Niles Haunted House Screampark is now in their 41st season at their 44-acre location. Niles is debatably the most charity- and family-friendly haunt that The Scare Factor has had the privilege of visiting to date. Over the last 18 years, they’ve donated over 1.2 million dollars to over 80 different charities, ranging from the Make a Wish Foundation and Boy Scouts of America to local youth groups! They mean it when they say, ‘they put the ‘care’ in scare.’ Five differently-themed attractions can be found at Niles HHSP and this year they include the following: Niles Haunted House: Misfit Monster Mansion, Curse of The Dark Walker, Tomb of the Undead 3D, Field of Screams: Legends of Horror, and Dark TERRORtory Haunted Hayride: Museum of the Macabre. If you’re looking for a safe and family-friendly haunt in southern Michigan that’ll provide hours of entertainment, then look no further than Niles Haunted House Scream Park!
Haunt Scores:
Tomb of the Undead 3D: 8.64
Curse of the Dark Walker: 9.16
Niles Haunted House: Misfit Monster Mansion: 9.17
Dark TERRORtory Haunted Hayride: Museum of the Macabre: 8.88
Field of Screams: Legends of Horror: 9.31
In the peak of the season, Niles utilizes approximately 200 volunteer actors each night! Each of the attractions has their own managers who train their respective actors for the scenes that they’ll be working in and each of them had varying levels of believability. Most of the actors had great dialogue and some were quite theatrical and even verbally interactive at times, such as those in Curse of The Dark Walker. Some of the actors in the Mansion were physically interactive as well! Also, the actors in Tomb of the Undead fulfilled their characters’ roles well and those in the Haunted Hayride made their theme very believable. In Field of Screams, the stalker in the cemetery was particularly memorable and intimidating; as was the girl in the white dress with the chucky doll.
Haunt Scores:
Tomb of the Undead 3D: 8.11
Curse of The Dark Walker: 8.7
Niles Haunted House: Misfit Monster Mansion: 8.8
Dark TERRORtory Haunted Hayride: Museum of the Macabre: 8.96
Field of Screams: Legends of Horror: 9.2
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Few masks were noticed at Niles except for the characters working the Midway. Inside the attractions, however, the characters generally tended to use makeup and prosthetics. Makeup worn by the actors ranged from fluorescent paint (Tomb of the Undead 3D) to more deranged designs, depending on which haunt we were in. As far as the costumes themselves, Niles creates and supplies them for each character except for the roaming actors in the Midway, which are in charge of creating and developing their own characters and costumes. Nearly every costume throughout the Park matched their respective scenes and themes, although the detail ranged from minimal to high-quality, authentic pieces. The following are some costumes that you may see during your visit of Niles: the librarian (Curse of The Dark Walker), Death Himself and ‘Nancy’ (Midway), the narrator and Cleopatra (Haunted Hayride), the dead bride (Niles HH), and the ‘Lost Soul Collector’ (Field of Screams).
Haunt Scores:
Tomb of the Undead 3D: 8.17
Niles Haunted House: Misfit Monster Mansion: 8.67
Field of Screams: Legends of Horror: 9
Dark TERRORtory Haunted Hayride: Museum of the Macabre: 8.96
Curse of The Dark Walker: 9.17
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Niles Scream Park has a massive 20-acre, well-lit parking area and an overflow lot if that’s not enough; both of which are free to use and flaggers help direct customers to the best spots in an orderly fashion. Rest assured that parking will not be an issue. A lit sign by the road shows you where to turn in. Before entering the attraction, security personnel wand customers with metal detectors make sure that everyone gets to have a safe and fun evening! Friendly staff members can be found all over the park, in case you have any questions or concerns during your visit. After getting our tickets and finally making it to the midway, a photographer is there to offer groups a free photo! These can be retrieved online with a code that they’ll provide, if you decide you want one. A variety of games, extra photo ops, special shows and even a drive-in style movie screen can be found on the carnival-style midway as well. Some of the games even give you the chance to scare other customers that are going through the attractions! After playing some games and going through some haunts, there are multiple food vendors and plenty of seating so you can get your belly full and relax for a while. One of the most memorable games that we saw gave customers the opportunity to shoot ‘objects’ at other customers that pass by a window! Extensive safety measures have also been implemented at Niles. They work very closely with their local fire department to conduct fire drills and rescue training sessions on a regular basis. This ensures that there’s virtually no chance of someone getting left inside a building in case of an emergency. In fact, the Park is so safe, they reported that parents often drop off their kids with confidence that they’ll be able to enjoy their visit safely. Of course, they’ll pick them up later’ once they visit all of the haunts and run out of game money! Plenty of exit signs were noticed throughout each of the 3 indoor attractions and all-weather matting is used in the outdoor haunts to help prevent mud and slick walkways. Except for some occasional uneven flooring, Niles is debatably the safest haunted attraction that The Scare Factor has had the privilege of visiting!
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As soon as we got out of our vehicle, loud bursts of screams and ominous music were heard coming from within the park. The combination of crazy sounds, a spooky fa������������������ade, and the sight of several of the park’s monsters let us know without a doubt that we were at a haunted scream park! Once we reached the midway, we were completely surrounded by a fun, family-friendly, Halloween atmosphere! There were multiple roaming actors running about entertaining patrons, carnival music, Halloween d������������������cor, all of which built our excitement to visit the attractions! The area leading up to ‘the big house’ (THE Niles haunted house) was very eerie feeling and helped to authenticate the mansion’s atmosphere! Even the queue line areas to some of the attractions had such realistic d������������������cor and scenes that they played a major role in building our anticipation to enter!
