Field of Screams PA Review (2026)

Everything you could ever want to know before heading out for a night at Field of Screams is incredibly easy to find right on their website. The only thing I noticed missing is their touching policy – you will absolutely be touched. To that end, this is a very well-known policy among haunt goers around the Northeast, but it is something that should be noted on the website, as not everyone will be aware before showing up. Arriving on site is seamless and easy, as parking attendants wave you along and even point out exactly where to park. Tickets purchased online allow guests to skip the ticket booth entirely and head straight into the fun. If you still need to purchase a ticket, there are friendly folks ready to help you out, but do know that the ticket booth is cash only.

Ok, now that you’ve got your ticket, it’s time to get scared! The entrances to all four attractions are clearly visible and well-marked. The outdoor portions of the queues for Frightmare Asylum and Den of Darkness were basically empty all night during my visit, and the indoor parts use a cattle pen sort of system where you’ll be assigned a lane number for quick and easy entry. As a matter of fact, the only queue that seemed busy at all was the hayride, and even that moved very fast thanks to the wagons, which can hold around 80 people at a time. Queue entertainment is something I didn’t see very much of on my visit, but again, there wasn’t really anyone standing around in line for it to be necessary. That being said, there were queue actors roaming in between the haunts, scaring guests, posing for photos, and generally keeping the good vibes flowing. Besides the queue actors keeping everyone on their toes, there was also a band playing on the stage, which could help to entertain guests in line for the asylum and Den.

The common areas aren’t the most scary, but there’s a sort of industrial vibe about with regular “shows” that sync music with pyro and lights every 30-60 minutes. This helps get the blood flowing and preps you for the chaos that will ensue inside each attraction. The facades for Frightmare Asylum and Den of Darkness are foreboding and visually interesting. This, coupled with the non-stop party atmosphere, really gets guests in the mood for a night of frights. Themes are fairly easy to piece together as you head inside.

Frightmare Asylum, as the name implies, is an asylum brimming with the mentally unwell, the criminally insane, and of course a few clowns. When most people hear “haunted house,” they immediately go to the idea of ghosts inside a rickety old building. This is usually not what I mean when I say haunted house, but in the case of Den of Darkness, that really is the idea. The story takes us into the decrepit estate of Francis Worth, showcasing the spirits that still linger after many mysterious disappearances. Nocturnal Wasteland is the fortress in the forest, themed around an apocalyptic wasteland where human-like creatures have taken charge. The Haunted Hayride does not have a readily apparent cohesive theme; rather, the sets and scenes tie together in a way that’s hard to describe. Nothing seems out of place along the ride, but there are a wide range of settings and vignettes that guests will encounter.

Needless to say, the immersion is very consistent in all of the attractions, with no visible infrastructure or signs of the outside world. This carries into the exits as you head back into the midway area. Nocturnal Wasteland is the only attraction whose exit leaves a bit of a lull, as the entrance and exit are set back a bit from the midway and require guests to walk a non-themed path between some fences.

Sound design is so well done at Field of Screams. From ambient soundscapes that blend seamlessly into the background and simply fit right into place, to the sound effects from props and animatronics. Everything in this regard is such a natural and real sound that it almost doesn’t feel like somebody deliberately designed it. This, in my opinion, is how good sound design should come across: as real and, at times, unnoticeable, as that’s what the thing makes.

Set and scene design is also top-notch. Not a single bare wall in sight, and the level of detail absolutely everywhere I looked was simply astounding. Even the stone pathways in the outdoor common areas have little details hidden in them. Animatronics are, of course, used in just the right place at just the right time. One of my favorite animatronics is the huge monster in the shed or storage scene in Den of Darkness. It comes down from above, waving its arms around, trying to scoop up anything unlucky enough to walk by. There are also the gigantic spiders on the hayride in the greenhouse scene, which spring forward to devour the helpless riders on the wagon.

Lighting is done superbly in every scene, such that even though I was shooting video during my visit, I often felt as though I probably didn’t need any extra light. The crew at Field of Screams knows that they don’t need to shroud every scene in complete darkness to make it scary, and even bright lights wouldn’t diminish the quality. With the show lights on, the color of everything really pops, and it’s all just so pretty to look at.

