Terror Town (Maumee, OH)
“Terror Around Every Corner”
By Noah Wullkotte: Jollypumpkin@aol.com
You’ll begin your trip through fear as you walk across a hallway full of ghostly busts. House of The Dead is a haunt full of high startle effects and scares. Many of these props you won’t see anywhere else in Ohio. Seamlessly dark rooms seem silent at first until some type of grizzly monster or cutting edge effect is activated. You’ll experience rooms like a birthday party with a corpse who’s hiding in the cake. Steps come alive as if a ghost was walking on them and massive monsters from the top prop companies in the haunt industry can be viewed at House of The Dead.
Like I said, House of The Dead features things you won’t experience at most haunts. One scene involves you walking past a nasty bathroom when suddenly a toilet breaks and splashes you with tons of water. I was soaked and wasn’t expecting that much water to hit me in the face. Sinister Scents would have added more realism to the scene. Imagine walking past a toilet that smells like feces and then having it spray you with water. Unfortunately realistic scents have not been used this year. They add another dimension to the haunt and hopefully they’re brought back.
House of The Dead has an amazing amount of props from newer and older companies. Night Scream Studios makes it presence known at this year’s haunt. Many of this company’s props can be seen at House of The Dead. I particularly enjoyed the animated bear bust who appeared to want to attack us. I would soon find out that only one copy of this animatronic was sold, but it’s still a great piece. Vicious Werewolves attack you as you enter the darkness and other great pieces from Night Scream Studios litter House of The Dead.
House of The Dead’s 120 foot vortex tunnel returns and is as good as it’s ever been. It has to be the longest in the United States and hopefully they keep expanding upon it to make it bigger and bigger. House of The Dead’s Hellevator is also back as well as many show stopping props. One of my favorite areas of this haunt is the outdoor graveyard. There’s so much going on with this section of the haunt, that it’s hard to process everything. It truly is a sensory overload.
You’ll enter a spooky graveyard full of tombstones, a fiber glass T-Rex, a rising pumpkin king, a forest of trees, a gargoyle and more. One of my personal favorites is the funeral procession that features ghosts that float while carrying a large coffin. A creepy zombie roams the graveyard as he carries a severed head in a sack on his back and has a large cross. The graveyard at House of The Dead is full of so many surprises, that it would be a crime to give everything away.
New this year is the impressive catwalk. You’ll be forced to walk past a bridge that has skeletons on both sides. It’s very dark and suddenly the boney freaks reach out and go for their attack. It will most likely be one of your highlights at House of The Dead. House of The Dead has many frightful highlights rather it be a man getting torn apart by a chainsaw or a massive hand that wants a piece of you. You won’t have time to take a breath at Toledo’s longest running haunt because there’s always something entertaining that lies ahead. House of The Dead is almost 25 minutes full of high impact scares. There are areas it could improve like hiding some of the speakers the animatronics use or making some of the scenes more detailed. There are too many areas that have impressive props, but little detail. Hopefully this is changed.
But overall, House of The Dead is a fun time and a great value at $20. You can purchase a combo ticket for both House of The Dead and Big Top Terror for $25 or $30 to skip the line. Children under 10 get in for ten dollars less. Kid Friendly Lights on Tours are Sunday October 30th from 1pm-4pm.Parent’s admission is free.
The next haunt on our agenda is Big Top Terror. Years ago this haunt was at Terror Town and was a big hit. In 2011 it returns and features some incredible artwork that is pretty startling and some of the best 3D artwork I’ve seen at a haunt. The artist finished all of the painting in 4 days which is an amazing accomplishment. Big Top Terror is like an old fashioned Fun House. You’ll come across dancing clowns, humorous props and more. Unfortunately the haunt only lasts around 5 minutes, but is still fun.
Terror Town is close to 40 minutes worth of entertainment with 2 distinctly different attractions. So, make a trip out to Maumee, OH for one of the best attractions around.
Final Stab For Each Haunt
House of The Dead: Length-10 Design-9 Props/Animatronics-10 Acting-8 Scare Effect-8 Final Stab: 9.0
Big Top Terror: Length-5 Design-6 Props/Animatronics-6 Acting-6 Scare Effect-6 Final Stab: 5.8
http://www.terrortown.net