The Haunted Farm NC Review (2021)

After securing our tickets, and dodging a few undead in the waiting area, we headed down into the dark woods where we ran into creepy creature after creature. While most of our encounters on the trail were very brief, our meeting with the various inhabitants of the various buildings after were much longer.

We had a very up-close encounter in the crematorium, chatted with a voodoo houngan, and were briefly pursued by a monstrous dentist, perhaps seeking to give us an appointment reminder, but we especially loved a brief stay in the new asylum.

The madman in the crematorium worked to pin one of our team against the wall in an attempt to elicit a reaction and the houngan was ready with responses when we asked him questions. While parts of the asylum were exactly what we expected from a haunted attraction, our stand-out favorite encounter in this part of the Farm was one young patient trapped in a darkened room. It seemed that she could see us, but thought that we were coming in and out of her field of view, ‘walking through the walls.’ This little twist ‘ that perhaps we were the specters haunting her ‘ was a creative and fun subversion of haunting trope that we were excited to talk about even after we escaped the Farm.

In addition to the acting and screaming and quiet, menacing stares, the costumes and props utilized at the Farm are all top-notch. The attention to detail and care taken help to complete the illusion and ensure that visitors to the Farm really feel like they are the center of a nightmare come to life. Pieces fit the characters, whether they were a monstrous nightmare dentist, a child’s doll come to life, or the restraints on a dangerous patient, the costumes and props were all on point. We thoroughly enjoyed the immersive design that went into the variety of characters caught up in the curse of the Farm during our visit.

We enjoyed the detail that Farm employs when using masks, making sure that all of them are as seamless and natural as any cursed flesh out there.

After hours on the road, GPS dropped us onto a dirt and gravel road that led over hills and around curves to finally drop us at the edge of an expansive field neighboring an old and nearly full graveyard. Lights and signs were like a beacon in the dark. Parking attendants took our payment and guided us to a slot amid the scores upon scores of other vehicles.

Having been to the Farm before, we knew where to go already, but found the signs directing all the guests easily. Tickets are available online and guests that plan ahead can either bring the printed tickets or have a code for them on their phone ready to be scanned at the end of the waiting area. Costumed creatures stalk the waiting area, ready to give new arrivals a quick fright to get the heart pumping as well as help direct folks from area to area. The staff manning the various booths around this staging area ‘ merchandise, food, tickets ‘ are all helpful, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic.

Just as with any haunted attraction, guests should dress appropriately ‘ that is to say, appropriate footwear for a hike through the woods and across grassy fields is a must.

We did find that the walking trail that compromised the first stage of the haunt is in many places very dark. Even with the light of a moon overhead, we were peering into the darkness waiting for the next flash of lightning or seeking out the next glowing light. The guide ropes along the sides of the trail are a welcome aid for getting from place to place, but the grasping roots underfoot caught up several of us and those around us.

The looming trees over the well-lit field and the echoes of chainsaws and screams all helped set the stage for our own attempt to pass through the cursed woods and the Haunted Farm unscathed. The general admission waiting area boasts a projected movie as well as high-energy music. Though the fast pass line is a little bare in comparison, the music still thuds into the edges of the woods.

In addition, there are little touches from the queue area actors that play into the haunt’s backstory about the Lively-Tate feud and the curse that lies over the forest and fields. Besides some gruesome undead farmhands and mournful brides, there was also a rather disturbing clown that gifted one of our team with what appeared to be a child’s tooth from a small pouch.

The Haunted Farm carries a lot of different effects from lunging animatronics that leap across great distances to sudden jump-scares to greatly detailed sets and surroundings. More than just pretty visual effects, the ambient sounds and scents also help to create a full sensory environment around guests. There were big and obvious things, like lightning and thunder on the trail in the dark woods that helped set the mood of a walk through a haunted forest ‘ to little things, like the sounds of rats scrabbling in the walls or crickets chirping in the distance that helped to create an entire environment around us. There were even a number of different scents, often floating through wisps of fog, in different interior areas that worked to create a believable and immersive experience. Little details like these are some of the things that make the Haunted Forest a definite must-visit for us.

We were so enthralled with all of the detail poured into the Haunted Farm that on more than one occasion we had to let the frightened guests who had caught up from behind us pass us by so that we could spend more time admiring our surroundings.

The website for the Haunted Farm details a history between feuding families ‘ the Livelys and the Tates ‘ that comes to a head when two scions meet in star-crossed love like Romeo and Juliet. The story of these two youths is just as tragic and leads to the story of the cursed forest and haunted farmland that the haunt now rests upon.

There are some details of this story spread through the haunt ‘ costumed farmers or white-dressed brides and carved tombstones with names from the tale, not to mention the actual location ‘ a farm field adjacent to a cemetery and a stretch of darkened woodland. However, the interior sets of the Haunted Farm move beyond that tale ‘ a voodoo priest, an asylum gone mad, a creepy dentist office, a not-so-abandoned mine, and a 3D clown-scape. These additions are in line with what a lot of customers want to see from a haunted attraction and the staff at the Farm do a great job of utilizing them to bring out screams and scares even though these elements aren’t one-hundred percent on theme.

For our part, we created tons of justifications for these additions, from traveling carnivals trapped by the curse to the nightmares of locals affected by the haunting. How much of those explanations were intentional or a result of our own brush with the Lively-Tate curse we will leave up to other guests of the Farm to decide.

It should be no surprise that the Haunted Farm delivers on scares. There are a lot of sudden jump-scares, but that’s not all that the Farm has to offer. From its dedicated cast to their elaborate masks, from the creepy surroundings to the immersive effects, the Farm does a great job of pulling shrieks and screams out of its guests.

More than once during our visit, we could hear shouts and screams coming from groups of guests around us. Sometimes the other guests were so scared that they were practically running into us from behind or leaping back in fear to stop our own forward advance. Too, care has been taken at the Farm to not just hit the person at the front of a group with a sudden fright; scares from props or actors can strike at any time from either side to target any weakness exhibited in a group of guests.

Our brush with the curse of the Lively Farm lasted just about thirty-three minutes. Even accounting for our dalliances to stop and look at one intriguing bit of d������������������cor or another, that walkthrough is in line with the ticket cost. Fast passes are available for those who can’t wait for their chance to enter this entertaining and exciting haunt.

This year is the eleventh for the Haunted Farm and we thoroughly enjoyed the changes and additions that this year has brought. Though there are surely some guests who bemoan that the haunt isn’t exactly the same as it used to be, the changes and additions coupled with the attention to detail and design are a guarantee that return guests will find something new to scream about this year at The Haunted Farm!