DC’s ostensibly favorite Haunted Attractions of Halloween season 2025 (North American edition) *

* (Halloween countdown post #11)

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Arx Mortis at Ghosthill (Killen, AL)
‘The Book of Nine has been unearthed. Its ancient pages laden with dark secrets and whispered horrors. Within its confines, five haunting narratives await. As you immerse yourself in each tale, you are drawn deeper challenging you to confront your deepest fears with every turn of the page.’

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A Haunting in Hollis (Queens Village, NY)
A Haunting in Hollis is one of the scariest haunted houses in Queens and is certainly going to be one of the most frightful experiences you’ll have this season. This haunted house is set up in a residential neighborhood. It’s so frightening you’ll have to sign a hold-harmless waiver to enter! You wouldn’t think you’d find such a scary place in a normal neighborhood, but here it is! The entire property is decked out in scary decor. They really go all out! Inside the home, you’ll be met with three floors of terror. There are two pitch-black mazes outside where you’ll have nothing but a flashlight to guide you.

 

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Nightmare on Edgewood (Indianapolis, IND)
‘Going into their 48th season, Nightmare on Edgewood is Indiana’s most extreme haunted house. The nightmare will be returning with three haunted houses: Unhinged, The Factory, and Conley Farm. This will be the final season for Edgewood under its current ownership, as the haunt is up for sale. So get your a$$ out there and support this haunt in its final season in its current form! This is a full touch haunt but they also sell chicken vests for those who do not prefer to be touched.’

 

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ScareHouse: The Basement (Pittsburgh)
A scare so terrifying that it requires you to have a safe word – just in case you can’t make it through the whole haunted attraction? Bunny. That’s your safe word, should you need to use it. Once you do use it, you’ll be escorted out of the terrifying haunted attraction, forfeiting your admission fee. Before you can descend into The Basement, you must sign a waiver, asserting you are 18 years old or older. If you have a heart condition, respiratory problems, or are pregnant, you’ll probably want to avoid The Basement, which features a full menu of twists that will include… Low lighting, water, electricity exposure, and sometimes total darkness. Should you decide to enter The Basement, you can go alone or with only one other person.

 

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The Fear Experiment (Danville, IL)
“Are you familiar with the concept of lucid dreaming, Mr. Higgins?” the bearded man asks as he studies me from the other side of the table. I look up from the paperwork in front of me and assure the man that I am indeed quite familiar with the concept. The idea that I could recognize I’m dreaming and change the outcome of the dream is a tantalizing one and I’m apparently not the only one to think so. “Project Sandman,” the man continues, “will chemically induce lucid dreaming and allow you to confront your deepest fear. Once this fear is confronted, you will wake up and live a life without fear. Are you ready?” His offer sounds good to me. I’m just signing my life away to a secret government organization operating out of a basement somewhere in Danville, IL. I’m sure no harm will come of it. I’m sure the woman writhing in agony on the nearby TV screen isn’t problematic either. Nope, everything is good here! “Yes, I’m rea…” Before I can even finish my sentence, a young woman with unkempt hair and a tear-stained face bursts into the room and points a pistol right at the man’s head.

 

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Miasma (Chicago, IL)
‘This haunt isn’t for everyone. “We’ve had past guests leave angry because they didn’t think miasma was what horror should be and took offense to the non-traditional content and the sickening feeling they left with.” He explains that the Midwest is not accustomed to this kind of terror immersion and as such, “it’s important to me to make sure our guests know, as best as I can allow without spoilers, this isn’t a ‘boo haunt’ and they should be prepared for content they won’t experience in the local haunts. It’s too easy for a guest, new to this, to purchase a ticket, influenced by the commoditizing ideas proprietors of local horror have embraced and sold to them for years in Chicago.”’

 

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The Wicker Manor (Denver)
Our home haunt has been a labor of love for years. Each October, we transform our ordinary home into a nightmarish wonderland of scares and thrills. Expect a Halloween experience like no other. We’ve poured our blood, sweat, and fake cobwebs into creating a mesmerizing spectacle that will leave you breathless. From terrifying monsters lurking in the shadows to jaw-dropping special effects that will send shivers down your spine, our haunt promises to be a visual and emotional rollercoaster.

