Built in the late 19th century to protect the port of Harwich, the historic Beacon Hill Fort came back to life for two nights of dread with Beacon Hill After Dark. This scheduled ancient monument transformed into a huge haunted trail, where you venture through dim passageways, spooky forests, and crumbling structures. Deep within the fort, an unhinged doctor has revived his long-condemned medical research facility, and his warped experiments on nightmares have gone wrong. Those courageous enough to enter face The Nightmare Experiment and learn if they can endure the fears it has unleashed. Once you step into the shadows of Beacon Hill Fort, the line between history and horror disappears – and the bad dreams become real.
After speaking with the event creator, we cannot believe that the cast at this haunted trail are not only volunteers, but they had no real rehearsals or run-throughs before the first day of the event. The cast appeared to be a professional and well-oiled team. They were able to improvise and interact with the audience, always in character from start to finish, even if this meant stalking and whispering or yelling for minutes on end. The Doctor who started us onto our journeys to face our nightmares was incredibly strong – he was articulate and engaging, and we truly were able to believe he was a doctor trialing us test subjects. A birthday party clown was also particularly memorable, inviting us to join the party of a dead girl, wielding his knife while introducing him to his pig-head mother, offering us gifts, and presenting us with cake. The failed test subjects, nuns and witches were also robust here, pestering and tormenting us nonstop. The cast were really quite impressive, so much so we would have thought they’d been rehearsing this for ages before the event!
In terms of costume, makeup and masks, it was clear a lot of effort went into all the designs, although this was perhaps the weakest aspect aesthetically of the event. We met a lot of characters on our journey, and each of them fit well in the spaces they inhabited, from deranged nuns in full habit to a Witchfinder in an old-timey costume. We felt for the unhinged test subjects we passed in just medical gowns – the night was cold and wet, but these looks really sold the characters before us. Yet, it would have been nice for a bit more complexity in the witch characters, and although the clowns were absolutely unnerving it was obvious they were wearing masks. Even so, while a bit more attention to masks and makeup would raise the bar, in the eerie darkness of the trail all the characters still felt believable and completely terrifying.
We had a great customer service experience with Beacon Hill After Dark. For a brand-new experience their website was very easy to navigate, with all information you could ask for on one page, including info on parking. All the staff we spoke to on digital platforms and in person were also really helpful and just lovely people, and we can’t believe this was a self-funded event with volunteers from the community. The only advice we’d offer for next time was more lit signage in terms of finding the fort itself. The maps on our phone showed us the way, but we had to get our torches out to look at signs in order to find the entrance.
We can’t forget to express how absolutely impressed we were with the measures put in place for safety on this site. This is an old and sprawling monument, but all paths and stairs were well lit, and better yet there was an attendant with a torch at each stairway to warn of potentially dangerous steps, making sure every audience member safely descended and ascended. This was so professional, and we commend Beacon Hill After Dark for taking safety so seriously here! Indeed, it was much safer than some larger and more established events we’d attended this year.
While there isn’t a lot of pre-haunt atmosphere to the event other than a sign, there’s a great 1940s jazz soundscape at the entrance that continues into the trail itself, as well as some warm blinking lanterns, creating a pretty complete experience at the beginning of the event. The end of the trail spits you out where you begin, in this same space.
The batching was really well done here – we did see the group in front of us, but it was only when they were exiting a space and we were about to enter, and since most of the themed spaces took a while to get through we were never queueing or waiting, and the scares and scenes were never ruined for us. The soundscapes and lighting along the trail connected each space, creating a very cohesive experience and keeping us cemented in the world of nightmares before us.
The storyline was immensely strong here. After walking through a trail of deranged individuals in hospital gowns we came across a doctor in full surgical scrubs, who informed us we were soon to be test subjects ourselves of a machine that would attempt to rid us of our nightmares. We were each asked for our own worst dreams, after which the doctor told us to hold jumper cables as he turned on the machine. Alas, the machine broke, and instead of ridding us of our nightmares, the it unleashed them, as well as those of all of his test subjects, out into the world and right onto the path we were forced to navigate before we could escape the fort.
With only a few days to install sets and effects, we were really impressed with what Beacon Hill After Dark was able to do with this site. Lights trailed all the different theming spaces, often on timers or strobing to add to the ambience. Of particular note were the lighting effects on the witches’ trail, with warmly lit blinking lanterns, or in the fort of clowns, with strobing coloured lighting and decorations from an abandoned child’s birthday party. What impressed us the most, however, were the sound effects, with complete soundscapes for extended distances in each of the worlds created – in such a historical and outdoor space, we can’t believe they were able to do this. We absolutely loved the almost 1940s doctor’s waiting room jazz that played while we walked through the deranged test subjects prior to meeting the doctor himself. Also, of note was the scary children’s zone, complete with children’s toys scattered all around and lullaby music playing in the background. The walkthrough also had some really well-timed uses of fog effects, such as when the doctor’s nightmare machine started to malfunction, or when the nuns told us to burn and hell and suddenly smoke exploded from the hearth in an eerily red-lit room. All of the lighting, sound effects and other special effects felt very intentional in all of the spaces we visited, with an amazing site-specific nature to everything we saw.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 7.5
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 10
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 8.5
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 7.25
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 7
As we were able to enter the site as just a duo, this left us entirely vulnerable in the spaces we traversed. The site goes through big outdoor spaces as well as inside parts of the fort and other structures, and we never felt safe in any of these worlds. The site-specific nature of the experience lends itself well to scares, with all the abandoned places feeling utterly perilous. While there were plenty of jump scares, the best frights here were those building tension in the dark and spookily lit areas, with actors stalking us, and sometimes endlessly taunting us only until we got far enough away from them. We received our biggest fright in the clown room, with a deranged clown engaging us in conversation in disconcerting ways before inviting us to open presents. We won’t ruin the scare at this point, but it caused one of us to scream, a very rare occurrence, and possibly the biggest scream we’ve had all season! We also can’t forget the scares in a fort of nuns, with intense interactions with the cast themselves in a spooky church setting, along with a room full of nun-dressed mannequins. We really felt completely penned in by murderous holy sisters on all sides here, and couldn’t wait to escape!
With a walkthrough time of 25 minutes and at only £15 a ticket, Beacon Hill After Dark offers incredible value for money. The experience gives you the opportunity to walk through this sprawling historical site, all beautifully lit and with horrifying vignettes along the way, each incredibly detailed and with remarkably dedicated and talented actors. Granted, there isn’t any extra entertainment on the site, merely the walkthrough itself, but nonetheless, you get more than what you pay for. This is such an immersive and unique experience, and it’s well organised, creating a truly unforgettable night.
Beacon Hill Fort, Barrack Ln, Harwich, United Kingdom CO12 3FR
