at the entrance, who asked us where we were from and used that detail in his humorous entry monologue. From there, we passed into another anteroom where a lady and a huge bit of animatronics asked us our names.

Interactive animatronics. That was new and fun for us.

A bartender quizzed us on our intentions and finally turned us loose with a small electric candle to light our way.

These actors were really on their A-game tonight. Most were talkative. A few were silent, but in their silence conveyed plenty of attention. One memorable silent actor was sitting on a table in the corner of a passage. As we approached, she was utterly still, pale skin, light clothing, and blonde hair. I stared, wondering if she was live or a prop. I looked away and looked back. In that brief moment, she had turned her head, but remained otherwise still.

Another room featured an extended discussion with an actor who wanted to keep us as statues. And still others who wanted us as patients, or on the menu. You get the picture.

The sets were detailed and well lit. The ambient noise level was low enough to hear most of the actors.

Containment also gets an award for most creative use of chainsaws. I will leave this one for you to discover on your own.

Anti-Covid measures include the familiar spacing and mask policy, but also included a virtual line with instructions to wait in your car until called. So, don’t forget your phone.

I highly recommend visiting Containment while there’s still time this season!

Camp Blood – Carrollton, Ga – 16 Oct 2020 – Covid 19 Edition

My group of two, me and CJ, aka Moose, arrived at the Camp Blood parking field around 9:45 Friday night.

Now, right off the bat, the website states that parking is $3, the field is rough, the wait can be long, and the haunted trail requires watching your step.

They are NOT kidding about this. You have been warned. Bring $3 to park. Drive a truck or SUV. Wear decent shoes. One thing that is not perfectly clear from the website is that buying tickets on line does not bypass the ticket line. With out online tickets waiting on our phone, we still waited in line for 2 hours just to turn those tickets into our Scream Passes.

This did give us plenty of time to observe the crowd, which was the only entertainment available. The scariest Camp Blood denizens outside the haunt were the guys directing traffic and making periodic announcements.

Once through the doors, all that changes. There’s a nice fire going, places to sit, concessions, bathrooms, and a couple other stops available before just charging off to the haunt. We skipped most of that and charged off to the haunt.

Camp Blood uses a group system, like many other haunts, allowing ticket holders to wander the grounds or spend money instead of standing in another line. When the group letter is called, that group assembles in a little area for the rules speech, which tonight was delivered with a lot of humor. The group then proceeded to the real start of the haunt, the masked and costumed lady who took our wristbands and sent us off into the haunt with ominous words of warning.

I am amazed by what can be constructed using freight pallets. Much of this initial, indoor, or at least covered, part of the haunt was made of wooden pallets on edge, sometimes covered with something else. The passages were tight and required frequent sideways navigation.

This made good use of the available space by twisting and turning among a series of scare locations. Scare actors would pop out from their blinds, sometimes lingering, sometimes disappearing. One of the memorable actors was the clown who asked “Do you want to play?”

I answered “Monopoly!” and I think CJ said “Checkers!” The clown said something like “Oh no!!!” and walked away in apparent disgust.

A neat trick was played with a door leading to a dead end containing a chainsaw wield maniac who would not allow passage. He pointed us back up the trail where we found a door that hadn’t been there before.

Camp Blood also used doors and actors to keep the groups spread out. They were all chatty, especially the funhouse guy and the lady carrying the severed head. I really liked the friendly lady at the door I tried to open too soon. She popped out with a manic smile and a Harley Quinn sort of vibe and asked me what I was doing.

The covered portion yielded to a well defined trail through the woods. Even I could follow this trail, and I am pretty good at taking the wrong way when given the chance. There were more clowns, and an assortment of rednecks, hillbillies, and Cajuns, leaving no southern stereotype untouched, dispensing ominous warnings about swamps and critters.

There was a lot of setting along the trail, including a dinner scene where a well hidden actor popped out while we were admiring the display. Nice work on both, Camp Blood.

I got the feeling there should have been more actors in these spaces. Such nice distractions and well displayed attention diverters are prime real estate for more scares. Atlanta has so many haunted attractions that I wonder how much trouble they have filling all their actor spots?

