Haunted Scarecrow Review (2026)

Locating 505 Food Hall and Haunted Scarecrow is easy. The website has great directions and even gives parking suggestions. We had no problem finding the haunt using our GPS. There is no dedicated haunt parking, but there are parking meters and paid parking nearby.  Walking up to 505 Food Hall, there is clear signage pointing guests to the haunted house.  The staff and security were very friendly and happy to answer any questions.  There is a clearly marked table for the haunt with merchandise for sale where you can buy your ticket; the haunt is located behind the table and down the staircase. Throughout the journey, we never encountered another group; the staff does a great job of separating the groups.

Many ghouls and creatures haunt the basement of the food hall.  Once we defended ourselves, we were greeted by a shocking actor before we even read the rules.  The actors did a good job with using the space for scares.  We kept encountering the same characters who appeared and disappeared at will.  Most of the actors we encountered were creative with their scares. The sparking character we encountered literally crawled on the wall to get us.  Elsewhere, we encountered a creepy clown with some very detailed makeup.  Each character we interacted with had unique responses and dialogue, while some made some truly disturbing sounds.

One of the most unique things we noticed was how the actors used props and puppets that were built into the scenery to get some truly unexpected scares. Creatures vary throughout Depths of Despair; the clowns, voodoo creatures, and demons, to name a few, keep guests guessing about what other nightmarish creatures they will encounter.  The actors that stood up to us were the skull person, Dizzle the clown, and the devil himself. Each character had a complete costume that seemed to be custom-made, with most fitting the themes of the rooms we first encountered them in. The makeup had great attention to detail, each actor who wore a mask had makeup under the masks. The masks themselves had appropriate wear and tear, making them seem old and well-worn.  Most of the masks were ones that were unique.

While waiting to enter the haunt, guests can hear screams coming from the basement.  Throughout our walkthrough, we had a few scares, mostly of the stalking or jump-scare variety.  Some actors did not go for the scare or only scared one member of our group. Although a few of the scares were predictable, there were a few actor-driven props that gave us a good scare.  The book of the dead puppet on the wall and the handmade dragon head definitely caught us off guard. Most actors either worked with others to scare our group or went after most of us in the room.  We also had quite a few ghouls following behind us. There is a variety of scares from props to the actors. There are also several points where you have to duck down, leaving you vulnerable for scares. The ending was also quite a surprise; the actors were using a horn with a chainsaw blade attached to it. While it didn’t sound like a chainsaw, the actor did a great job of sawing an actor in half.