Final Scores – By Category:

Cast (20% of Final Score): 7.67

Costuming (10% of Final Score): 7.46

Customer Service (10% of Final Score): 9.22

Immersion (10% of Final Score): 7.32

Special Effects (15% of Final Score): 7.09

Scare Factor (20% of Final Score): 7.49

Entertainment & Value (15% of Final Score): 7.83

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Final Scores – By Attraction:

The Hidden Haunted Attraction: 7.67

The Hidden Haunted Attraction is a charity haunt run by the Tri-State Trillium Foundation, a not-for-profit organization. They fund a scholarship fund for local students. Students also provide a lot of the cast and crew for the haunt. How’s that for a cool way to satisfy school service hours?

When the haunt is open, there is also a Halloween-themed mini-golf course on the premises for a separate fee. Why not do both for an evening full of putt-putt and scream-scream!

This mile-long trail has a bit of everything in it. They throw a ton of scenes and themes at you to see what sticks in your own personal scare space. At The Hidden, you are sure to ‘find’ something along the trail that gooses your haunt juices.

A pathway this long takes a lot of people to fill out, and The Hidden came through with a boatload of bodies to cover the area. We likely saw over 50 actors during our visit. A few dead patches popped up, but that is probably to be expected over such a long walkthrough.

We met a wide variety of characters: a full slate of movie stars (Art the Clown, the Creeper, Freddy, Ghostface, Jason), clowns, a classic witch, pumpkin-heads and piggy-heads, killbillies, and a motley assortment of other freaks and psychos.

We got stared at, screamed at lustily and repeatedly, threatened verbally and with weapons, lightly touched, stood overhead of and jumped down at, crab-walked at, and stalked for a reeeaallly long time by several maniacs – especially Art, who must have followed us for an entire minute, and the Creeper.

Screaming clowns told us they’d steal our guts, asked us to guess what (chicken butt, of course), and regaled us with their Fran Drescher-esque guffaws. Not sure who that is? Look her up, and you will understand how annoying that was! The Soul Collector (some sort of an underworld boss) demanded a soul to be sacrificed, for us to become her servants, or for our skin to make a new robe. Um, how about if we just leave instead, Soul Collector? Art and Jason stayed in character by not talking, but we’re unsure why Freddy had nothing to say. That’s kind of his thing.

So, we got a little bit of everything, with screaming, staring, and stalking being the predominant modes of interaction. The all-volunteer, mostly high-schooler cast gave it their all and made the trail come alive with lively engagements and good energy.

Character looks covered a wide range, from pretty great to none at all.

On the high tier, the movie killers all appeared as they should; Art and the Creeper, in particular, looked like they had just stepped off the screen. The witch had that classic look of a fairy tale hag who bakes kid loaf as part of her culinary pursuits. The Soul Collector rocked a killer horned animal skull mask.

For the medium level, many of the clowns were covered in glowing, brightly colored paint. The pig-head and pumpkin-head actors wore cool masks, while the killbilly had a blood-smeared face and grimy overalls. Another stalking creep sported a neat, sewed-up-face mask.

And at the none-at-all end, we saw some folks in street clothes and seemingly no makeup who primarily served as jump-out-and-screamers.

This attraction is located in East Liverpool, Ohio, on the eastern edge of the state, just across from Pittsburgh. Despite any expectations of invisibility or Predator-level camouflage powers, it was actually pretty easy for us to find The Hidden! GPS delivered us to the driveway, but be careful not to overshoot, or you will end up on the neighbor’s property right next to it. An illuminated sign helped us find our way.

We found plenty of free parking on gravel. Sounds, lights, and signage pointed the way to the entrance. The mini-golf entry is also obvious on the other side of the lot. Merch and food are available on the golf side.

We spent a fair amount of our time negotiating a tough trail. This was one of the rougher walkthroughs we’ve encountered in a while. Unlevel ground with lots of roots, knobs, and stumps proved to be pretty challenging. Closed-toe footwear, preferably something more like a hiking shoe/boot, should be considered mandatory.

Staff members were friendly and helpful. The Hidden keeps a Facebook page with frequent updates and pricing tacked to the top.