We encountered about 40 scares along the whole trail, and I think the actors were getting a little tired as it was after midnight by the time we got in.

My takeaway from the two haunts we visited on this night are these:

If you’re going to ask someone to stay and play, have an answer ready when the customer says “Yes!” or “Sure” or “I’d love to stay and play!” We all know that staying is not a real option, but have an answer.

The same for “Where are you going?” I mean, you asked me where I’m going and I might just say “Over there,” “Up the trail,” “Heaven,” or “Grandma’s house” I don’t think this is being a smart ass, which I hate. Maybe it’s a fine line? I don’t think a scare actor can go wrong with an answer, but a blank look and silence is never good.

I look forward to visiting Camp Blood again, though I’ll definitely time my visit better to avoid that line!

13 Stories – Newnan, Ga – 16 Oct 2020 – Covid 19 Edition

We, me and Moose, arrived at 13 Stories around 8:00 on Friday night. The parking lot was busy, but not full, fooling me into thinking the haunt wasn’t busy. We bought general admission tickets to the main haunt, the Hellavator add on, and the Zombie Apocalypse laser tag feature.

Haha, the joke’s on me. The virtual queuing system means you can buy tickets anytime and get in a virtual line when you’re ready. Even then, the wait wasn’t bad. There were a couple of wandering scare actors keeping the customers on their toes. The guy on stilts was easily spotted, chasing anxious patrons around with a car horn / head light combo. A ‘slider’ was also prowling about.

Now, a word about haunted houses and Covid 19 mitigation. To me, and your mileage may vary, the key elements of a haunt are actor interaction, props, and setting. Actor interaction is strongly affected by the group you are in. My experience is that actors go for the best reactions, which usually come from the younger, clearly already nervous, patrons.

Covid mitigation turns that upside down. Actors are trying to maintain distance. Groups are not formed randomly from the assorted customers waiting in line. Your group is who you come with.

So my son and I were a group of two, an old guy and big guy, ambling through a haunted house. We occasionally caught up to the group in front of us, and the group behind us frequently caught up to us.

13 Stories had several actors stationed to prevent bunching up, holding a group with their act and blocking passage long enough to create some space. I would have loved to hear their lines and respond, but the ambient noise level in 13 stories is intense and most of the time rendered the actors essentially mute.

We encountered about 40 scares, some in fixed scenes and some roaming. The roamers were able to cut through the sets and scare the same group multiple times. Memorable actors were the pair in the ‘kitchen’ scene and the very nimble guy at the entrance to the clown house.

13 Stories uses a lot of animatronic monsters to supplement the actors, so be prepared for roaring creatures of all types to lunge out from hiding. As always, the props and settings range from mild to gross, running the gamut from graveyards to abattoirs.

Zombie Apocalypse The 2020 version of this feature has several updates. Gone are the old M4s, those solidly built replicas whose physical mass probably led to the occasional accident. I know I had a couple close calls in years past. In their place were compact, plastic, lightweight, bullpup style laser tag guns.

The other change was the course is now a loop, so while you have unlimited ammo, you now have a limited time to play as you walk through the course.

The zombies were quite lively and aggressive, and ‘died’ with energetic antics when lit up by the activation of their target necklace. They’d wait a few, then come back for more. Watch your back, they almost always attack from behind or down low to the side.

Hellavator Now I wish I had done this last year so I’d have a good comparison. This is an add on feature that I’m going to guess was meant to be a little more intense than the main haunt. During our visit, there were only 3 or 4 scare actors in the haunt rotating through the scene to scare us about 10 times. The intensity was about the same as the main haunt. Aside from the ‘elevator’ ride, the scenes and settings could have used more work.

13 Stories is a huge space with a lot of open area, and felt a little emptier this year, mostly thanks to the pandemic, I think.

We got to chat for a few minutes with the 13 Stories boss, Allyn Glover. It was nice to meet him after all these years of visiting his work. Everyone at 13 Stories was friendly and helpful, from the ticket window to the gift shop folks, and especially Crystal, the lady directing traffic on the walk up to the line.

