Final Scores – By Category:

Cast (20% of Final Score): 8.95

Costuming (10% of Final Score): 9.04

Customer Service (10% of Final Score): 9.5

Immersion (10% of Final Score): 8.91

Special Effects (15% of Final Score): 9.15

Scare Factor (20% of Final Score): 9.07

Entertainment & Value (15% of Final Score): 8.96

Hide This

Final Scores – By Attraction:

Attraction 1: 9.07

Baldwin Asylum Haunted Attraction (BAHA) is in its tenth and final season. One would assume that this would be a coasting season, like someone putting in their two weeks’ notice for a job and just taking it easy, doing the minimum. This could not be further from the truth! Our visit happened to be just close to the night we visited and to have their team still perform with such high energy was a fantastic thing to see.

The cast at BAHA is very impressive in all they do and their level of performance. Despite being the end of the night, the actors inside were still hitting cues and jumping out for great scares. Everyone seemed to know their scenes and take on different approaches to either pop out of nowhere or jump onto things like surgery tables and such to use different methods to scare our group.

The variety of characters BAHA offers ranges from 8-foot doctors, patients, and nurses to demons and preachers. One of the more stand-out actors was this bloodied guitar player inside the church. He didn’t have any scares but did provide a unique experience as it’s not often to have metal playing live inside a church setting. Most of the interactions included great dialogue, most warning us of being victims or asking us for body parts for experiments. One of the funnier interactions had to be when an actor came from behind and told us she could smell me, and I smelled like ass. Playing along, I informed her I just learned to wipe, and it turns out you don’t go left to right, but up and down, which made her laugh a ton and she informed us I may still need help. Overall experience, the cast here showed great variety in range and clear enjoyment for their product.

BAHA’s costuming goes a long way in providing extra detail to help immerse scenes overall. The costuming for actors range, but all look very tormented. Some of the queue actors are on stilts and have wild looks. One of the more insane-looking characters looks like Chatter from the original Hell Raiser with a Jacobs skull (4-horned goat) combo. This is not a character anyone would not want to cross paths with. One of the other characters is a nurse with a gas mask. The look is excellent, and the actor works it in a creepy lingering manner that stalks guests like prey. Personally, the Wendigo costume is something amazing. Tattered with blood all over and a great-looking skull with a moveable jaw, it creates a great representation of the cryptid being.

Costumes fit in well with their respective scenes. We mentioned the guitar play in church; he uses his natural hair that has a Wayne Static height (if not longer) to have 4 giant spikes come from his head. The outfit used feels almost bishop and is donned with satanic-like symbols. It is an intimidating look overall and fits the aesthetic of a dark-themed church. Most of the other characters had hospital attire with blood spatter and a darkened appearance. Overall, the queue actors stand out here to be larger than life and we are treated to some insanely good costumes and makeup throughout the haunt as well.

BAHA is located by itself at the end of a mall strip. It’s hard to miss being in the location it is with a great-looking hearse in front of it. Two small trailers work as the ticket booth and merch/ snack booth as well. There is always someone available to answer any questions one may have. The website has an excellent summary of the storyline as well as ticket information. BAHA is constantly busy on socials and posts some great promo pictures and advertisements, one of my favorites including this old 40s-era horror style with some extra taboo for class.

When inside the attraction, the façade is a great scene. With warm gold lighting, it has a very autumn-like feel to it. The overall immersion here really creates a feel as though we have just walked onto the ground of a crumbling Asylum from generations ago. “Baldwin Asylum. Rehabilitation of the Mind Through Pain and Suffering” is itched on the side of the door and is a dark foreshadowing of what’s to come.

Inside the attraction, we have detailed scenes and some very tense gore throughout. One of the more intense scenes is the church. To be placed near a dark altar is disturbing to say the least, especially when remembering this is a place for worship in an asylum. The after-attraction vibes are essentially pushed back to the parking lot. The exit is along the side of the building and takes guests on a small walk to the lot again, but it does lead to some amazing photo opportunities with the lurking Wendigo.

BAHA, year after year, seems to bring things to a different level. It’s a safe bet to say the amount of hanging body bags throughout BAHA is more than the local morgue.

Throughout any of the hospital-like scenes are moments of intense gore. The use of curtains to silhouette upcoming moments work wonders and reveals extra moments of slaughter. There are these intense moments where we are hardly able to tell where the next scene is and are almost fully immersed, bringing a sense of panic as there are no clear exits to the next scene. Overall, the props used to create scenes are chaotic, tense, gory, and well put together.

Throughout all the enthralling scenes, the core of the scares is provided by the cast. We mentioned being the final group to attend during the night of our visit, but this didn’t affect any of the highly driven actors from bringing it. The number of threats given to our group was crazy. Combined with jump scares, the team here gets the job done in plenty of ways.

One of the other particular moments that leads to fear is the maze. With roughly a 4-foot by 4-foot room size, multiple dead ends can cause a bit of panic when in a bigger group as every room looks exactly like the last. The ending to the attraction is also one of pure gore and mayhem. It involves a giant animatronic that towers over a room filled with organs. There is only one way out of this room, and it is through the muck. BAHA didn’t cut any corners here when it came to scares, even as the final group of the night!

Our walkthrough time for BAHA was 21 minutes. With a GA ticket cost of $30, this gives our Minutes Per Dollar value 0.7. Given the quality of BAHA’s attraction, this is definitely worth the price of admission.

Given this season is the last, BAHA really came out swinging. This attraction really has some of the most unique moments and effects built by a team with a clear vision to scare the hell out of everyone. Here’s to hoping we see something in the future, but if not, this haunt will truly be missed.