Twisted Trails (Wilmington, OH)
“Experience The Halloween Spirit”
By Noah Wullkotte: jollypumpkin@aol.com
Twisted Trails is Wilmington, Ohio’s newest nightmare. This spooky haunted trail takes place at Camp Kirkwood. We were excited to see what this haunt had to offer in the way of scares and we had a frightful time exploring the various scenes. This is City Blood’s 2019 review of Twisted Trails in Wilmington, OH.
Twisted Trails consists mostly of a short wagon ride and a very lengthy haunted trail. The wagon ride is pretty unique with many of the scenes involving spiders. Music plays on speakers connected to the wagon as you try to escape. This makes the experience more immersive. Itsy Bitsy Spider played as we explored different areas. There were two young girls on the wagon with us and they were petrified. They would jump out of their seats at the slightest sound or if an animatronic was activated.
The wagon ride is very brief and the highlight of the experience is of course the haunted trail. We timed the haunt at 31 minutes which is impressive. Twisted Trails has a back-story that involves the collector who tries to retrieve his collection of vampires, witches, werewolves and more. This is a haunt that has a variety of scenes with many classic monsters you know and love.
You will come face to face with witches. One can be seen burning at the stake. This was a pretty neat scene that featured impressive lighting and lots of fog. If there’s a fear or phobia that you have then it will most likely be found at Twisted Trails. One of my favorite scenes involved an outside tea party featuring a little girl/doll with blue glowing eyes on a rocking horse. You’ll go one on one with werewolves that howl at the moon. These werewolves take many forms and there’s even a large werewolf head that attacks.
Twisted Trails has some unique characters. The rabbit with a crank siren was very unexpected. It’s obvious that a lot of time has been invested into Twisted Trails. There are some scenes that are downright gorgeous and very realistic. I couldn’t get over the giant jack-o’-lantern that we were forced to enter. It felt like we were actually entering a pumpkin with its seeds and all.
Twisted Trails does a great job with its lighting which gives many of the scenes a spooky glow. The soundtrack that accompanies certain scenes is also good. This is a haunt that has something for everyone. This includes a cornfield, a broken down carnival, a vampire confrontation and much more. There are also some high tech props that add to the overall experience. I was attacked by a massive pumpkin and there were so many different types of claustrophobia tunnels. The laser swamp had me wondering what type of creature was hiding.
The actors do a good job and were obviously well trained. The gentleman in the cornfield had me cracking up and there were a few times where I felt very uneasy. Now there are some issues. There were too many dead spots where nothing was happening. The wagon ride could be improved and feature more scenes instead of mostly focusing on spiders. But overall we were impressed especially considering that Twisted Trails is a brand new haunt.
It took us 31 minutes from beginning to end. Tickets are $20, a Fast Pass is $30 and there’s a $5 discount for groups of 20 or more. Extreme Night takes place on Thursday, October 24th. Every Friday all active police, fire and EMT receive free admission. You must have valid identification. Each season Twisted Trails donates to the Veterans Ticket Foundation. Please visit www.twistedtrailshaunt.com for more information. There’s a variety of concessions available including mini homemade donuts, hot chocolate, Twisted Trails memorabilia and much more. The ticket booth is decorated with pumpkins which helps get you into the Halloween spirit.
Twisted Trails has a bright future ahead. It features beautiful lighting, a great cast of characters and some creative scenes. You should definitely visit them and don’t let The Collector get you.
Length-10 Design-7 Props/Animatronics-8 Acting-8 Scare Effect-8
Final Stab: 8.2
www.twistedtrailshaunt.com