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Copious amounts of original and innovative special effects were found at NHHSP! Enough can’t be said about the effects found here, simply because they had such a large assortment of them! A majority of the effects were donated to them or built by the park’s skilled special effects guy, who we were told, ”can basically build anything!’ Some of the cast worked with the effects in their respective scenes very well, which enhanced their effectiveness! The 3D artwork that could be seen through our 3D glasses worked so well that it had us watching the floor (in certain areas) to make sure there were no miss-steps! Most of the scenes were detailed very authentically for their themes, especially in Niles Haunted House and Curse of The Dark Walker. Intense and ominous sound effects were heard just about everywhere and helped to bring the scenes to life! Some of the more unsettling sounds included twisted banjo music, powerful pulsations, real chainsaws, and even a few ‘familiar’ horror movie tunes. Another thing we noticed about some of the props that used sounds was that the sounds actually seemed to come from the props (instead of some speaker somewhere)! They matched them so well that it made the props much more realistic and believable. Strategic lighting was also used throughout the attractions and aided in directing our attention to certain things’ creating perfect distractions, scares, and disorientation areas! Some of the special effects that we came across include a jumping globe, flying bats, horns, slithering snakes, waterfalls, an elevator, ponds, a crocodile, a gigantic troll, air cannons, loud poppers, spinning floors, swinging bridges, a falling bookshelf, a vortex tunnel, a bottomless pit’ the list just keeps on going! Don’t worry if you accidentally fall into the pit though, there is a ladder for you to use to climb your way back up; we just don’t know where, or IF, it ever ends! The layout used for several of the attractions was also impressive, especially in the house, where there’s over 100 different possible routes’.WOW!
Haunt Scores:
Tomb of the Undead 3D: 8.88
Niles Haunted House: Misfit Monster Mansion: 9.2
Field of Screams: Legends of Horror: 9.09
Dark TERRORtory Haunted Hayride: Museum of the Macabre: 8.28
Curse of The Dark Walker: 9.25
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Each attraction at Niles has a distinct theme that changes each year, so you get to experience something new every haunt season! The flagship attraction of the park, Niles Haunted House: Misfit Monster Mansion, consists of over 100 possible routes within the nooks and crannies of this classic, Halloween-family’s homestead. These ghouls have many sights to show you and may seem very friendly at first, but don’t let them fool you! Their neighborliness just may be a disguise for some well-kept, bloodline secrets! The sign at the front door that reads ‘Beware of everything’ is your only warning! The Field of Screams: Legends of Horror will make it seem like you’re living some of your favorite scary movies. Almost every turn you make can decide your fate because this is one massive outdoor maze! Curse of The Dark Walker has become a dark dwelling for those with a thirst for blood! This estate is off the map and vampires have taken refuge here! It would be wise to make yourself aware of the tales floating around about these nocturnal creatures and what special measures you can take to help ward them off before you decide to enter, for it may become the last choice you make! Tomb of the Undead 3D contains artwork of the Egyptians, but these aren’t your ordinary hieroglyphics. These crafty assassins have learned the technique of preserving the dead and love to showcase their talents! Watch your step and be careful or you may find yourself stuffed inside your own tomb for eternity! The hayride is debatably the mildest of the attractions, making it suitable for just about anyone. While perched upon a rolling wagon, you will journey through a museum of the bizarre items and creatures that have been captured from traveling all over the world and some even say from travelling through time! The theme of this attraction was the most apparent to us, mainly due to the narrator on the wagon who told us the story and how it related to all of the scenes we saw during the ride.
Haunt Scores:
Tomb of the Undead 3D: 9
Niles Haunted House: Misfit Monster Mansion: 9.1
Field of Screams: Legends of Horror: 9.2
Dark TERRORtory Haunted Hayride: Museum of the Macabre: 9.45
Curse of The Dark Walker: 9.3
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A variety of scares were delivered to our group that consisted of unsettling stares, effective hiding spots, ‘pop scares,’ distractions, stalking creatures, total darkness, disorienting passageways, confined spaces, foggy areas, and other tricky tactics! While visiting Niles, it was difficult for us to predict where the scares were going to come from, so be on the lookout in all directions! A lot of startles were aimed at the front of the group, but the cast didn’t forget about those in the back. At times, we thought we were going to have extra ‘entities’ in the car on our way back home! When distractions were used, they were very innovative, which made them unpredictable and helped keep us on-guard. The well-placed drop panels, air cannons, and disorienting lights aided in this as well! The Curse and the Field received the highest scores in this category due to the extreme disorientation, unnerving scenery and various, unexpected moving objects, creatures, and noises that our group encountered as we tried to find our way out!
Haunt Scores:
Tomb of the Undead 3D: 7.15
Niles Haunted House: Misfit Monster Mansion: 8.75
Field of Screams: Legends of Horror: 8.85
Dark TERRORtory Haunted Hayride: Museum of the Macabre: 6.85
Curse of The Dark Walker: 9.05
855 Mayflower Road, Niles, Michigan 49120