If you live in or anywhere near New Albany, Indiana, you’ve probably visited- or at least heard of- the Culbertson Mansion. Once home to the family of the richest man in Indiana, this historic site now offers weekly tours as a means of educating the public and preserving the building, as well as other fundraising events – like the House of Anguish, the Culbertson’s seasonal haunted house that’s held in the carriage house out back. Fully staffed by volunteers, House of Anguish follows a new theme or story every year, and all proceeds go towards the ongoing restoration and upkeep of the mansion.
For their 41st year of operation, House of Anguish came up with a story that plays off the genuine hauntings that have been reported at the Culbertson Mansion. A paranormal society has enlisted visitors to investigate the spooky occurrences happening in the family’s carriage house. As you might expect, things don’t quite go as planned – and what started as an investigation becomes a struggle to fend off a slew of dark entities so you can return to the living world. Thrust through a portal to the other side and armed with only a tiny key, my friend Eric and I crossed over to see if we could seal it off for good – and make it out with our own lives.
Following a spirited (pardon the pun) attempt by the literal mob of ghouls and zombies from the graveyard attempting to give us a premature burial, we were greeted by a woman serving as the Culbertson family’s representative. As investigators for the Southern Indiana Spiritual Society, we’d been enlisted to help her eradicate the spirits that plagued their home. Unfortunately, our attempt at a seance to call them forth didn’t go in our favor… our host suddenly buckled, then began wailing in terror. After confirming a malevolent presence in the house, she asked us to find the crypts to close the portal – and handed one of us a tiny key.
From that point on, we faced room after room of horrific hauntings caused by nightmarish monsters and human spirits driven to insanity in death. A hollow-eyed creature with bony hands cornered us for a while, making the most unearthly sounds and speaking in a sinister voice. This thing was probably the creepiest ghoul in the house; when my immediate words are “What the hell is that?!” and I’m nearly beating the walls down trying to get out, you know I’m genuinely freaked out. Hovering above a literal bloodbath, a disturbed soul chattered so quickly we couldn’t understand a word she said, causing her to lament, “Why are you ignoring me?! Don’t leave me!” Yeah… we had no intention of staying in that house any longer than we had to. Ascending to the attic, we found a shadow figure with no expression beyond the leering smile on its otherwise blank face. They say the shadows aren’t to be trusted, but our brief game of hide and seek with this critter was fun – before another entity in the household came along and shooed it away. Aww. We got mobbed by another group of spirits later; they surrounded us for a good couple of scenes, groaning horribly, and it seemed they had some familiarity with the Lone Wolf… my name was snarled and screamed repeatedly as they gave chase! I almost lost my other group member in all the chaos! Eventually, we made it down to the crypts we had to find, where we found some rather dead-looking… pallbearers, maybe?… along with more trapped souls. One was highly insistent on us becoming her new cellmates and wasn’t above climbing her cell to get at us! It was here that we ran into the infamous demon known as Anguish, the most likely cause of the evil running amok through the Culbertson family’s halls. That was when our little key came into play… and one of us went for our “last ride” before it was over.
The Culbertsons’ home was heavily haunted, and we found no dead spots whatsoever. Not only did every scene have at least one actor in it- usually more- we also had them popping up behind drop panels and other surprise spots during our walkthrough. They were highly interactive, and most of their dialogue matched their characters. (Shout-out to the one who was unleashing the best high-pitched scream all night long – she was wearing a white dress and running loose outside. We had no idea how she didn’t lose her voice, but we were impressed!)
Because this year’s story for House of Anguish took place in the mid-1800s when the Culbertson family was around, there was an emphasis on Victorian-era clothing: dresses, suits, and the like. Of course, a house tainted by such great evil wouldn’t just have human entities lurking within its walls, and a good number of monsters in cloaks, black robes, and pure black outfits were also included. Makeup and masks were a mix, with a little more emphasis on the former, and let me tell you – they had some truly freaky masks in there! I’m pretty sure I set a new record for how many times I said, “What the hell is that?!” Makeup ranged from simpler “dead” looks to fancier ones, like the lady wearing a veil and white dress in the finale. One half of her face was white, dripping down into the half that was blood red. Her mouth was full of sharp teeth, SFX lenses gave her unsettling eyes, and her gloves made it look like she had black, clawed hands.
Some other characters also wore SFX lenses to up the creep factor, and several carried props. The hollow-eyed monster we saw early on had a light source, and shovels were being dragged in the graveyard. A persistent roamer outside was swinging a severed foot, which humorously still had the sock attached, and delighted in dangling that in guests’ faces.
When trying to find the House of Anguish, it’s important to know that it’s held in the carriage house behind the Culbertson Mansion. If you aren’t local to New Albany and have no idea what the Culbertson looks like, it’s a big illuminated yellow mansion on the corner of the street. A lit-up sign was out front with House of Anguish on it and an arrow pointing towards the back. Parking was free on nearby streets. Once we walked around back, we found additional signs indicating which of the yellow tents was for purchasing tickets and which contained the line.
