Haunted houses pop up all over this country but some go above and beyond to scare the pants off of you. The Travel Channel has gone out of its way to seek out the best of the best and it would be a shame not to share the wealth with you.
Eastern State Penitentiary – in Philadelphia, PA stands a terrifying haunted building that used to house such convicts as Al Capone. The building was abandoned for 30 years, so the owners use its crumbling interior to build high startle spooks. Also in Philly is the Fright Factory, a three part high-startle attraction that uses gore to distract its patrons then startles them with live actors. Its three parts are a high school full of zombies, a village of the damned, and an asylum for the insane.
The Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride is our spooky outdoor ride – in Gatesville, PA, this ride takes you through many stages out in the woods including a saw mill, an old New England cemetery, a mine shaft, and an asylum where the insane roam free. The ride uses a ton of actors who all delight in making it a high action, high startle attraction. Another high startle attraction is Thrillvania in Terrell, TX. This haunted house was designed by a former Disney Imagineer who uses the legend of the house’s former owners, a supposed werewolf master and his vampire wife, to scare the pants off its visitors. A lot of diversion is used here to allow for actors to jump out and scare you.
Another Texas haunt is the Hangman’s House of Horrors – in Fort Worth. This maze of terror has the patron visiting all the historic villains, including egyptian mummies and Blackbeard’s lair. It traps you in a psychedelic obstacle course and a huge moving tunnel that tricks your eyes into thinking the floor is moving out from under you. The best part is it’s a charity attraction and all the actors are volunteers. In northern California, you can visit the Pirates of Emerson, a 15 year old attraction that has a beached boat, a twisting tunnel lines with the bones of the dead, and a maze in a haunted lagoon. The only way out is to go through the pirate’s lair and through the ghost ship. This family run establishment has no gore, relying on surprise to scare you.
The Chamber of Chills – in Bakersfield, CA is a maze outside. It has three themes- a pain forest where tribesman try to sacrifice you, dollhouse dreams and nightmares where dolls take over human hosts, and the fortress of fiends, a post apocalyptic area filled with half human, half animal cross breeds. Also in California is The Queen Mary, a retired ocean liner that now serves as a hotel and house for old spirits. The patrons use its haunted history to terrify its guests. Maybe if you visit The Queen Mary, you’ll see a ghost of your own.
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