Summer’s transition into fall means something a little different to everyone: for kids, it signifies the beginning of another school year, for football fans, it means game season is nearly upon us, and for horror and paranormal enthusiasts it means that Halloween is creeping just around the corner!
Halloween may only last one night, but its diehard fans will celebrate the spooky national holiday all month long! In between last-minute costume planning and horror movie marathons, thousands of Americans enjoy the thrill of testing their nerves by visiting the hottest haunts of the year.
With the surge of interest in escape rooms and other thrilling attractions it’s fairly easy to find an adrenaline rush near you. Here’s our picks for the top 10 haunted houses in the U.S., in no particular order:
This Rosharon, TX haunt features three terrifying haunted houses at one location including: the 288 Scare Factory themed as the mobile viral genetic research facility of Nouveau Genesis Corporation gone awry, The Dark Woods area of dense forest located behind the Nouveau Genesis Corporation, and Pitch Black which is a holding facility adjacent to Nouveau Genesis located at Creepy Hollow.
Located inside an abandoned 150,000 sq. ft. aluminum foundry in Canton, Ohio this haunt features five full attractions, totaling over a mile in length including: The Asylum, Industrial Nightmare, the Labyrinth of Darkness, Massacre on Mahoning, and the House of Nightmares. Also available on the premises are 6 escape rooms The Factory of Terror has won the Guinness World Record 3 times as the Longest Indoor Haunted Attraction in the world.
From the city all you can hear are the screams resonating from fields on the farm. Located on the outskirts of Phoenix lies a farmland that is home to one of the scariest places in Arizona. Fear Farm is the largest outdoor haunted attraction in the valley, with 30 acres of pure terror, consisting of 6 indoor/outdoor haunted attractions, plus the Phoenix Haunted Hayride.
Haunted Hollow in Rockwood, PA offers 5 attractions; Bruner Boarding House, Milford Asylum, HollowWood Haunted Hayride, Toxic Wasteland, and Dead End Cornfield. The state-of-the-art special effects, highly-detailed scenes, custom digital soundtracks, computerized lighting, and talented actors make Haunted Hollow a frightening experience unlike any other. Guests looking to extend their evening can test their puzzle solving skills in Haunted Hollow’s escape room as they race against the clock to find their way out.
Headless Horseman Hayrides & Haunted Houses
The 250 year-old farm in Ulster Park, NY incorporates over sixty-five acres of naturally landscaped property including foreboding woods, surreal ponds, fruit orchards and more. This unique, immersive experience with a theme that changes each Halloween season, this year featuring a theatrical one-mile hayride, corn maze, seven haunted attractions that will surely terrify any guest.
No mere roadside attraction, the Niles Scream Park takes you on a trip through the scariest, creepiest, most-blood curdling attractions this side of the continental divide. Cringe as you tiptoe through three unique haunted houses! Cower as you jostle along on the haunted hayride! Flee frightening apparitions in the Field of Screams! Taunt your brain in our speed escape rooms! Experience our most intense attraction for adults only, HOODED (waiver required).
Spooky Ranch at Rockin’-R- Ranch
The Columbia, OH site contains multiple attractions that cater to all fear levels – from the calm Old West Pumpkin Fest to the Extreme Nightmares Haunted House, which is known for its extreme gore, blood, guts and actors getting up close and personal. The Famous Haunted Hayride is a twenty five minute experience that combines scary with humor and surprises supplemented with pyrotechnics and larger than life thirty foot tall animated creatures.
Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary
Brand new for 2016, guests to Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia will have the chance to experience the next level of interactivity by taking The Hex Challenge. Six new secret rooms have opened and are scattered throughout the penitentiary complex where visitors will be dared to step further into the story, to become part of the action, to take on challenges and ultimately, to escape the massive haunted prison. A secret room will be included in each of the facility’s six haunted attractions.
Terror in the Corn opened its doors in 2001 and has grown into one of the largest Haunted Attractions in Colorado. It is a three part event you won’t soon forget. The experience begins by climbing into an interactive and totally enclosed trailer that drops you in the middle of a dark and sinister Corn Maze. Those fortunate enough to escape it’s twisted path are ‘welcomed’ into a Haunted Ghost Town where nightmares greet you at every turn. If you are faint of heart, you might prefer our second attraction, Zombie Paintball Hunt, shooting zombies from the relative safety of our Eradication Vehicle. We also offer a paintball gallery, escape rooms and much, much more… Located at Anderson Farms in Erie, a ticket for either attraction gives you the opportunity to spend the entire day with family and friends on the property enjoying our massive Fall Festival.
Milwaukee, WI holds the scariest overnight excursion with “Night Terrors: 13 Hours of FEAR!” The immersive experience provides tents for fear seekers to sleep in with the nights’ activities will include a fright trail through the woods, a scavenger hunt, bonfire ghost stories and scary movies played on a large inflatable screen.
What’s your favorite haunt experience of all time? What kind of monster or baddie really gets your blood pumping? We’d love to hear!