General Admission was $18, and the only ticket option – everyone waited in the same line. Everyone we met who was working was polite and helpful. The haunt was largely safe, minus the odd trip hazard- I almost stumbled over a step spot in the house- and some lower ceilings taller people would need to watch out for. Along with a Facebook page that was kept updated throughout the season, House of Anguish also had a website with a detailed FAQ and some fun media of past characters.
Something important to note before visiting House of Anguish is that it’s a LIGHT CONTACT show. No one will grab you or touch you inappropriately, but you may have hair, clothes, and limbs gently grasped or grazed to bump the scare factor and immerse you more in the haunt.
The House’s signature graveyard was overflowing with grave diggers, ghouls, and restless spirits. As a result, several came staggering- or flat-out running- to the line to torment the new bodies that had arrived! While we waited in the queue, fun spooky music played, and there was a pumpkin critter with a mouth full of sharp teeth next to the Spooky Oopsies board, where the haunt was keeping track of how many weren’t brave enough to finish the house, or couldn’t do it without tears, pee, or poo. They didn’t have any pass-outs on the board yet when we went, but the night was still young…
2025’s story had customers serving as investigators for the Southern Indiana Spiritual Society. Our mission? Confirm that the Culbertson family’s home was haunted, and remove the spirits to restore peace to the house. Of course, things didn’t go as planned, and we soon found ourselves having to find a way out of the dark dimension we’d stumbled into – or we’d be trapped there with all the other monsters and lost souls. The entry room truly felt like we’d just walked into an old Victorian mansion, but when we passed through the claustrophobia tunnel that served as a portal to the other side, it was evident something had gone terribly wrong and we were no longer in the living world. We walked through rooms with walls of old portraits and photos, a bloody bath with equally bloody curtains, scenes with caskets and corpses, a blacklit attic in disarray, and a ghastly dinner scene with the bodies of long-deceased people surrounding the table – just to name a few! Downstairs, we were surrounded by stone walls and cells with stone-faced men in suits guarding them. Thankfully, Eric and I find ourselves in places like this often, and we were lucky enough to escape the spirits and exit into the back yard of the Culbertson, where we started.
All of the sets we walked through were very well done and true to the theme, and there wasn’t a whole lot to break that immersion between waiting outside and leaving the house. There was one transition in the haunt where it seemed like they tried to do something with it, but its purpose wasn’t clear (it has two circular grated openings with warm light beyond them and nothing else). We would’ve liked to see more props or decorations around the tents, too, to help immerse groups shortly after their arrival.
Some serious love was poured into the scenes throughout the carriage house to bring this spooky show to life. There was so much detail between the props used in each room and the layering of textures on the walls. I really wish I could elaborate further to do it all justice, but you just had to see it for yourself. It truly felt like we were exploring a haunted Victorian mansion. Some of the more interesting props we noticed were the Ouija board in the first room- a hint for the season’s theme and what we were about to experience- and an entire taxidermied bear in another room. We didn’t see much by way of animatronics beyond a snarling, snapping rat puppet, but other SFX were used to enhance the show: sliding floor panels (watch your step!), fog, a claustrophobia tunnel, audio, and light. The haunt’s lighting was used effectively and was never too bright or dark; just enough to bring out the detail in each set.
If possible, I would love to see more detail added to the transition areas between each room of the haunt. There were some smaller details, but it pulls you out of the experience a little when the main scenes look so nice, but then you’re walking through a mostly bare, black-walled area next.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 8.35
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 9
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 8
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 8
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 7.25
One thing was certain: the moment we crossed over to the spirit world, they did NOT want to let us go! Between the many disturbed creatures out in the cemetery and the cloaked chainsaw-wielding crazy running us down towards the end, trying to escape this truly haunted house was a task in itself, let alone trying to close that portal. We were overrun by entities at multiple points, cornered, pursued, lightly touched, screamed at, and threatened, and the attacks came from literally every direction. The malevolent energy in the mansion was so strong that our very environment became a threat in itself – an immense rat burst through a wall and snapped at us, we were pressed firmly on both sides by an inflatable tunnel, and sharp snapping and crackling sounds from above early in the house gave us a brief startle.
With the full understanding that the haunt is a volunteer effort and likely has a limited budget, a few more animatronic or SFX scares would add variety. The cast should also be mindful not to overtarget any single person in the group and try to work the group as evenly as possible.
Closing the portal and returning to our world was a real challenge, but Eric and I pulled it off! We were back on the mansion’s grounds in approximately 12 minutes. With a base ticket price of $18, House of Anguish’s MPD (Minutes Per Dollar) rating came out to 0.67. This is a fair amount below the full minute us reviewers prefer to see in a haunt. However, the quality of the show we received was well worth it, and we got to enjoy a couple of extras like the music playing in the tent and the roaming graveyard monsters messing with the crowd, which was very entertaining to watch.
Many people who live in the area will tell you the Culbertson Mansion is haunted – but there’s a whole lot more going on in that carriage house than anyone knows about. Join the investigation and visit the House of Anguish to uncover the Culbertson family’s darkest secrets this Halloween season.
914 East Main Street, New Albany, Indiana 47150