Dead Man’s Farm is back, and this year, they are even more frightening! Each year, something gets changed, and this year, the cornfield was completely torn down and rebuilt. So, if you’ve been here before, be prepared for something different this year!
This attraction is located in Philadelphia, TN, which is southwest of Knoxville. Make sure you arrive early because this is a very popular place, and you may have to wait in line for a while. Or you can purchase the optional Fast Pass or Maniac Pass to get through the lines more quickly. Dead Man’s Farm has two attractions: The Bludgeon House and Lost Souls Haunted Trail. The Bludgeon House is mostly indoors, and Lost Souls Haunted Trail is mostly outdoors in a cornfield.
There are wretched creatures within the corn, and they will surely keep you if you let them. Can you make it through the Lost Souls in the corn? And the Bludgeon family is incredibly deranged. They would love to let you join their family. Can you make it through their home without being tortured?
There were MANY actors throughout the cornfield! No matter where we went, the actors filled the haunt. They did a great job providing a convincing performance as well. We especially loved the performances by the butcher, the witch, the gravedigger, and the owner of “Jack the dog”.
There were many different actors’ behaviors in the cornfield. One actor wanted to dance with us, two of them made us get lost, some of them would jump out and scream at us, one wanted to be my friend, some were calm, but creepy, the way they followed us or made us do things.
We had the optional touch pass, so we were made to do things that a general admission guest would not have to do. But we still felt like the actors were interactive with everyone. We were forced to dance, get on our knees, get tied to a post, get separated from our other team members, and many more!
The actors know what they’re doing when it comes to scaring people within The Bludgeon House. Each of them had their own purpose for being in the area they were. We enjoyed much of the dialogue from the actors. The victim of the butcher seemed as though she was really in trouble. Too bad we couldn’t help her.
We got caught in a bottleneck in the Bludgeon House, but the actors still put us in situations that were very uncomfortable. For example, we were forced to line up with other groups, and the actor did something very unexpected! Overall, the actors did a great job of providing scares and being interactive with us.
We really enjoyed the costumes, masks, and makeup in Lost Souls Haunted Trail! Each of the actors appeared to be wearing costumes that contained really cool details. For example, the first couple of clowns we encountered had a full-body costume and detailed makeup. We also saw a really creepy butcher, a pumpkin person with a cool mask, and the actor dressed as a ballerina near the end was terrifying with realistic makeup and contact lenses!
Many of the scenes within Lost Souls Haunted Trail contained actors who fit well in their respective scenes. One of our favorite scenes contained the pumpkin person. Poor Kenny didn’t stand a chance against the pumpkin person. We also stumbled upon a funeral, and the gravedigger was not happy to be interrupted.
The actors within The Bludgeon House wore costumes that resembled a backwoods hillbilly family. Each family member is deranged and evil, and they definitely looked the part! Most of the costumes used makeup, which was perfect since the actors are supposed to be a deranged family. And the makeup was incredibly realistic!
All of the scenes appeared to be something that came out of a backwoods home, so it worked well with the costumes that the actors wore. Aunt Mabel was in the kitchen, Grandpa Bludgeon was attempting to sacrifice people, and his granddaughter tried to make sure no one could escape.
While hanging out in the Midway area, we encountered many queue actors. Each of these actors was wearing some really cool costumes! The guy carrying around a possessed ventriloquist doll was very creepy. It appeared as if the doll was climbing on him, and he made her seem so real! And, we always enjoy the freakishly tall hillbilly. He seemed to gravitate toward people with food, so be careful if you choose to grab a bite to eat. That hillbilly must be hungry!
It is always easy to locate Dead Man’s Farm. Even if we didn’t use our GPS, it would be very noticeable from the road. The parking lot is well-lit, there is a large sign at the entrance, and everything is well-marked. Parking has a fee of $5, cash only, and there are multiple parking attendants to show you where to park. Once you get parked, the main entrance and ticket booth each have a large, well-lit sign. There are multiple options for tickets. See photo below. Once you purchase your tickets, there are more signs directing you to where everything is located. Each haunt has its own queue lines that are labeled “General Admission”, “Fast Pass”, & “Maniac”.
It seemed as though safety was a number one priority at Dead Man’s Farm. There were police officers on site, there weren’t any trip hazards (not even in the cornfield), nothing was muddy, and the parking lot is well-lit.
Most of the staff at Dead Man’s Farm were helpful and friendly with us and other guests. There were a few times we noticed the staff were getting annoyed that they had to keep doing the same thing over and over, and they had to stay at work so late. But overall, many of them were happy to help and answer any questions we and other guests had.
Dead Man’s Farm has an awesome website with helpful information. It includes all the generic information, such as dates/times, ticket pricing, location, parking, etc. In addition to that, it has information about touching policies, special events, food trucks, Midway games, attraction details, and more!
