For the past 8 years, Hollerin Haunts Hayride in Clinton, North Carolina, has been delivering a night of terrifying thrills, all less than an hour’s drive from both Raleigh and Fayetteville. Originally known as Vander Haunted Trail, the attraction now covers 30 acres and features a haunted hayride along with Hells Acres, the haunted house and trail. With creepy creatures and unsettling surprises around every turn, it’s a destination for those seeking a hauntingly good time. Ready for the fear to begin?

As we’ve pointed out in other reviews, you can invest in and build the biggest, baddest haunt scenes and props with all the new shiny toys in the haunt industry and still not get the job done. Why is that? You have got to train your actors to perform in their given roles because otherwise, you’re a haunted museum. With that being said, Hollerin Haunts Hayride has 80-90 well-trained actors ready to scare your socks off.

The interaction with the characters at several scenes was second to none. The Wrong Turn-type characters carried themselves like veterans of the haunt scene, lurching around their run-down house with broken down and abandoned cars of past victims, all the while searching for their next victim, which could be YOU. These dudes will definitely raise the hair on your neck while getting inside your personal space.

There are so many other scenes worth mentioning, but we don’t want to give too much away. You have zombies that may or may not escape and attack your crew, some scenes with famous movie maniacs and wildly demented clowns that are sure to entertain you.

Employing the right crew from top to bottom is very important with any business. Hollerin Haunts has obviously done a great job with that and it shows through and through from the time you get there until you leave.

Have you ever seen a character in a movie or TV show who looks and acts so real that it gives you a case of the Heebie Jeebies? Hollerin Haunts brings those moments to life with their acting and their costuming skills. The attention to detail with almost every actor was meticulous.

The number one thing we look for with masked characters is did they blend the mask with the skin underneath and around the edges. This detail makes a huge difference between being a believable character or someone who just pulled a mask over their face like they’re trying it on at Target for a Halloween party. The makeup blending with the masks was expertly applied to clowns, zombies, backwoods, goons, pharaohs, and more. There were a few characters that didn’t have this treatment, but with the large majority looking the part, it didn’t take away from the experience.

There were a few characters walking the midway that were probably 10-12 feet tall. That can be pretty intimidating to see when you walk around the corner. Some of the characters also built their own costumes, and they did fantastic work with them. The other costumes are supplied by Hollerin Haunts for the actors. They have invested very well in costuming to provide you with a memorable haunt experience. Karn Karnivore has a costume that looks so real that you can’t differentiate whether it’s a person under there or an actual being that escaped a portal from Hell. Some of their costumes are supplied by Gore Galore, Poison Props , CFX Masks, Immortal and Screaming Banshee.

Hollerin Haunts runs a tight ship when it comes to customer service and safety. Their fully trained security team ensures everything operates smoothly. No bags are allowed except for medical purposes, and those are searched for security reasons. While the hayride is fully handicap accessible, the other attractions are not. However, you can purchase tickets solely for the hayride if needed. They even have a ramp they can use if you need assistance getting on the wagon.

The haunt has a clear code of conduct—no foul language, pushing, vulgar behavior, weapons, or alcohol are permitted. Parking is $5, and the friendly, accommodating staff help create a welcoming atmosphere. During our visit, we saw a staff member go out of their way to calm a frightened child by giving them a glow stick, signaling to the monsters to ease up on the scares. It was a thoughtful touch.

Everything appeared well-organized, with staff constantly communicating to keep things running smoothly. Since the haunt is located in the country, we didn’t see many signs along the way, so it’s a good idea to keep your GPS handy. Once you’re close, the property is easy to spot, with noticeable purple lighting and a large sign.

From the second you walk into the Hollerin Haunts midway, you are consistently immersed into another world. There are all kinds of Halloween-based games and events that you can choose to participate in, a consistent foggy atmosphere with various clowns and other monsters roaming around peering over your shoulder to startle you and graciously taking pictures with haunt fans. There’s music pumping over a PA system, and at times, you will get the opportunity to see Freddy Krueger absolutely breaking it down to some of the dance tunes. I had no idea that a maniac burn victim could dance like he does.