Paranoia Haunted House – Canton, GA – 2019

Paranoia Haunted House has been a favorite stop for us since we first visited in 2016, so we had to make room for it this year after not visiting Atlanta at all last October.

Me and the Moose arrived around 10:00 on Saturday 12 October, and we lucked into a spot in the Paranoia parking lot. Otherwise, there were plenty of local businesses that left their lots open.

The first thing I noticed was the volume of the music. I hate to sound like your grandpa here, but turn it down a notch. I couldn’t hear the ticket window attendant, the line guy, or either of the ladies at the doors.

When did loud become synonymous with scary?

We bought VIP passes for $50 each because the line was estimated at 3 hours. We were ushered into a waiting zone, then within 10 minutes we were at the door to Hexed.

Hexed. It’s dark in there. The Moose found this effective and good for the scare actors. He also liked the mist effects and the ambient sound level. I got a little bored with not being able to see the costumes and makeup very well. I comment on lighting a lot, sometimes too much and sometimes not enough. Lighting is probably very hard to get just right, and probably impossible to please all of the people all of the time. Because I’ve never had to do it, I just get to complain about it.

What I think is appropriate in a haunt is enough darkness to set the mood and conceal the scare actors, then enough light to see the actors and the work that has gone into their design, and also to see the setting and the props. I’m just a customer, don’t hit me 🙂

The kids in the green laser mist were funny and persistent, but aside from them, no one stood out as memorable. None of the actors that is, but the four kids in front of us were peppered with a stream of scares that left the last guy in the group in quite a state. He even got behind me for a while, so I have to say the scares were effective.

Quarantine. This haunt was the exact opposite of Hexed. Bright and flashy. Not enough actors but a lot of genuinely grisly scenery. Our group was a combination of four different sets of VIP ticket holders, seven adult men and one adult woman. The scares might have been infrequent, but they were effective judging from all the jumping around in front of us.

Picture Booth. Between the exit area of the both haunts and the parking lot was a little midway. I got yet another clown fist bump, watched some kids play the games, then we had our picture taken.

The actor in the picture booth stayed in creepy character the entire time we were there, with a great costume, makeup, and even a severed arm prop.

Best part of the night 🙂

 

 

 

Netherworld – Atlanta, GA – 2019

The short description of our 2019 trip to Netherworld: Sensory overload!

We arrived at Netherworld around 7:35 on Saturday 12 October. The roads nearby were already packed. Pedestrians filled the sidewalk and crosswalks, all converging on Netherworld. This was our first visit to the new location, and we liked the organized chaos that surrounded the haunt. Despite the milling crowds and vehicles, adequate signage and personnel guided us to a parking place and we joined the throng.

The estimated wait was already over an hour, so we went for the Speed Pass, despite the $60 price tag. We wanted to visit more than one haunt that night and my knees would thank me for skipping a two hour stand. The price of tickets varies depending on the night. Of course, we picked the most expensive night for our visit.

Night of the Gorgon. The moment we stepped into the first haunt, our senses were assaulted with loud special effects, flashing lights, figures flying over the haunt on wires, smells that I can’t even describe, and the shouts and screams of actors and patrons alike. Shortly after entering, the separation between groups became negligible and we were basically part of a long line snaking through the haunt.

As we expected from previous years of Netherworld, the walk through The Night of the Gorgon was one non-stop series of effects, animatronics, props, and scare actors. Most of the scare actors sprang forth from concealment, made a noise or shook a prop, then vanished again. There were several others that lingered in the passages or corners, impeding the movement of a patron by taking up space and silently daring them to continue.

The specialty of actors this year seemed to be the statue scare. About a quarter of the actors, maybe more, were utterly still and costumed and made up as inanimate objects. They would move when least expected, so if you want to be the one they pop out for, don’t stare at them! And they were good at their trick. I spent a number of moments slowing down to observe without ever determining prop or person.