 

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Dominion of Terror (Sheboygan, WI)
We are celebrating 50 YEARS OF TERROR in 2024 and is the longest running haunted house in Wisconsin! Come celebrate half a century of screams and scares at Dominion of Terror, where nightmares come to life! With our 50 years of expertise in creating spine-chilling terror, you’re guaranteed a heart-pounding experience like no other. Get ready to navigate through our haunted house, packed with twisted corridors, eerie surprises, and horrifying creatures lurking in the shadows. Whether you’re a thrill-seeker or just looking for a ghoulishly good time, Dominion of Terror promises an unforgettable night of fear and fun.

 

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Kirby Farm Scary Train (Williston, FL)
‘The Scary Train is an intense environment with darkness, gunfire, strobe lights, fog machines, fire, live reptiles, spiders, other critters, loud noises, and small spaces! You may get wet! You are not allowed to touch actors. Actors will not touch you, you may experience a duster, grabber, or other harmless prop. No guests, under any circumstances may enter the event area in costume or with any costume makeup on for the safety of our guest and Scare Squad members.’

 

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The Haunted Hills Hayride (Partlow, VA)
Deep in the woods of Spotsylvania County (Partlow, VA) the hills come will come alive in 2024. It all begins with a DARK haywagon ride; dropping you off deep in the OMINOUS woods. You will fear your journey through nearly a mile of live ghouls, zombies, clowns, mazes, and various other scares. It is intense and not recommended for children under 12, those with medical conditions, or the faint of heart (see the WARNING link). You are paying to be scared and that is what The Haunted Hill intends to do.

 

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Hallowheelslv presents Trapped (Las Vegas)
The drive-in experience is designed to be enjoyed from inside your car as an innovative solution to the social distancing challenges. Trapped will take place all around your vehicle, which is located within a haunted pod, using projection technology and a spooky soundtrack on your car’s radio. “You will experience intense audio, lighting, low visibility, fog, strobe lights, special effects, sudden loud sounds and actions in this psychologically demanding environment,” the website warns. Trapped tells the story of a desolate earth where governments have fallen and ‘order has been replaced by chaos, hope by fear, and life by death’. Trapped features mobs, bombs, hostiles and deadly traps.

 

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Mount Mayhem (Phoenix, AZ)
Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. NO EXCEPTIONS! Only one time through the haunt and no repeat customers on the same night. Please be patient as we try to get the line in as fast as we can. Trust us, we want to scare you. Please respect our neighbors and do not sit or loiter after you have finished your scare. Our doors close at 9:30pm. Our last group will let in at 9:20pm. Plan accordingly. Reservations and walk ups will be allowed this year. No groups larger than 5 people at a time. Bigger groups will be split. NO EXCEPTIONS! We reserve the right to refuse entry to anyone!

 

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Wolfmans House Of Screams (Carl Junction, MO)
Wolfmans House of Screams in Carl Junction, Missouri, has been in operation since 2003 and was started by Reggie ‘The Wolfman.’ This family-friendly attraction is an old-school classic haunt with a grungy, vintage vibe. Wolfmans is a classic old-school haunt, and it really shows in the set design in a good way. It feels vintage, almost like you’re walking through a haunted antique shop, and overall gives a very grungy vibe while keeping in the Halloween spirit. It’s a classic haunt that makes appropriate changes and updates while keeping in the spirit of what it’s been since 2003.

 

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Haunted Hoochie (Pataskala, OH)
We set out to stand out. Haunted Hoochie is a full sensory assault. Taking you by the throat and dragging you down the rabbit hole and into the realm of a heart pounding in your face horror show. Performed nightly right before your very eyes. If you are wondering if your kids are too young then your kids are too young. So leave em at home. And that goes for babies. It ruins our good time to turn around and see your freaked out infant. Whats wrong with you??? If you’re worried about being touched don’t come. We want you to have a fun safe time but its large crowds in tight spaces. Our monsters will scare the shit out of you.

 

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Stabbys Funhouse of Horror (Roseburg, OR)
Annual haunted house put on by The Roseburg Fright Club is an all volunteer group, interested in helping the youth in our area….. Many of the folks involved in this nomadic haunt have been around for centuries…. Err since 1993. From our humble beginnings at Eastwood Elementary School, we have been located all over the greater Roseburg Area. From school gyms to empty warehouses, to the Fairgrounds and now back downtown at the Roseburg Elks Lodge. Come visit if you dare!!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhhaaaaaaaaaaaa! “This place is Hell’s waiting room.”

 

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Dread Hollow (Chattanooga, TN)
Chattanooga’s award-winning haunted attraction is back with 3 new haunted house experiences. Tortured souls, bewitching whispers, and monstrous evil exact their Vengeance in the tainted town of Dread Hollow! Dread Hollow is not recommended for children under the age of 12.

