Creekside Manor Review (2026)

Heading to this haunt, you’d almost think you’d lost your way. It’s located at a KOA campground, off the beaten path and down a few back roads. There isn’t a ton of signage for it, and it’s not very well lit until you arrive. The website does have a lot of good information, but it’s pretty dated, and the plethora of unrelated advertisements cluttering the screen make it hard to read. That’s especially true of the pop-up ads you have to close out of to read anything. One important thing I do need to call out: when you are there, you’re informed it’s a haunt where the actors may touch you. That’s not listed anywhere on the site. (I also wasn’t ever touched in the haunt, in which case the information being given at the start is a bit confusing.)

Once you are on site, things feel a lot more professional. You can purchase tickets and concessions at the same booth, and the lines weren’t long enough the night I visited for that to be a problem. While you wait, you can watch what looks like a horror movie shot either at the campground or in similar-looking woods. This is an effective way to pass the time, though it’s a bit misleading, as none of the haunt itself is campground- or woods-themed. A few actors menaced the line, keeping everyone on their toes and in the spirit of the event.

The story of Creekside Manor is a bit of a confusing one. There is absolutely a story; the website hints at a long-running conflict and an ongoing, year-to-year plot. The first moments within the haunt itself drive that home with a monologue from a very committed actress bringing the themes back up. Then you step into a hellevator, and it’s never really mentioned again by anyone. You’d think if they were going to put so much up-front emphasis on the story, you’d see more about it within the haunt itself. You do stay relatively immersed, though; they keep things moving, and there isn’t enough downtime to pull you out of the event.

While there were some sections of the haunt that felt oddly bereft of actors, the places the actors did linger in did their very best. They bantered with me, screamed at me, warned me of dangers to come. None of the costumes were especially elaborate or creative, but they weren’t awful either and checked all the boxes. I did enjoy a few of the gags, and appreciated the level of consent. In one section, a clown rigged a spinning wheel to land on a kiss from a female member of my party. When she said no, he immediately dropped it, and when I chimed in that I wanted to play, I won a kiss on the cheek. It was a nice bit of levity along with a solid exercise in spooky consent, which is never not important.

This is a good starter haunt, in that it does deliver the scares, but nothing too intense. If you’ve been to a few haunts before, you may be surprised or caught off guard. People in the front did get more attention than those in the back, but every now and then a character would follow us to hit people from behind. One was happy to step in front of me when I gestured for him to and he stayed in the middle of our group for a good thirty seconds before anyone noticed he was there. It made for a great moment.