Literally A Haunted House at The Culbertson Mansion (New Albany, IN)
“The Victorians Were Weird”
By Noah Wullkotte: jollypumpkin@aol.com
Wait in line as you’re greeted by a winged demon known as Lucy Phurr. Her assistant performs a trick or two before you’re off into the spooky graveyard. It’s filled with fog and possibly the living dead. The carriage house has been infested with squatters and vicious creatures that only the sick and twisted could come up with. Will you make it out alive?
Culbertson Mansion is an old school haunt with many homemade props and special effects. Every season, there’s a new theme and this year it’s Vintage Horrors. This is a charity haunt with a dedicated cast of characters. We spun around and around inside a box as an actor sang Ring Around the Rosie. The plague doctor went into detail about what the song Ring Around the Rosie meant. It refers to the red rings that would develop on a plague victim’s skins before developing into boils.
A crazed psycho tries to escape from his cage as he thrashes back and forth. Sit down and participate in a seance. Yes, you’re hearing voices and they’re all around you. The hospital is a very scary place at Culbertson Mansion. The doctors like to dismember their patients for the fun of it. Culbertson Mansion is known for their coffin ride and spinning room that will take you to the depths of hell. The carriage house has been infested with rats with one the size of a large dog. There are some little details here and there that some might not notice. One second we’re seeing tiny rats on the wall and then the next scene has a rat head busting out of the wall.
There were a few scenes here and there that weren’t very effective. One scene involves a woman who takes pictures of the dead for a living. I was told to sit down, but nothing happened as she pointed her camera. The Seance room would benefit from the table shaking or lights flickering off and on. These are just little things here and there that would make a few of the scenes more bone chilling.
Not everyone can handle the frightening characters and scenes inside the carriage house. Before entering you’ll notice a board that features the number of personal dampenings, quitters, barfers, crap-tastrophies, criers and pass-outs. Next to that board is a memes wall that features different funny sayings from customers. Don’t be these customers who bitch and wine about getting scared. Total tour time was 13 minutes give or take a few. Tickets are $15 and there’s a $2 off coupon available on their Facebook page. All profits made go towards the restoration of the Culbertson Mansion. Krampus takes place on December 17th and 18th from 7pm-11pm and tickets are $15.
Literally A Haunted House at The Culbertson Mansion is an old school haunt at heart with spooky scenes, some unique characters and a creepy setting. It’s one of the most reasonable haunts around with a few scenes you’re not going to experience anywhere else.
Length-7 Design-7 Props/Animatronics-7 Acting-8 Scare Effect-8
Final Stab: 7.4
www.hauntedculbertson.org