In the props and effects department, there were two ‘spinning’ tunnels and two funhouse mirror areas. Also, there was a bridge combined with a funhouse mirror array. The animatronics ranged from small displays of faces or hands to gigantic monsters towering over the trail.

Two actors of note for me this year were the lady dancing around the room near the end and the guy in the robot mech-warrior suit. They were hard to count, but I’m certain we encountered at least 60 live scares in Night of the Gorgon.

The Midway. The exit discharged us into the Midway, where snack food and merchandise could be bought and where people milled around for pictures with either the static sets or a few wandering monsters. We had some “Demented Donuts” and cold water, which hit the spot. We listened to the animated demon’s jokes for a few, then headed over to the other attraction.

Cold Blooded.  A much shorter feature than Night of the Gorgon, I think we encountered 12 or 15 live scares in this haunt. One of the best scares came early in the walk, and I won’t reveal this one because it was just too funny. It was made funnier by the reaction of the teen boys in our group. This haunt relied more heavily on props, effects, and animatronics, which doesn’t do much for me. It sure kept those kids hopping, though.

Overall, Netherworld is a well-oiled machine of Halloween fun. My son really enjoys it, but I prefer less glitz and more live interaction.

 

13 Stories Haunted House – Newnan, GA – 2019

We have been to 13 Stories numerous times over the years, and I am enjoying their willingness to change things up. They have a nice, large, well built space in which to play, and on this visit, they played hard.

Me and the Moose arrived at 13 Stories, just off US-27 in Newnan, at 10:50 on Friday 11 October. We paid our $25 each for general admission tickets and went right into the front room to sign a waiver and encounter our first scare actors.

This year’s 13 Stories features the return of the Clown Haus and the behind the scenes Clown Haus. Also, this year, the whole haunt is a touch haunt, though no one tied our hands or blindfolded us as in previous incarnations which included the Sacrifice feature.

We took our time along the trail, noting some familiar sights along with the changes. The actors aggressively stayed with us, keeping up their chatter or growls, yells, and screams for a bit. There were a number of running, sliding, scares with actors skidding across the floor from behind or from a bend in the path ahead.

The best ones were those that got to stay and talk, like the butcher, the graveyard guide, and numerous clowns.

Some of the quiet ones were also fantastic. In the graveyard, a petite actor with a grisly mask linked arms with me as if we were strolling through the park. She stayed with me while the graveyard guide warned us about the terrors ahead, then walked along for a bit before slipping away to scare us again later with an upside down crab walk like something out of “The Grudge”

Then, there were the clowns.

When the website, the ticket, and all the other signs and ads say “Return of the Clown Haus” there had better be clowns. We were not disappointed.

Clowns followed us. Clowns threatened us with axes, knives, and bats, they told us jokes, they talked to us in both a conversational and an insane manner, they dropped down from above. One clown fist bumped me, which was awesome. Another said we looked bored, and we had to reassure her that we were just trying to take everything in and that they were great.

There is a lot to take in this year at 13 Stories. We enjoyed some of the subtle touches like the HR Office sign in the Clown Haus.

The actors will touch you. For us, they were not shoving or pulling, but mainly things like a hand on a shoulder, an almost conspiratorial, confiding gesture whose normality was made creepy by the context.

There are a lot of animatronics at 13 Stories this year. They were usually well placed and added a nice touch. Animatronics do not have personal boundaries though, so be prepared to get out of their way quickly.

The props ran from just gory to hideous. The 13 Stories web site does not recommend an age limit, but I would think twice before bringing an easily scared pre-teen to a haunt with such graphic props.

I lost track of counting scare actor encounters at around 60. I would guess the final tally is closer to 75, though when a pack of clowns is mobbing you for a couple minutes solid, it’s hard to describe with just a number.

We exited the haunt into a large room featuring merchandise, an oxygen bar, snacks, and at least one add on feature called the Hellevator. We passed on all the extras though, so someone else will have to tell us about them.

13 Stories is definitely worth a visit this year. We encountered a group in the parking lot who asked us how we liked it. When we told them, they seemed a little more hesitant about continuing. We assured them they’d be fine 🙂  Now I wish we had ponied up for another ticket so we could go through with them. They looked like they would be entertaining!

