Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall 2013 Review

Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall (Cincinnati, OH)
“24 Years of Spookyness”
By Noah Wullkotte: Jollypumpkin@aol.com

24 years is a long time to have a successful haunted attraction. Think about all the different types of people that have walked through Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall and the actors who’ve volunteered over the years. It’s been a few years since I toured this Cincinnati favorite, but I was looking forward to see what was new and how it has evolved. When I showed up, I was pleasantly surprised by how crowded it was. It was the final night for the haunt and it was obvious that people wanted a good scare.

The queue line is decorated in a spooky fashion. A graveyard is very lively this time of night. A large tombstone says C.U.Later and there are masked actors scaring customers. A cage with a hanging bat is seen in the distance. There’s a human/canine hybrid by the name of Fido. He likes to chase customers and smell their fear. The front of the house features a grim reaper holding a lantern and there’s a sewer drain with skeletal remains. I was behind a group of teenage girls and I thought it would be interesting to see how they react as they walked through the haunt. It was their first time experiencing Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall and they wanted to have a big group. So, I decided to tag along.

Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall uses traditional themes like a haunted laboratory, Dracula’s coffin, and a witch’s cavern. The haunt isn’t kid friendly by any means, but it’s not one of those attractions that relies on gore and controversy. The haunt features some well known icons like Bug Boy. He can be found in the corpse wedding. Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is one of the first haunts in the area to use a vortex tunnel. It’s one of the best around and it’s built from the ground up. Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall uses other homemade props including their version of a Hellevator. Unfortunately, there’s not much to it except for an actor jumping up and down to create the sensation of a plummeting elevator car.

Over the years, many people have gotten lost inside the infamous black maze. Every season, the path is changed and it can be quite difficult if you’ve never walked through it. My group was in and out in less than 5 minutes, but you could easily be in there for 30 minutes or more. Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is pretty creative with its various rooms. The haunted jail forces you to take a seat in an electric chair and escape through an old cell. Let your life pass in front of you as you become human toast. The army bunker is very different as well.

You’ll experience scenes like a scarecrow forest, a hall of mirrors, a werewolf attack and more. One of my favorite effects is the half body illusion. A girl can be seen screaming in the distance, but she’s missing half of her body as she’s mounted on a pole. Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall has some scary scenes, but there are still too many child actors. They should be playing the victim role instead of the aggressor. The group in front of me had a great time. One of the girls even fell on her butt as she was being chased by a chainsaw maniac.

You’ll be out in 15 minutes, but it could last longer because of the confusing maze. Tickets are $10 a person. Bring a canned good and receive $2 off admission. Bring in two cans of soup (must be soup) on any Sunday to get $5 off your ticket. Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is a great deal considering it’s close to 20 minutes long and it can be as cheap as $5. There are plenty of concessions available like hot chocolate, popcorn, hot dogs, soda and more. You can’t beat the prices since most items are under a dollar. Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is a Cincinnati favorite and profits go towards Madonna Council Knights of Columbus and youth organizations. It’s a good haunt with a good cause.