Baldwin Asylum Haunted Attraction Review (2019)

During our visit, there were about 40 actors wandering the rooms of the Asylum and causing a great deal of fright throughout. For an 11,000 square foot haunt, there is plenty of room for actors to take in hiding spots and jump out for some crazy good scares.

Right from the moment of entering, we could hear some maniac just screaming guttural sounds just off in the distance. There was overall a good number of growlers throughout but plenty of dialogue as well. One actor had a sort of playful banter about her, but creepy none the less. She complemented the misses’ nails on how pretty they were (she is currently rocking some glow in the dark action) and warned her not to lose them in here, or her fingers, or head! She warned us that someone ahead might make us smile like she was smiling and then revealed deep gashes in her cheeks. She definitely had a demented look about her and was a good creep factor. Shortly after this, another actor played hide and seek with us! It was pretty fun to try and find her in the fogged-out area.

Down the line an actor wanted to preform surgery on us and invited either of us to get on his chair’ bad mistake to have taken him up on that. He pounced at me with his surgical tools and gave us a very memorable time.

These are just a few examples of some really great actors who went above and beyond for a good scare! I can always appreciate the extra time and effort they go through to make a guest’s evening.

All of the costuming gave off a very gory vibe throughout and it worked for BAHA. It was all suiting with the asylum theme we were thrown into and both patients and staff alike were very demented looking. The masks we have seen were really creative and consisted of some really high-quality looking pieces.

One of the actors on stilts had an amazing mask that was a respiratory breather of sorts with many tubes coming around every which way. Makeup applied was also pretty real looking. All of the ripped faces and bruises made it look like these patients and workers all had plenty of reason to have gone mad. The costuming we can recall was some pretty standard weathered hospital clothes and such, but it was very fitting to the theme. No one we noticed seemed out of place or were wearing normal clothes, so we could tell right always all of the creativeness put behind every actor we ran into that evening.

BAHA has a pretty great website that lists media links, The Curse (story behind the haunt), directions, ticket links and a way to contact with questions.

When we arrived, we saw that the building BAHA is in is the only one on the strip. It seems to have been used to house an appliance store of sorts and is now BAHA. Plenty of parking is available in the lot right in front and makes for an easy one stop visit. There were plenty of staff around helping direct traffic, as it was a very busy night on our visit.

At the end of the haunt was a truck outside with a few refreshments available to purchase as well as merch. The staff at that truck were really approachable and wanted to jot down everyone’s favorite parts of the haunt to give feedback to the staff and actors. It was very engaging to see that and how they appreciated all sorts of comments and feedback to take with them every night. Overall, great team!

When we approached BAHA it seemed fine. There was a line out the door of eager guests and some videos playing when inside part of the line and an actor in line getting pictures taken with guests, pretty standard stuff we thought’ until we met the face of BAHA.

When we reached the inside queue line, we were taken back a bit as it was seriously amazing! The cement work on the walls of the asylum had just the right cracks in it to make it look run down a tad, the whole interior looks like the outside of the asylum and sits two stories high, and there are even trees above that height! With amber colored lighting and worrying music playing throughout, it really sets the tone that there is something behind that door we have yet to see, and we were really in for a treat to say the least. It really is something to see in person because there is just so much to look at. It’s easy to see their team put much work into this project and starts as a great example of all else to see inside.

BAHA prides itself on hand making props and pairing them with proper effects, some of which really can mess with all of one’s senses. We have been to some really great haunts in our day, but BAHA has to have some of the most creative effects and ways to use them. It can range from simple things like having a well-placed actor using a stretcher properly to the blood spatter on curtains where we just make a silhouette of a insane doctor preforming surgery.

There did happen to be one room I recall where an actor was caged in behind a visitor’s glass on all four sides. When I stopped to admire the inside of the room and ignored his telling me to proceed, this actor scaled the wall and was ready to jump over! I think the use of the environment played a major role in proper effects and actually made me listen to what he had to say.

Another truly great (only when reflecting back) effect was the maze’ oh lord. This maze is essentially a 4×4 room spaced with an easy 20-30 rooms that are exactly the same in height and color. Every time we entered a space, nothing changed from the last. Pair that with a strobe light and some fog and it’s enough to frighten without actors. When I mentioned BAHA messes with one’s senses, here it’s enough to almost break down into a panic, which is exactly what we felt for a few minutes. There are some spots that lead to dead ends and now is a good time to mention the group behind us caught up (because they wanted out) so now we had multiple bodies in a 4×4 space. Hello claustrophobia, my old friend.

BAHA had some really wild approaches to some common haunt effects, and it was a shining moment in our visit! It was enough to forget we were actually at a haunted house and instead, out in the middle of some mental asylum.

The Theme for BAHA is actually pretty cool. The story (according to The Curse on the BAHA website) tells of a woman who lived in the woods with her daughter away from society, when she was eventually discovered and taken to the local asylum for an evaluation, the local priest helped determine she was actually a witch. The witch then proceeded to inflict havoc and pain to the asylum and turn it into what it is today.

It is a very cool story with all of the other details I have left out (visit the website to read more!) but I do find it a little lost in translation in the haunt. My first impressions without knowing a back story would have had me guessing it was just an asylum where the crazies broke free, so I would absolutely love to have seen more of the witch hunt, so to speak.

When it comes down to the wire, BAHA does a fantastic job at keeping guests screaming and running for the exit. As mentioned before, the group behind us caught up to us and used us as shields. They picked some weak shields let me tell you, but I had one of the biggest jump scares here at BAHA.

There was a scene where props were in electric chairs, and the bodies were flaring around due to the shocks. All of these props were moving at a pace I found no person would be able to move at, so I went up close to one because of how real it looked. Turns out one was an actor and she scared the hell out of me when she jumped up. Kudos to her, because she was violently shaking and was really believable.

All the other actors provided plenty of jump scares and in-your-face dialogue to keep scenes flowing properly frightening. The ending of the haunt I won’t give away, but I will say it was really well done to have used an airbag wall in the way they did, and really made us question ourselves on going in.

BAHA really does a great job on unexpected scares and screws with our senses, including smells by the way. They really do have people running out the door and it is very entertaining to watch.

BAHA is pretty cheap to be honest. $15 dollars and $25 VIP for the level of entertainment they provide is enough to say you need to visit without the walk-through time. But for those that are curious, our walk-through time was at 20 minutes. This gave our MPD value a 1.33 which is plenty worth the show they put on! Lines can get up to an hour wait, so invest in the 10 extra dollars and VIP it up!

With amazing scenes, cast, homemade props, and that damn maze, BAHA really is one of the cheaper priced haunts that has still left a dent in us mentally. WORTH THE TRIP!