Lake Hickory Haunts (LHH) between Granite Falls and Hickory, NC, is situated around the shores of a small natural lake. Winding down from an overlook that allows a glimpse at the entire attraction from a distance, our path led down into a carnival-like midway filled with shops, games, and some wandering monsters. There are nine attractions beyond the midway featuring a variety of custom-built sets and plenty of creepy creatures. LHH was a haunt we were looking forward to visiting this year and they did not disappoint.
Though some procedures have been altered because of the pandemic, LHH has worked tirelessly to deliver their show with a lot of thought given to the safety of patrons this season. We can definitely recommend a visit for those willing to venture out to Lake Hickory Haunts.
A huge variety of characters inhabit Lake Hickory Haunts. Though many of these are the traditional mad doctors, nurses, clowns, and pirates, there were also a number of aliens and sea-monsters. In several scenes, we were entertained with some witty banter and dialogue with the separate monsters and denizens. From the nurse at the front door to the mad doctor, the stilt wearing clown, the pirate captain, and several others in the slaughterhouse, we enjoyed talking with the different members of the cast as much as we enjoyed the surprising screams from the ones that popped out from the various hidden nooks and crannies.
There were a lot of wildly creative and detailed costumes worn at Lake Hickory Haunts. The majority of these creepy denizens were all alike in one way – there is a unifying grimy-look to all of the cast. This well-weathered look serves to not only give the various actors a cohesive feel but makes them all seem like they’ve just climbed up out of the lake ready to scare.
There were also several full-body costumes that were very well detailed. One of them even seemed to be a static prop until we had almost passed it and it came to life for a sudden scare.
Lake Hickory Haunts obviously cares a great deal about their cast and their customers. There are a lot of safety measures in place – of course, there are mandatory masks and social distancing due to the pandemic but there are also lots of lights, guide ropes, and numerous safety personnel.
The majority of LHH is a series of trails through the woods surrounding the lake. As with any other haunted attraction involving a lot of walking, comfortable shoes that can get dirty are a must. Should it rain, the trails are covered with a fair bit of thick gravel and have either guide ropes or handrails.
Besides a bevy of helpful staff both roaming the site and manning a number of booths (tickets, gift shop, midway games), LHH also has an online presence through their main website as well as a variety of social media and video channels that provide not only information about the haunt (prices, hours, dates) but also give some behind the scenes sneak peeks during prior to opening.
From the street, LHH resembles nothing so much as an abandoned gas station. However, that is simply the ticket booth. Navigating down past a smattering of decorated vehicles and through an arch of skulls, we ventured down to an overlook where we could see the lake below us and the haunt surrounding it.
Before entering the haunt itself, there is a sizable midway filled with a number of creatures giving some glimpse of what lies beyond the doors of the haunt itself. From a gasmask-wearing pirate to a towering representation of Cthulhu, the roaming midway actors give a great sense of what’s to come.
A lot of time has been poured into the sets and set design of Lake Hickory Haunts. Attention has been paid to everything from the ambient sounds to created scents to, of course, the visuals that surrounded us.
From the shifting floating docks that set one of our team off-balance to the constantly shorter ceilings that made another team-member duck and crouch more and more.
We may have spent more time looking at the various pieces of set decor and art that made up the haunt than we did screaming in terror, but we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
SFX Effective at Scaring, Entertaining (35% of score): 8.8
Could Tell What Theme Was Without Asking (15% of score): 9
Theme Well Executed, Believable (25% of score): 8.9
Location Authenticates Theme (10% of score): 8.5
How Scary (15% of score): 8.3
While there are nine separate and distinct areas that make up LHH, each with a different atmosphere and theme, there is an attempt at a cohesive overall theme that is introduced before one enters the front of the haunt.
At the front door, a charming and lovely nurse informed us that she was employed by a doctor who was working on perfecting a formula that could make dreams and nightmares come to life. We were to be the next batch of test subjects!
We felt that this was a clever way to unify the disparate elements of the haunt, working in some slight way to have both clowns and sea monsters, undead and pirates, all stalking about. As mentioned above, the weathered look to most of the creatures helped play in that all of these characters and locations were sprung from the same fevered mind.
Aside from the beautifully worked sets, we were hit with a lot of jump scares at LHH. We had a small group passing through the haunt, and the vast majority of the scares were aimed right at our center.
We especially enjoyed the drifting docks of Aquaphobia, the interaction of the Slaughterhouse, and the eye-bending effects of the Big Top Circus – each of these had their own special pieces that helped to deliver entertainment and pull out some screams.
520 Carolina Ave, Hickory, North Carolina 28601