 

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The Blackness (Plainview, TX)
The legend of “The Blackness” started in the late 1950’s with a hideously deformed warehouse worker named Dominique. “Dom” worked night and day to repair the mechanical workings of the produce facility, but because of his condition, he couldn’t keep up. He was constantly the target of abuse and ridicule by people at work and around town. When the plant shut down in the fall of ’78, Dom was left penniless and homeless. With nowhere to live, he went back to the only place he knew, the old abandoned warehouse. Angry at how he had been mistreated, he took his anger out on the people that caused him pain. The city became victim to a string of bizarre disappearances. The community was stunned when detectives finally found the decomposing remains of all who were missing inside the old warehouse. The grounds of the produce warehouse are now tainted with the blood of many, and each Fall, its lights glow dimly as Dom returns to complete unfinished business. So do you have the nerve to enter The Blackness and make it all the way through?

 

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The Haunting Experience (Cottage Grove, MN)
Welcome to The Haunting Experience, the scariest of all the Halloween attractions and haunted houses in Minnesota. It is located just a few minutes south of St. Paul, along Highway 61 in Cottage Grove. We invite you to visit us this October…if you dare.

 

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Raisin Hell Ranch (Madera, CA)
Raisin Hell Ranch is one of the most terrifying haunted attractions in California’s Central Valley. Known for its extreme and intense scares, this haunt produces a nightmarish realm of psychotic freaks and depraved maniacs.

 

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Booger Jim’s Hollow (Blacksburg, SC)
Come with friends never alone. It is now time for you to start your epic journey through the seemingly endless hollow that is Booger Jim’s Haunted Trail. If you are brave enough to make it through the trail your horrifying night is not yet over. You exit the trail and you enter into an unguided nightmare of a Real Haunted House that will send chills so far up your spine that you’ll feel it for a year.

 

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The Haunted World (Caldwell, ID)
Since the year 2000, we’ve perfected the art of fear. As the largest indoor and outdoor haunted attration and haunted house in the state, we offer more frightening entertainment than anyone else. We offer a spooky experience that is guaranteed to scare the pants off you, your friends, or your family. Expect around 1½ hours on weekdays, and around 2 hours on weekends, to experience The Haunted World.

There is no need to travel to Knotts Scary Farm, Universal Studios, or Salt Lake City, when the Largest Haunted Attraction in the western United States is RIGHT HERE in the Treasure Valley. Make no bones about it, our haunt rivals them all. It is not uncommon to have sweaty palms, discomforts in the bowel regions of your body, an irregular heart beat, and an uncontrollable urge to run… fast.

 

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Stag (Saginaw, MI)
Using terrifying real-life situations, STAG is sure to have you calling quits before getting to the finish line. Rather than relying on jump scares, STAG utilizes intense psychological distress through its horrific scenarios. Two hours away from Detroit, this haunted house offers two different levels: Extreme Haunt and Extreme Immersive Horror (EIH). Addiction, abuse, and sexual taboos are only a few of the realistic horrors covered. Physical touch, total darkness, sensory deprivation, nudity, cramped places, and electricity are all things that participants may anticipate.

 

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The Dent Schoolhouse (Cincinnati, OH)
The Dent Schoolhouse is Cincinnati’s HALLOWEEN Tradition. 2024 marks 28 seasons of scaring Cincinnati as a haunted house. The attraction is known as one of the most detailed haunted attractions in the United States and has been featured on BuzzFeed, Travel Channel, HGTV, E! and many more. The attraction actually takes place in an old haunted schoolhouse that was built in 1894. The Dent Schoolhouse is one of Cincinnati’s oldest running haunted house but has evolved with the times to become one of the most high tech haunts. Projection mapping, animatronics, over-sized puppets, air bags and more! The movie like sets make The Dent Schoolhouse a must visit on anyone’s haunted house list.

 

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Cutting Edge Haunted House (Fort Worth, TX)
Located in a 100-year-old abandoned meat packing plant in a section of Fort Worth historically dubbed as “Hell’s Half Acre,” the Cutting Edge Haunted House is built upon a foundation of fear. The meat packing equipment from the Old West is still in use, but now it is a two-story human processing area. Realistic looking human mannequins are hoisted up to the second level and brought through the entire meat packing process until the conveyor system brings the butchered corpses back to the first level. The old meat-packing plant in downtown Fort Worth is a great home for the fantastic special effects that our loyal customers have come to expect. It takes visitors an average 55 minutes to explore Cutting Edge Haunted House. This walk-through haunted house is frighteningly realistic.