I do want to know if and when Sacrifice is coming back. I miss it.

Chaos Haunted House – Carrollton, GA – 2019

What looks like an abandoned house on US-27 in Carrollton, but actually contains a really fun haunted maze? Take one old building, the woods behind it, a couple truckloads of lumber, rope, fabric, and props, and some really into their role actors, and the result is Chaos Haunted House.

Me and the Moose stopped in around 10:00 on a very quiet Friday 11 October. We bought our $15 tickets and had some friendly chat with the door attendants before going into the little room where we listened to the rules. Chaos is a no touch haunt, don’t run, don’t use a light because you paid to get scared, all the standard stuff.

And the first room got me right away. In the mist of a fog machine, I could see a stupid looking guy walking toward me as I walked toward what looked like a door. Okay, it was a mirror, as my son informed me, but the trick was well played, and I had to laugh. We exited into the outdoor portion of the maze and immediately spied a well costumed clown figure above the walls, up above the haunt. He, or she? vanished into the maze and we kept expecting the black and white garbed actor to appear behind us, but we didn’t see him again until near the end.

The rest of the haunt was a twisty, turny, completely disorienting maze laid out in the piney woods behind the main building. So when they tell you in the rules not to run into a tree, they’re not kidding! The scares were mostly actors, with props and decoration setting the scenes. Most of the haunt was not pitch black, so you could see the actor’s make up and costume. We encountered about 35 scares along the way, including a couple of children. The actors could move inside the walls and scare you more than once along the way.

There were a couple of crawl through tunnels that might tax patrons with back or knee problems, or a fear of enclosed spaces. The floors were soft though, which was a nice touch.

Speaking of floors, take you time. The ground is not paved and level, so watch your step.

Near the end of the haunt, the clowns get their turn. These clowns were into their roles and interactive, misdirecting us into dead ends and making statements about what terrible fates awaited us. This was one section where they could have easily broken the no touch rule. I think it would have been fun to be taken by the arm and forced to skip along a path with a deranged circus performer!

We also encountered a couple chainsaw wielding actors along the way, encouraging us to pick up the pace or, at the end, take the exit door.

Chaos includes a ticket feature I thought was pretty cool. If you want to go through again, it’s only $3. I wanted to go through again, but we were in a hurry to get to our next stop.

Thank you, Chaos, for some good, scary, fun!

Haunted House of Horror – Courtland, Alabama – 2019

I swear we will hit some new places this year, but in the meantime…

My wife, my son, two friends, and myself ventured over to Courtland, Alabama on Friday 4 October. First, we stopped in Decatur and ate at The Railyard, which was really tasty.

The Haunted House of Horror opened at 7:00 and we got there around 7:35. We bought tickets just for the haunted house, $20 each. This price turned out to be a bargain for what we saw on our walk through.

Our group was ushered straight into the departure area and after the instructions and rules, went right into the haunt. They use a generous amount of time between groups, and I have never run into another group, or had a group run into ours from behind.

The haunt is populated by around sixty actors, several animatronic scenes, two video displays, and lots of props and decoration. We encountered very lively and interactive characters along the way, including a mad scientist, an executioner, Michael Myers, a butcher, a chainsaw wielding lunatic, Krampus, Lizzie Borden, a platoon of demented clowns, and a helpless girl apparently left alone in her scary house. Or maybe she was the scary part of the room?

I’ve been to several full contact haunts and immersive theater acts, and they were good, but I am amazed how interactive and in your face a scare actor can get without actually touching a customer.

These actors brought their A game for our group. The clowns mobbed us, keeping up a demented stream of chatter the entire time we were in their zone. Lizzie Borden was awesome with her snappy comeback when the leader of our group couldn’t find the secret door.

And she really does love her job 🙂

The attendant at the end of the show stated that not just anyone gets to join the clowns, and I believe her.

We are not an easily frightened group, but the party leader got surprised at least once, and I think maybe twice. All of us got attention from nearly every actor. There were several actors quite skilled at standing perfectly still and fooling you into thinking they were props.

