The Haunted Mine Review (2021)

The haunt has two sections we will discuss in detail later, the first area is a mix of traditional scenes and scares and the second is the actual mine area. In the first area, we encountered about ten younger actors. The young talent was quite impressive, several characters were behind classic drop-down boxes providing quick screams and yells, some popped out of nowhere, while others stood still making us wonder if they were real, there was even a contortionist. The dialogue was kept to a minimum with ‘go’ ‘get out’ and a little girl screaming ‘run from the demon.’ We found all actors to be sufficient at their duties. This is a short area that provides some traditional jump scares and entertainment before heading to the mine.

Inside the mine, there were a mix of minor miners and some older miners making up the dozen or so. As we pulled up in the smallest vehicle imaginable we were greeted with bangs on the metallic hood and screams to ‘get out and move it.’ After a quick safety talk, we were released into the mine. Most of the acting followed suit from Scarry Larry’s, quick jump scares by screams, shrieks, snarls, and other sonorous sounds. Some characters had a little more dialogue such as one fellow who followed me whispering ‘help me,’ a group of kids in cages begged for their lives and pleaded for ‘help, please!’ We also heard a sudden ‘did I scare you?’ Which did catch us off guard. Another character told us ‘there is always room for more’ but we think the mine was pretty full already. Other characters banged on the wooden walls, slammed metal drums, scraped their shovels off of the ground, or stood their ‘mining’ their own business. There was not much interaction or banter with the characters.

There was a mix of characters throughout the show. In Larry’s, it was a variety of characters mainly wearing ghoulish makeup or bloody makeup, but most appeared and disappeared so quickly we barely caught a glimpse. The contortionist in the factory/industrial scene had on a brownish-gray jumpsuit.

In the mine section, however, most of the cast stuck with the miner theme, which we felt gave it a more authentic feel. I was afraid we would find clowns down here, not out of fear but repetition, they seem to be everywhere this year. The miners had on dirty jumpsuits and hard hats. Some of the miners wore makeup giving them a pale ghostly look or a dirty coal-covered face. A few had on masks, we liked the skull masks, toxic avenger-ish masks, and the burnt minor mask. It helped give variety to the characters while sticking to the theme. There were a few other characters, a hooded girl with ghostly makeup roamed around, a cannibal who had children in a cage she was about to eat, and we also came across a witch-like character with long fingers and a long face.

All of the costumes, makeup, and masks looked good with nothing out of place, in the mine, some areas were dark so some details were hard to make up, but everything appeared cohesive.

We did not have any issues finding the Haunted Mine, even though it’s been over a decade since I was last there. There were signs from the main road leading up to the haunt and also to the Shadows, which is a separate haunt. There was some confusion in the parking area as there were no parking attendants. We parked between haunts. There was a tractor to take riders from the parking area to the ticket booth.
The staff was polite and friendly from the tractor driver to the ticket booth, and management.

The Haunted Mine website is located on the ‘Tour-Edmine’ website under the haunted mine section. It also is on social media.

Regarding safety, there are some dark uneven areas, low ceilings (is the top of a mine considered a ceiling), you will be required to wear a hard hat, and trust me you will want it I kept hitting my head all night. Other than that, there was nothing outside of a normal haunt. They are also following local Covid regulations. Don’t worry if you get hurt down there it would be a ‘minor’ injury.

It is also cooler down in the mine that night it was 78 degrees on the surface and humid, inside the mine we could see our breath, but I was fine in a t-shirt.

The first area was a mix of stereotypical haunt scenes, not in a bad way. From the outside, it looks a little primitive, a wood fa������������������ade with pallets a hand-painted sign, and colored Halloween lights with a few basic skull decorations. We were not expecting too much heading into this area, but we ended up being surprised at what we saw. It was an old-school style haunt but with a good amount of detail that did not feel like random props thrown together. Poppy clown music played throughout as we encountered strobe lights, colored lights, skeletons, demons, a disgusting toilet, zombie animatronics, and more. We enjoyed the hallway that was filled with fog and creepy pictures, the hallway with colorful lights, the room filled with oddities like skulls, pictures, and an old clock, the glowing room with moving bookcases, and the other glowing room that had the walls lined with retro Halloween wall hangings.

Mother Nature provides the main set for the main attraction. Over 8 miles of tunnels run through the area, so stay on the path. Within the earth, the cool damp rocks encased us like a tomb. There is no natural light down here so thankfully there is plenty of added light so we can see and provide some spooky ambiance as we traveled through. There was some set within the mine, wood pallets add winding pathways, moving bridges also gave an uneasy effect, and lanterns lit some areas. We noticed some background noises, one area we noticed sounds like machinery clanging, another sounded like the hiss from a machine, the spider area had clicks and chomping noises that made our skin crawl. We enjoyed the simplicity of the sets in this area as nothing felt out of place.

The additional pieces such as pallets, drums, cages, and little structures provided good distractions and hiding places for actors. There was no doubt we were in a Haunted Mine. Even the smell of the cave felt different.

In the Larry’s they split our group of 4 into two groups of two, giving us a more personal experience and better scares. Which the characters did provide. Although the variety was not as high with the main jump scares they were pretty unpredictable.

Heading into the mine area the first frightening thing we encountered was the ride into the mine. It was about three feet tall. And we had to crawl into it, it was so small we could not fully sit up, in fact with my back issues I felt like I was playing a crazy game of twister with the guys. It also moves pretty fast and as you go deeper into the mine it seemed to get even smaller. A creepy feeling especially for anyone with claustrophobia. Once in the haunt, scares stick to the traditional jump variety that were well executed. Some stalkers and stare-ers were found in these moist caverns too. A modest ending was provided before turning in our hardhats for the night.

The mine also has seen 27 deaths with two bodies never recovered so it is believed to be actually haunted’ maybe we can do a paranormal investigation here some time.

The Haunted mine is open in October on Fridays and Saturdays from 7-11. Admission is $20 and it took us about 15 minutes to get through, not including the wait time between Larry’s and the mine ride. That puts the minutes per dollar at .75 which is below average, however, this is the most unique location for a haunt in the area.

On the evening of our visit, they did have a food truck at an additional cost, and some nights they have entertainment but nothing this evening. From speaking with management they do have more room in the tunnels as well as 100 acres they can use and an old mill, so they do have some plans in the future and we can’t wait.

I am glad to see The Haunted Mine return to the haunt scene. It provides an original and authentic location unlike any other haunt around. It has an old-school vibe focusing heavily on its actors and natural ambiance to provide the frights. It keeps true to its theme and doesn’t throw unnecessary sets into an area without reason. This is a reboot we enjoyed.