Hey everyone Brian here and I just visited the Field of Screams located in Lancaster, PA yesterday. While I still have all of the horrific images in my mind I wanted to share my thoughts on the Haunted/Horror attraction as a whole. I went with a group of 8 friends, which included my fiancee, as the first in many haunted hayrides/houses to be visited this Halloween season. Before we get into the meat of this "review" I want to say that the Field of Screams was easily one of the most unique and fun haunted hayrides that I have been to in years. For $33, we had a pass to all four attractions which included; the Haunted Hayride, the Den of Darkness, Frightmare Asylum, and the Nocturnal Wasteland.
So let me jump right into the attractions in the order that we experienced throughout the night.
Den of Darkness:
This was my favorite of the 3 haunted house attractions and for good reason.You begin in what appears to be a typical run down cabin/house but you are soon thrown into a nice mixture of a demented slaughter house, and a run down bar room. But the two best areas in my opinion start with a secret crawl space through a fireplace, that you actually have to get on your hands and knees in order to navigate through the darkness with only a sliver of light ahead of you black. Not long after that you will go into a pitch black maze, no light what so ever and there are plenty of creatures lurking. I don't care if you have never had a single claustrophobic moment in your life, when the room becomes smaller you will have flashes of being trapped. With a nice scare at the end that I do not want to spoil, this is an excellent attraction.
Frightmare Asylum:
The second attraction that we visited and it was obviously based on an insane asylum with complete with a dizzying checkerboard room, a gruesome autopsy room (with accompanying smells) and a nice homage to the silent hill video games. All throughout the asylum you will find that the "patients" have escaped and are quite interested in you. In addition you will see plenty of demented Dr's offices with all sorts of insane experiments which include aliens and other creatures. One of the most interesting portions of the maze is best described as a black tunnel that tightens all around you, basically like a blood pressure cuff or a vagina (sorry I like to remain classy). All around this was another great attraction, but not as memorable as the Den of Darkness.Nocturnal Wasteland:
The 3rd attraction is unique to the majority of any other attraction that we have been to before. As you walk past scenes of an apocalyptic wasteland towards an abandoned ice cream truck thoughts of Mad Max, Fallout or even Bioshock will rush through your head. What I enjoyed the most about this attraction is that 90% of the walk through will have you navigating through woods that are infested with mutant creatures of all sorts. In addition you will pass through underground sewage tunnels, with all the appropriate smells and sounds you would expect. A major highlight of the attraction would definitely be the electrical plant fitted with what appears to be a giant plasma globe, and of course all of the electricians are packing tazers to "shock" you. I am a sucker for foggy wood scenes, so I really enjoyed this attraction, it would probably be my second favorite of the 3 "walking" attractions.
Haunted Hayride:
Now onto the finale, the haunted hayride and oh boy is this one done right.While you wait for the enormous tractor trailer, holding up to 50 people, to pull up you can enjoy various clips and trivia questions from a wide array of horror films. I may not remember each stop of the hayride but I will do my best to recap. In the majority of the stops you are in an enclosed area, aside from the redneck infested deliverance style woods complete with gun shots and leaking gasoline. One area reminded me of an old pirate hangout complete with a nice beheading. My personal favorite had to have been the chainsaw house, which once the doors closed the lights go out for a few moments only to be broken up with the sound of chainsaw wielding lunatics and strobe lights, and lets not forget you will be touched with the chainsaws but don't worry I survived. Other areas included an old green house over run with giant spiders, snakes and zombies. Let me not forget what self respecting hayride would not have a haunted carnival, which had one particularly cool effect that I do not want to spoil. I did want to mention we had some very nervous/excitable people on our ride who would literally jump from one side of the tractor to the other and we visibly shaken, which made it that much more hilarious for me.Let me finish up with the concession/general areas. The main entrance is complete with a huge stone archway lit up by torches on both pillars and a giant skeleton animatronic. As you walk in you will most likely be greeted by some of the actors attempting, and in some cases, to scare you into the right mood. The food trucks/carts have all the typical hayride fair you would expect, everything from corn-dogs, pulled pork, cookies, funnel cake, hot cider, hot chocolate and even fried Oreo's! I have to admit that everything we sampled (hot cider, caramel apple, kettle corn, chocolate chip cookies) were all disappointing. The cider reminded us of the cheap instant store brand ciders and had an overall burnt plastic taste. The cookies were as hard as hockey pucks and the kettle corn tasted slightly stale. There are also a variety of carnival style games to help pass the time such as toss the mutated zombie head through the hoop (basketball).
Overall, food aside, this is an awesome place and definitely different from the majority of haunted hayrides/attractions. The field of screams hayride is easily one of the best and the combination of atmosphere, sights, smells, top grade actors will make this one terrifyingly fun night for anyone looking to be scared.
If you would like to learn more about the Field of Screams click here.
As I continue to visit other haunted houses and hayrides throughout the season I will keep posting my thoughts. Let me know what you think below! Until next time! Muhahahaha (Evil Laugh)