When it’s time to get onboard the hayride, the October cold is starting to nip at you a little bit which helps set the scene for what you’re about to experience. Darkness and the smell of hay bails followed by nervous laughter of fellow haunt fans that are unsure about what they’re about to experience. When you roll up on the first scene, you’re pulled further into the world of Hollerin Haunts and it doesn’t let up for the duration of this scene. The creepiness of the monsters giving attention to everyone on the trailer is fantastic, and they follow along some as we pull away to head over to the next scene. If there is one thing about the hayride that I would Iike to see them build on in the future is the trip to each scene is a relatively calm and quiet ride that pulls you away from being immersed inside the attraction. Some sound effects or characters that you encounter in between scenes would be really cool.

With that being said, the attention to detail with each scene was amazing. Jerry, Jeff, and Bob are obviously very passionate about their haunt. The Wrong Turn town, Leatherface’s meat shop with a live victim chained from the ceiling, Dorothea Dix Hospital and its patients who are so happy to see you, The Egyptian Mummy area, Crystal Lake with Jason peering through the windows from the cabins, Clown town and its glowing buses, Hells Acres with Karn Karnivore, Dr Satan and their victims were all expertly designed to pull you into each scene giving the actors an opportunity to put on a show that you must see.

Speaking of Hells Acres, it was definitely an experience to be back on foot and enter this house where you’re greeted by a colorful character that comes from where we all do. In the next room you enter, you’re greeted by a blood-soaked henchman who has a prisoner in a jail cell chained up, where you’ll become a prisoner with them. Once you escape (if you escape), you’ll get to meet Dr Satan and Karn Karnivore with their victims and parts of their victims. The house on Hells Acres is the absolute peak of being immersed at Hollerin Haunts. When you exit this area, you walk through a corn trail where you’ll encounter a few monsters. This section is live and still being developed. We can’t wait to see how it progresses.

The special effects at Hollerin Haunts were impressive, which rounded out the overall atmosphere. Gunshots, screams, and chainsaws created a tense and immersive experience. Blood, gore, and body parts were expertly crafted, which added to the realism. Glowing buses and the glowing clown town added a unique, unnerving, fun visual element, while strobes and fog enhanced the disorientation in a few scenes. The combination of these effects, along with giant monsters, created a memorable experience that is a must-see. Some things that we feel would add to these areas would be some sound Fx tracks in the scenes and in between them, as well as smells that correspond to particular scenes.

Hollerin Haunts definitely had its share of surprises. The hayride was a blast, with massive animatronics getting right in your face. The bungee jumper caught us completely off guard! Each scene we rolled into was unique and really well done. You didn’t know what you were getting into until you saw the detailed buildings, and then you could figure out the theme. The characters in each area had their own way of scaring us; sometimes, it was the big animatronics jumping out, and other times, it was the actors hopping onto the wagon. The Wrong Turn boys and clowns were definitely the ones who got right up in your face and really knew how to engage the crowd.

While there wasn’t much going on in between scenes, the anticipation added to the excitement. You could sense that something was about to happen as you rolled into the next area, and the unpredictability kept it fresh. Each ride offers a different experience since you’d see new surprises coming at you from both sides of the wagon.

The haunted house took things up a notch, though. It was super gory and definitely had some great scares. Right when you walk in, you can tell things are about to get intense: hands grabbing at you, blood everywhere, body parts all over the place, Dr. Satan… then you meet Karn Karnivore, and you know you’re in for a wild ride. He will spend some time terrorizing you and sending you to be with his victims. The trail that followed was pretty typical with jump scares, but it was still a fun walkthrough. They’ve got a lot of room to expand, and I can’t wait to see what they add in the future. There’s a ton of potential here for even more scares.

You can easily spend hours here with all the activities they offer. It took us about 40 minutes to experience both the hayride and Hells Acres, giving us a Minutes Per Dollar (MPD) ratio of about 0.89, which feels like a solid value. With future plans to expand the haunted house and trail, it’s only going to get better in the coming years. There’s so much to see and do that we felt it was definitely worth the price.

Pricing Breakdown:
– General Admission (Hayride Only): $30
– General Admission (All Attractions): $35-$45
– Speed Pass: $50-$60 (All attractions, shorter wait time)
– VIP: $65-$75 (All attractions, front-of-the-line access, $5 credit for side attractions, games, and a free soda)
*Note that they offer a $2.00 military discount if you show your ID at the ticket booth

Side Attractions:
The Last Ride Coffin Ride is a wild, thrilling experience. We highly recommend it if you’re up for a fun, scary ride that might have you dropping a few expletives! They also offer two escape rooms, The Darkness Blackout Room, movies by the firepit, a DJ and dance floor (where you might catch viral Freddy showing off his moves), plus a gift shop, concessions, and some games.