 

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Wilkes Family Halloween (Bensenville, IL)
Located in the West Suburbs of Chicago, the Wilkes Family has become known over the years for their elaborate interactive, walkthrough Halloween yard displays that pay homage to classic horror movies. This year’s Elm Street display includes an awesome nod to the iconic “Welcome to primetime, bitch!” death scene from Dream Warriors, and the Wilkes family even recreated Johnny Depp’s death scene from Wes Craven’s original film. They rigged up a “blood waterfall” and constructed a bed around it, making it look like blood is shooting up out of the mattress.

 

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The Victim Experience (Las Vegas)
Think of the Victim Experience as a realistic and visceral simulation of pretty much every violent crime you can imagine, with you in the role of victim, and you won’t be far wrong. The Victim Experience is not only physically brutal, but like any good rite of passage it will test your mind, body, and soul, and leave its marks on them all as well. It is not fun, not one second of it.

What’s Included in a Ticket Purchase: Orientation and safety class (on site) with refreshments. This is where you will meet your fellow “Victims”. Last Rites with Pope Satanus. Your official trip through the immersive “The Gates of Hell: Uncensored”, filled with various horrors, challenges, obstacles, and aberrations. Decompression and debriefing in heated tent with your fellow Victims and the creators of the event. This includes hot drinks, cold beverages, and snacks. Option to stay on site and watch other Victims in subsequent time slots attempt to make it through.

 

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Barrett’s Haunted Mansion (Abington, MA)
During most of the year Mary Costello is busy running her restaurant, the Abington Ale House, in Abington, Massachusetts. But every Halloween season, things get considerably more scary behind the beloved restaurant. Barrett’s Haunted Mansion is a labor of love for all involved. Along with their two haunted houses that are changed each year, they also offer special nights like Bite & Fright, a Lights on Tour, and extreme nights for guests who don’t mind being touched in total darkness for an extra scary experience.

 

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Twisted Fears (Clinton Township, MI)
‘Twisted Fears is an amazing Home Haunt, that does a killer job transporting you in to a creepy, Erie environment that will get plenty of jump scares out of you! when and if, you make it out, you will be surprised to know that you were only in a garage! lots of fun, well designed and executed Home Haunting excellence!’

 

 