The entryway was in an old batting practice cage, which gave us a sense of being locked away with the inmates. The queue area had us rocking to classic metal (Iron Maiden, Accept, etc.) from the DJ stand with swirling colored lights; live bands play on select nights. A porcelain doll actor switched up weapons every minute or so to terrorize bystanders with an axe, sledgehammer, and baseball bat. Numerous props and photo ops filled the space.

The awesome ticket booth had been decorated to the brim and presented an official photo op scene featuring the attraction’s logo. We passed a skeleton puking into a barrel on the short way to the attraction entrance across a chain fence. So far, so great!

Probably the biggest obstacle to immersion inside the attraction became our focus on the path itself, as we stumbled and picked our way more than usual due to the various ground obstructions. Some of the more artificial elements of scene construction (like black tarp coverings) and a few blaring white lights also brought us out of the moment.

On the plus side, the actors’ energy remained high throughout. Catcalls and other sounds from areas ahead made us curious or apprehensive about what was coming next, and the usual trail factor of being out in the woods meant starting in a naturally elevated immersive environment.

Exiting the trail brought us a short walk away from our starting point at the parking lot.

The Hidden followed the typical trail walkthrough of strolling in the woods for a while, then going through or under a structure. Much of the scenery relied on a junkyard aesthetic with tires, pallets, and miscellaneous bits of junk lying around.

The outstanding witch set featured a cauldron, shelves of potions, and carved wooden symbols hanging down. A playground with miniature equipment like tiny swings looked downright creepy. The butchery maze toward the end was well done and spooky, with alternating dark areas and hallways with lighting effects like a rotating red police siren.

We enjoyed some terrific props, such as a tall devil figure, Nosferatu recumbent in a casket, and a tentacle-fingered, curly-haired animatronic that let out a shriek.

Audio-wise, we heard some recorded (we think) whispers and screams, a bit of music, and noises from animatronics, but most of the sounds were actor-made or provided. The aroma of popcorn in the carnival area made us hungry for a snack!

The junkyard scenery contributed to a feeling of being in a dilapidated, dangerous place. Sudden noises, like from car horns/air horns, along with pop-out actors, gave us several good startles and jumps, many of them aided by deft distractions.

Light touches from the actors did the usual trick of icking us out. Aggressive chainsaw operators dragged their blades on us, amping up the sense of physical danger.

Besides full-throated screamers, we also ran across dead-starers. Some of them turned into very dedicated followers.

For example, we first saw Art standing at a distance, doing a slow wave. We did not feel eager to approach! Art walked purposefully behind us for a good distance, providing a slow-burn freak-out. We often turned back to check on him; at the end of the following, Art stood still, watching us for a long time, and finally did one last bit of slo-mo waving before fading into the darkness. Definitely one of the scarier actors of the night, with a great look, deliberate movements, and menacing silence. The Creeper actor took us by surprise and did another unsettling following-us routine, answering our questions with gruff grunts and thrusting their claws in our faces.

The ‘sounds from upcoming areas’ occurrences we mentioned in Immersion came into play here as well. We could hear banging from a long way away and for a long time before we finally reached its source: an actor thumping on barrels who declared they would do the same to our heads. A beaked percussionist knocking away behind a wall as we drew near provided a distraction for another actor to swoop in from the other side. Growls from disembodied voices outside the butcher area ahead saying, ‘yummy yummy, we’re hungry in here’ were amusing and disturbing. They all added a sense of discomfort and reluctance to face what awaited us.

General admission costs $15. We walked the trail in 31 minutes, which meant that for the first time this year, we hit a hallowed and nearly unheard-of MPD (minutes of attraction time per dollar spent) over 2, specifically coming in at 2.07. The benchmark we like to see is 1.0, so this was more than double that target!

You can play a round of mini-golf instead for $15, or get a combo of the trail and mini-golf for $25, and add a fast pass for the trail to the combo for a $38 price (this option is not available when there is a band playing).

The Hidden also offers some daytime festival activities for families on certain dates. The mini-golf course looks like awesome fun. Putting around freaky-fun props and animatronics should be a blast. This is a full 18-hole course. We did not get to play, but we saw the course and are planning to get a round in the next time we are here.

Do you like your plate of hot haunt action served with a side of good works? Then, do everyone a favor and seek out what The Hidden has to offer.