Atmospheric effects are also in play here, especially on the hayride. Sure, there’s fog and scents used in all of the attractions as you might expect. But the hayride is where things really get kicked up a notch, from the fire effects in the gas station scene to the massive vortex tunnel that is devastatingly effective. I wasn’t sure if it would work at first, but I’ve been known to be wrong before. The wagon is only inside the tunnel for less than a minute, but it feels like an absolute eternity. I also recognize that vortex tunnels aren’t exactly atmospheric effects; however, I’m not really sure how to categorize them otherwise.

Actors are always the stars of the show at any haunt, but at Field of Screams these folks are hosting a masterclass. They give every patron 100% and deliver far more value for the ticket price.

Frightmare Asylum and Den of Darkness are absolutely packed with actors as they hide in every nook and cranny they can fit into. Not only are they providing tons of energy, but they’re also very believable. I didn’t think for one second that the asylum patients were just people in costumes. They were absolutely real-life crazies doing what they do whether I was there to see it or not. One of my favorite characters in the asylum was in the bathroom scene. I actually had to walk through twice because of some technical difficulties with the camera the first time. I saw that the actor changed their dialogue for different groups; both versions I got were somewhat humorous as well. This not only shows an actor who’s comfortable enough with their character to have multiple vignettes ready to go, but it shows that actors are trained to handle a diverse range of situations.

The costumes and makeup in the outdoor attractions were well thought out and detailed, with distressing as needed. This is so important in an attraction where things are a little more spaced out, and guests can potentially see every angle of any given actor. The indoor attractions were very much the same, making the more visible characters really look the part and stand out as actual inhabitants of their respective scenes. I noticed a few spots where some actors wore basic black, but since they were behind the scenes operating actor-matronics or otherwise mostly hidden, this was perfectly acceptable. In all fairness, I did have a light on my camera.

Masks were utilized just as well as makeup, allowing actors to transform into otherworldly creatures without needing to sit in a makeup chair for several hours. Many of the masks that I was sure were masks weren’t super fancy, but they just worked and made the characters come to life.

At every turn, there’s somebody waiting to give you a scare, or interact, or do something cool like fly across the room. Yes, there is an actor who flies across a room in Den of Darkness, and it’s as cool as it sounds. Nocturnal Wasteland did feel rather light on actors, though. It’s a longer trail than many I’ve personally seen, and that could play into the reason for the gaps in actor appearance. The hayride turns the dial back up with plenty of actors in every scene that wasn’t purely transitional. Scares come at every opportunity, which is to say that they’re predictable if you guessed that nowhere is safe. Except stairs. No scares on stairs.

They’re intense, too. There’s a balance where, in the Asylum and Den, the scares are absolutely everywhere, but they’re a little less intense; and then on the trail and hayride, they’re a little less frequent, but way more intense. Some of the hayride scares were really turned up to 11, especially when an actor noticed one guest trying to hide. They were clearly terrified, but the actor didn’t let up, even getting right in their face and really throwing salt in the wound. It made it clear that frightened guests shouldn’t expect much mercy once a monster realizes they’ve gotten to them.

The finales in all four attractions are the classic chainsaw barrage, and as much as I think that trope is overdone, it really does nail the coffin lid shut. It gives the show a real sense of finality, and for a lot of people, it’s super effective. The smell of gas fumes, the revving of the saws, and the absolute ambush of it all really gives even the least scared patrons a little more motivation to get up and out of there.

Well, reader, you’ve made it to the end of my rambling and gushing, and you still want to know: is it worth the money? Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. A GA combo ticket with access to all four attractions on the night of my visit cost $40, and the time spent inside totals 49.5 minutes. That brings the minutes-per-dollar calculation to 1.24, which is an absolute steal. I don’t know if there’s anywhere else that will provide this level of high-quality haunts along with their midway games and 5-minute escape rooms for such a reasonable price.

Oh, and for the 21+ crowd that enjoys adult beverages, there’s a controlled beer garden that serves wine, cocktails, and even Field of Screams’ own beer. Yes, they have their own beer. It’s quite good, too.

So what are you waiting for? Hop in the car, head out to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and experience this one-of-a-kind haunt, because you certainly won’t regret it.