Well done Haunted House of Horror!

If we can go again this year, we will. And maybe I’ll try the zombie paintball this year.

The Haunt At Camp Liberty – Vinemont, Alabama – 2019

The 2019 edition of The Haunt At Camp Liberty is open, and you should go there and have some messy, scary fun!

My son and I visited last Saturday 26 September on a very warm Alabama evening. This year’s edition of the haunt has changed a good bit from the 2018 inaugural haunt. Camp Liberty is still conveniently located ten minutes from exit 310 on I-65. Take Alabama highway 157 north and the haunt is on the left after about 10 miles.

Camp Liberty warns you on its website, Facebook, and in the ticket booth, that you will get dirty, wet, and messy. They are not kidding.

The Attractions. After the briefing by the well acted character Major Pain in the ticket hut, we passed through a fog shrouded tunnel and walked over to the first feature. Don’t miss the wreck on the right as you stroll.

This year there is a demented circus before the haunted trail. I loved the no hurry, easygoing interaction of the circus.  The scare actors were the attendants for a variety of game booths, a dunk tank, and a story / fortune teller. The ring leader of the circus takes the time to chat with the customers, and I suspect to see how jumpy they might be.

We heard a story of murder and sorrow from Miss Alma Tori, then tried our hands at the games. We each managed to dunk an already soaked evil clown, then pop a few balloons with our mad dart throwing skills. We weren’t so lucky at target shooting, ring toss, or tic tac toe. Nurse Constance made the rounds of the game booths while we played. We had spent our tokens, but wanted to linger after enjoying our round of games and talk with the denizens of the circus.

You can skip the circus if you want, and save $4.00, but I think it was well worth the money. There is also a food vendor and numerous picnic tables set up near the circus, in case you arrive with an appetite. The haunt advertises a bonfire, but there was no need of one the night we went, plus the outdoor burn ban might still be in effect. Maybe next weekend after the weather cools off and we get some rain?

After enjoying the carnival, we received a quick briefing from the sergeant. You will be touched. You will get dirty. You will get messy. Don’t touch the actors back. Don’t use your phones or any other lights. Don’t smoke on the trail.

Did I remember them all, sarge?

Our mission was to survive the trail, reach the research lab, and reset the circuit breaker that would turn the facility power back on.  We met about five actors on the trail, ranging from a quick jump scare to a couple that I thought were joining us for the rest of the walk.

Once in the lab, we encountered another seven or eight scare actors, all of whom got up close and personal, and a few who slimed us with ‘butcher shop’ gunk or medical inoculations.  The doctor, the patient, the butcher, and the chainsaw man were particularly interactive.

We completed the mission, not without some additional mud, dirt, and gunk on us. On the way out we stopped at the ticket booth for a photo. Major Pain obligingly found Constance and another fellow snapped a picture of the four of us.

The Review. We loved our visit to Camp Liberty. The circus was a feature I have not encountered at a haunt before, and the laid back fun and back and forth with the well made up scare attendants was really well done.

Although the trail wasn’t packed with actors, they made up for it with enthusiasm and some good haunt game. Also, with the Ring Leader and the Sergeant acting as gate keepers for the trail, there’s no danger of running into a group in front of you. Several people have asked us about being touched.

Your experience may vary, but I thought Camp Liberty did the physical interaction well. Yes, we got crowded, grabbed, herded, and even maybe a encouraged with a mild push, but we were not knocked around or man-handled, and all the contact was on the arms, shoulders, and back.

The $20 ticket price makes The Haunt at Camp Liberty even more attractive, especially if you hang out for a while and soak in the fun.

Wear boots and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. Since you can’t exactly change right there at the haunt, wear a shirt you can take off before getting in your car. A change of shoes might be a good idea too. Bring some paper towels or baby wipes.

A couple things could use a little adjustment:

Miss Alma Tori needs some chairs or a bench in front of her booth. It was a little weird standing at her booth, trying to lean over the table to hear her.

Also, maybe some cheap paper towels for your visitors who forget to bring their own 🙂