Psycho Path IN Review (2020)

Psycho Path typically employs between 30-40 cast members each night. Most of these are split between the trail and the Paintball Zombie Hunt, as we did not encounter any monsters in the Dead End Maze area.

Our dialogues with the actors were very limited, mostly consisting of ‘rawr’s’ and other brief war cries. However, most of them did have great timing, and one fellow yelled at us to ‘Go, get out of [his] house!’ Apparently, he didn’t take kindly to us traipsing into his house.

Despite our limited interactions, most of the monsters seemed like they were very energetic and having a great time scaring us!

A good chunk of the trail is very dimly lit, so it was difficult for us to see the extent of each character’s get-up. Other than the clown at the entrance, it appeared that nearly all of the cast members were utilizing masks, rather than makeup applications. Most of them seemed to be of good quality and helped make the characters more unique.

There’s quite a variety of villains to behold at Psycho Path! The monsters we found ranged from Krampus (who had a cloak and creepy mask!), a clown with green hair, a couple of zombies, a fur-covered goat guy with a pentagram on its chest, a well-camouflaged ghillie suit, and the notorious Leatherface, just to name a few.

Our GPS led us right to the entrance to the campground property, which is where the Psycho Path attractions take place. The driveway is gravel and mostly one lane, so be prepared to pull off to the side if you need to pass other customers that are leaving.

Parking is self-served with very little lighting, and most were parking adjacent to the driveway itself, so do be mindful of other people walking around and other cars pulling in and out as you’re looking for a spot. A small building for their rustic restrooms is available next to the entrance road, about 100-yds or so before the lane dead-ends into the ticket booth area.

Everyone that we spoke with was very friendly and able to answer any questions that we had about the haunt and how to find our way around. Roaming queue actors obliged us with some scares and selfie opportunities. The main queue line (for Psycho Path) is located right behind the ticket booth, and the covered waiting area / facade for Zombie Hunt is very easy to find once you exit the maze.

Psycho Path is an outdoor trail, so be mindful of this when selecting your footwear for the evening. You’ll have to navigate some hills and uneven ground as you make your way through. Lighted barrels and other hanging lights are in place to help you find your way through the woods, but only a few scenes are particularly ‘well lit.’ We aren’t sure if this is by design, but it definitely helped some of the monsters hide from us until we got into their scare zones!

Speaking of which, all customers are provided with glowing necklaces. We found that these served two purposes during our visit: 1) to help the monsters see us coming, and 2) to help our group members keep track of each other’ especially in the Dead End maze, where there was lots of ‘Nope! Dead end’ turn around’ going on.

Aside from the actors wearing masks, and the fact that our group of 2 were sent in by ourselves, we didn’t notice many additional COVID precautions being taken. We spoke with management prior to our arrival about which precautions they would be implementing, and they informed us that they have been working very closely with their local health department about this. From what we gathered, there aren’t many requirements being enforced in their area and, thus, what we witnessed is likely what you can expect during your visit as well.

Being co-located at Sleeping Bear Retreat, the presence of Psycho Path can be a little ‘unsuspecting’ when you’re first pulling in. We did notice a couple of signs by the road that helped confirm we were arriving at a haunted attraction’ which we felt adds a bit to the creepy, ‘out in the middle of nowhere’ vibe. Plus, if you arrive from the north, you might get to drive through an old single-lane underpass that’s nearby. We’re still kind of regretting not stopping for a picture of that.

A short drive through the normal campground area leads to a dead end at the ticket booth area. From there, we noticed a couple of roaming queue actors (one was very large!), rustic buildings, fog, ambient lighting, and the sounds of screaming customers that let us know we were for sure getting ready to experience a good old-fashioned woods haunt!

Before we got started, the clown ticket-taker informed us that her gun was loaded – and then demonstrated it by shooting one of us in the face! (It was just air, but) it certainly got our attention, and things went to Hell – in a good way – from there!

As mentioned above, this is more of an old-school style show. Many of the effects we encountered had been created or modified in-house, so there will be some creative ideas here that you probably haven’t seen anywhere else.

The most effective pieces by far were the large creature reachers they had modified for the trail. Not only were they hard to spot, and the sounds they emitted were highly realistic, but they had extra ‘fingers’ and other accessories added to them, which made it very easy for them to get up-close-and-personal with those walking the path.

One of the most startling effects was an awkward but fast and loud sound that appeared to be coming from within some sort of small metal barrel. We heard it from a few scenes ahead and knew it was coming, but it was so unique and randomly-placed that it was still totally unexpected. Additionally, we got jumped by a large arachnid, we lost our way in a foggy swamp, and tried not to get caught up within a tunnel of mousetraps! There’s also a squishy section of the trail that took us by surprise, it’s not often we see this utilized in haunts anymore. We’ll just say if you fall on it, like one of our group members did, it’s a very cushioned landing.

Although it was rather quiet in between the scenes and decorated zones, the larger props and more-detailed areas had unique sounds accenting them. We heard some mice squeaking and some unexplainable sounds that had us wondering when or what was going to come out at us.

When it comes to decor throughout the trail, things were pretty minimal compared to most other attractions that we frequent. Some of the larger effects were placed in parts of the woods with very little else around them, but there were some higher-detailed areas such as the whole first section leading in (including the front facade), the Christmas area, and the hillbilly homestead. Apparently a lot of children have gotten lost in the maze or were kidnapped by Krampus, as we noticed many of them on display with their throats slit!

Psycho Path takes place way out in the woods in the middle of nowhere, so that right there may be scary for some. We’ll admit, it makes it pretty creepy! Eerie aesthetics aside, they had some good tricks up their sleeves.

There was an interesting variety of fears along the path. From spiders, darkness, disorientation, sparks, and clowns, we’re sure there’s something out there to get under the skin of many that walk the path. But whatever you do, don’t run. If you do, you’ll be an easier target for Leatherface to cut you up!

When you purchase your tickets, you will receive a handy dandy glow necklace. Because the trail is so dark in areas, the necklaces help let the actors know when groups are near them. Not only that, but we felt that they were rather important to have on in the maze. If we hadn’t had those necklaces on, we likely wouldn’t have made it out of the maze together. We watched a group get split up to where they had to re-enter the maze just to find the rest of their group.

We must also mention that not only is there the maze, of course, but the finale of the trail led us into the maze. On top of that, there’s this scary feller in there that you may know as Leatherface and he chainsaw chased us right into the maze that happened to start out as walls of hanging sheets! Talk about an interesting (and scary) finale!

General admission tickets for the haunted trail and maze are $15.00 per person. For those wanting to do the zombie paintball only, separate tickets for that are also $15.00. If you’re wanting to go all in and experience everything, combo tickets can be purchased for $25.00.

Each year, the proceeds from ticketing go right back into the trail! We were informed that they’re planning on a major revamp of the maze area for 2021, too!

It took our group 18 minutes to complete the trail and the maze. However, your time will likely vary quite a bit as the maze was pretty difficult to get out of. The trail itself took us 12 minutes and the maze was an additional 6. Considering our timing, that’s 1.2 MPD (minutes of entertainment received per dollar spent), which is right around the average for most haunts that we visit.

They had a projector casting movies onto a screen next to the queue line so guests can watch horror films while waiting to get into the attraction. There was also a large creature interacting with guests and a few photo opportunities as well. It looked like everyone waiting in line was having a fun time.

If you’re looking for a good ol’-fashioned haunted trail that offers several other unique attractions along with a path of fright and fun, then check out Psycho Path!