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p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Thanks. The festival was the most mainstream festival we’ve shown the film at it, and RT was kind of a fish out of water. But it went okay. Hof itself is very, very much not interesting. It was a long three days. But hey. How’ve you been? Love feeling very happy to be back in Paris, G. ** scunnard, Hi, J. If you mean interested in RT, we would love to show the film there if there is an opportunity. Cool: the Transmissions thing. Everyone, Here is the mighty Jared Pappas-Kelley with a hot tip: ‘We are putting together a new special writing theme edition of ‘Transmissions: Queer States’ that is being edited by Jordan A. Rothacker and me. Here’s more info about the open call if people are interested or want to get the word out. ** Dr. Kosten Koper, Hey! A conundrum indeed. Oh, awesome that you can make the Ghent screening and we can meet. I’ll be a little flustered as I always am in those situations, but don’t let that stop you. Great! ** Charalampos, I get it about being phoneless, but phonelessness is also very depressing. I’m okay with the poster. People seem to like it, so who am I to quibble, I guess. Nice flower action there. Greetings back from moody Paris. ** jay, Hi, jay! Cool, glad his stuff spoke to you. Good to know about the Haneke organ. I’ll try to pop in. I was in Ghent once before in the 80s when I was living in Amsterdam, and all I remember is its prettiness. ‘Try’ is from the title of a Bob Mould/Sugar B-side song called ‘Try (Again)’. ‘Guide’ is re: Guided by Voices. ‘Frisk’ and ‘Period’ don’t have sources unless my brain counts. Good to see you, pal. ** _Black_Acrylic, Yes, RIP Dave Ball. Those first two Soft Cell albums are so great. I’ll go see what Lauren Gault’s work is all about, thank you! ** julian, Lucky, lucky, lucky you about the haunted housing. My LA friends keep sending me pix and vids of the haunts there which is borderline killing me. What are you cooking up for that performance art class, pray tell? I think on Halloween I’m going to this park here that is doing some kind of spooky makeover for the night. There’s really no other option. Have so much fun! ** stephan, Hi, stephan. It’s really good to meet you. Thank you for coming in. Well, if you’d come to the festival that would have been really nice for me, but, honestly, the place and to some degree the festival were kind of dreary. We’ll show the film in Berlin at some point, and maybe elsewhere in Germany, so hopefully there’ll be another chance. Thank you so much for the kind words about my work and the blog. Hof was, well, … the three days we spent there felt like three weeks, to put it simply. And it rained non-stop the whole time. Still, it’s always nice to show people the film. Well, now that you’ve entered, do hang out here if you feel like it. I’d like to learn more about you and yours if you’re so inclined. Take good care. ** Bill, They’re fun. Most of them. His films. No huge beer steins, but there were lots of festival schmooze parties and things that I completely avoided. ** l@rst, Thanks! ** DonW, Hey, Don! Great to see you, bud! Oh, probably, about that incongruous gif. I rely on the accuracy of google’s gif providing function and its supposed accuracy, but of course that’s naive. Yes, my dad was close friends with Richard Nixon early on, and one of my brothers is named after him, yes. They had a big falling out while I was still very young. I only have one faint memory of seeing Nixon and Pat in our living room once. I can’t imagine he followed my writing. I think their falling out was pretty tempestuous. (My dad had been a Republican, but in the 60s he did drugs and started hanging pout at this hippie-ish place called Esalen Institute and turned into a liberal Democrat, and that was one of the big reasons that he Nixon parted ways.) I hope you’re great too! ** darbz (¬ ´ཀ` )¬, Howdy! I was in a town called Hof. It was in Bavaria. It was very boring. I never really liked sugary breakfast cereal for some reason. Raisin Bran is about as sugary as I got. Well, and Frosted Flakes sometimes, okay. I liked Grape Nuts. That was my go-to. In Hof I ate Turkish food, Indian food, pizza, and some kind of meatless German stuff that they served at my hotel because it was free. No, haha, it wasn’t Armin’s house … sadly? Just a little, extremely old fashioned hotel called Hotel Strauss. ** Steve, Hi. It was kind of a weird experience. Hof was at one time an important festival. Fassbinder, Herzog, and other directors of that ilk go their starts there. But it’s not that anymore. It’s a festival where directors who make somewhat artful conventional films go hoping to make connections and find distribution, and our film was a real weirdo there. We had three screenings. One was sold out and got a great response. The other two were barely attended and the audience seemed completely confused. So it was curious. I’m glad you found a way to create interesting associations with the colonoscopy. Good work! Hope the results are A-okay. Awesome about the Husker Du box. I’ll try to get it. I’m a little spaced this morning but I didn’t understand the question about song/album titles? ** Carsten, Yay, man! What great news! Wow, that wasn’t so lengthy and hard after all. If you’re ready to go with UnCollected Press then, yes, I would write to the others and say you’ve found a publisher just put of courtesy. We had one great screening at Hof, so we’re happy. The festival was not really our thing, but it was nice to see that the film could get a really good response in such an unlikely context. ** Nicholas., Dude, nice, congrats, enjoy, and all of that stuff. I haven’t worn a costume since I was a kid, and I don’t think I’m costume kind of guy, so I have no idea. But I want to hear what yours was. LA Halloween is great if you like haunted houses. I’m not sure what the other Halloween stuff is like. I’ll go look at your new misnumbered Vlog then. ** Michael Stamm, Hi, Michael Stamm. Welcome! Drat, another incorrect gif. I’ll go back and excise it. Thanks. What’s up with you and yours? ** Uday, Hi. I’m happy to hear the issues are resolving. I just looked to see if there’s a term for outsized bug movies, and it seems they’re just called Giant Insect Movies. How boring. Romantic infatuations that go nowhere can be good for one’s writing or at least one’s poetry. So there’s that if nothing else. ** Steeqhen, Hey. Halloween is very soon, so good luck checking everything off your list. Like I’ve said, I don’t have social media on my phone, so that keeps it under control. Those are some solid upsides. You can try to teleport some of those dreams into my head because, as you know, I remember a dream maybe once every two months if I’m lucky. ** HaRpEr //, Howdy. We won over one of our three screening audiences, and that was enough to make it worthwhile. Zac and I are going to the Ghent screening. Zac is going to the Bainbridge Island screening. And then we’re going to a screening in Houston which isn’t listed up there yet. Busy enough. The clocks changed? I wonder if that happened here. Weird. I only have one friend who saw Joy Division live. I think they were opening for Buzzcocks. I remember him telling me ‘the singer’ was an ’embarrassing spaz’. I doubt he still feels that way. ** Okay. Halloween continues today with a haunted attraction guide for you US folks and spooky window shopping for the rest of you. See you tomorrow.