We always enjoy the pre-haunt atmosphere at Dead Man’s Farm. There are MANY things to do before going through each of the haunts. This year, they have features like bonfires, mini escape games, carnival games, multiple photo opportunities, roaming actors in the queue and the Midway area, a pumpkin patch, a gift shop, food trucks, music, bubbles, and more! We attended a special event night, and they had a vendor market on site. Multiple vendors were selling handcrafted items, as well as many food trucks. Typically, Dead Man’s Farm only has about 2 or 3 food trucks, but the night we attended, they had about 15 food trucks!
Upon entering the cornfield, we were greeted by a clown, who gave us the rules. We weren’t given a backstory, and the only reason we knew this haunt had a backstory was because we read about it on their website. It is essentially a cornfield that was grown on a piece of haunted land, and sinister creatures began appearing once the corn was tall enough to hide them. This story was very easy to carry through the corn. There was much evil in the corn, and many strange things we witnessed.
Our initial thought when we enter a haunted cornfield is “How did this scene end up in a cornfield?” Dead Man’s Farm did a good job of laying out each scene, separating the next using the corn as a transition. We ran into a few groups going through, but that’s only because the actors held us hostage a few times.
Before entering The Bludgeon House, we were given the rules. Once we entered, we were greeted by one of the deranged family members, who informed us that we were about to meet the rest of her family and that we most likely would get separated. Something to look forward to!
When going through the Bludgeon House, we got caught up in a bottleneck. The actors did their best to scare everyone, but it took away from the performance. We feel as though if we hadn’t got caught in a bottleneck, it would have been way scarier, and the actors could have done much more with us.
Upon exiting both attractions, we were back in the Midway area. The atmosphere felt the same as before we entered the attractions. Very exciting! We were able to stick around, grab a bite to eat, check out the gift shop, and play some games.
Each scene in Lost Souls Haunted Trail had its own sounds and special effects. We enjoyed the majority of them. The sounds ranged from rock and dance music to creepy sounds or the funeral march. There were some different special effects within each area, but overall, the transition zones merely had orange lights and no sounds. The scenes had effects like flashing lights, colored lights, and fog.
Each scene appeared to have a lot of detail. The funeral scene was especially cool! This scene contained many different realistic props. We didn’t see any animatronics, but the actors provided plenty of scares, and the haunt didn’t need them. The haunt had props such as a helicopter, a truck, a refrigerator, a coffin, etc.
The scenes within The Bludgeon House had a few different sound effects. Overall, creepy sounds were playing on the overhead speaker. But some areas utilized sounds specific to that room. For example, the cemetery used the funeral march sounds. These scenes also used many different sensory effects. We saw things like fog/laser effects, flashing lights, colored lights, etc.
The details within the Bludgeon House were incredible! It looked like we were in a backwoods hillbilly’s home, and they collect the strangest things you would ever see! Their choice of “decorations” was very concerning! You can see remnants of their victims throughout the entire home.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 8.63
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 7.75
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 8.44
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 9
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 7.56
The Lost Souls Haunted Trail provided some really good scares. They were able to scare us at different times and from different directions. There were a couple of instances where we walked into a scene and didn’t initially see the actor. They would come out of a random location when we least expected them. Overall, though, the actors were waiting for us and did something unexpected.
The finale in Lost Souls Haunted Trail mostly consisted of just one actor who attempted to chase us. But just before this final actor, we exited a maze where we got lost with two actors. This ending wasn’t quite as exciting as the rest of the haunt, but it was still fun.
When you combine the scares from the actors, the animatronics, and the atmosphere, the Bludgeon House was truly terrifying! Because we got caught in a bottleneck, it was difficult for the actors to scare everyone. But we still enjoyed the show and got some amazing scares!
My group received the touch pass, which means you are most likely going to get separated from your group members. We certainly did multiple times! We were even forced to go back through a certain area to meet Grandpa Bludgeon once again.
We enjoyed the finale in The Bludgoen House. It was very unpredictable what the actor near the end was going to do next. She made is do things that were uncomfortable to say the least.
Was this haunted attraction worth the cost? We believe so! The extra entertainment that was included in the cost of the ticket was a lot of fun! The items included in the cost would be things like entertainment from the queue actors, the music, bubbles, lights, and decorations. The entire vibe of this place is exciting all by itself! On top of that, if you purchase one of the combo tickets (which include things like the carnival games and the mini escape rooms), you will have more things to enjoy! We had the pleasure of doing some of these games, and we would recommend purchasing one of the combo tickets if you are able.
Each of these haunts is very entertaining based on the ticket price. The Bludgeon House is scarier than Lost Souls Haunted Trail, but we found that we had more fun in the cornfield. Each one has its flaws, but ultimately, we love both and always enjoy coming back each year!
13100 W Lee Hwy, Philadelphia, Tennessee 37846
