Final Scores – By Category:

Cast (20% of Final Score): 8.15

Costuming (10% of Final Score): 7.61

Customer Service (10% of Final Score): 9.7

Immersion (10% of Final Score): 7.84

Special Effects (15% of Final Score): 7.1

Scare Factor (20% of Final Score): 7.9

Entertainment & Value (15% of Final Score): 8.2

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Final Scores – By Attraction:

Attraction 1 – The Hidden (trail): 8.02

The Hidden Haunted Attraction is a charity haunt run by the Tri-State Trillium Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that funds a scholarship fund for local students. Students also make up a good portion of the cast and crew.

This is one of the longer trails we’ve trod. It’s a full mile that takes a half-hour to hoof through …if you’re not running like a scaredy-weenie. Which you just might feel like doing, but resist the urge and instead savor the flavor of this terrific trail!

Besides being a looong trail, the defining mark of this haunt is the Halloween-themed mini-golf course available for a separate charge. The course is crawling with spooky props, scenery, and animatronics. The trail and the putting both provided tons of fun. We have not scored the putting course or made it part of the official review since it is not an attraction staffed with actors.

There’ll be nobody shushing the crowd when you’re putting, and certainly not when you’re on the trail. Screams are encouraged. So, did The Hidden break haunting par? Let’s go to the scorecard.

A mile is a lot of space to fill, and fill it they did with a host of all-volunteer, mostly student actors. We met up with a full complement of characters: a coven of cackling witches and their pet (or their familiar?) wolf Bingo, a gaggle of clowns who shrieked with excitement when we agreed to play with their dollies, malevolent scarecrows, piggo-headed farm freaks, cannibal cooks, and cinema icons Jason, Michael, and Leatherface.

The cast hit us with a little bit of everything. They screamed, laughed, whipped around weapons, touched us, did the silent staring thing, stationed themselves overhead so we had to duck under them, and several times stalked us for a crazy long distance.

Crazy Dolly welcomed us to the trail, demanding to know why one of us was foolish enough to wear new white sneakers, beckoning Jason out of his shack, and making us skip down the path with her holding hands! Whether planned or not, following up that loud, aggressive character with a soft-spoken specter who gently inquired if we’d like to take a little forever nap in the cemetery was an inspired contrast.

Later, Killbilly welcomed us to the cannibal family by feeding us right off a recently used cutting board. Compliments to the cook. Those were some well-seasoned, skillfully grilled slices of long pig. The Soul Collector tried to make good on its name. And we suffered through more than one frenzied multi-chainsaw attack, where they waved their power tools around like Bruce Lee whipping nunchucks and then dragged them all over our limbs, backs, and bellies.

Compared to last year, we noticed a marked reduction in simply getting screamed in our faces, in favor of more significant interactions. The cast brought it! They made that long mile a blast instead of a blah.

Like the diverse character types, their looks covered a range of styles that featured a mix of makeup and masks. A bizarre, grotesque creation in a nun’s habit appeared to facially cross Valak from The Conjuring series with Art the Clown. The witches, scarecrows, piggy farmers, redneck cannibals, movie monsters, and clowns, one of whom rocked some very cool glowing neon face paint, all looked aptly attired. The Soul Collector’s animal skull helmet, the sewed-up mask that kind of looked like Sam from Trick or Treat, and bestial Bingo were all good looks.

Also on the plus side, unlike last year, we don’t recall seeing anyone without at least some kind of costuming.

The Hidden is located in East Liverpool, Ohio, on the eastern edge of the state just across from Pittsburgh. An illuminated sign helped us find our way. GPS delivered us to the driveway. Well, a driveway. But getting the right driveway is a little tricky based on our experience. The team captain/driver swore he wouldn’t miss it like last year …but if, like us, you end up at what looks like someone’s house, that’s what it is: someone’s house. You’re in the wrong place. Turn around to find the turn immediately next to where you are and go down the long gravel path.

Attendants guided us to free parking. The haunt and the golf course were on opposite sides of the lot, and immediately recognizable as such.

Be cautious on the trail. The landscape, which passes unlevel ground, roots, knots, and stumps, should be approached with care. Take the cue from Crazy Dolly’s disapproval of our shiny fresh kicks and wear some sturdy, non-new, closed-toe footwear.

The Hidden keeps up a merch store site and a solid Facebook page, though we had to dig a little to find the ticket pricing.

The entryway weaved through an old batting practice cage, suggesting a prison yard – and we assumed we were the prisoners! The queue area brimmed with atmosphere from colored lights, skeletons and other props, and blasting metal music by classic bands like Iron Maiden (Run to the Hills, yeah!). The ticket shack had likewise been festively decorated with lights, props, and an official photo op scene. We got to see our photo posted on their Facebook page a day later.

A chainsaw clown queue actor roamed between the parking area, entrances to both attractions, and the concessions truck, putting on a highly entertaining display and keeping up a patter of comments that were amusing/inappropriate/usually both.

The natural environment provided the biggest benefit of a dark and creepy woods to walk through, as well as the largest distraction – balancing monster attacks and scenery watching against trying not to stumble. Some of the more obvious ‘this is a haunt’ set elements like black tarp coverings and multiple pallet constructions also hindered immersion a bit, but the actors caught and held our attention more often than not.

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

The Hidden imbued the typical haunted trail playbook of a structure-strewn walkthrough with some flair and originality.

The graveyard looked good. The specter pointed out a desiccated Nosferatu mannequin inside an open casket, offering it up as an ideal model for us on how to take a satisfying nap. The witches summoned their (were?)wolf Bingo out of a seemingly too-small doghouse, a surprising and amusing sight gag. The clowns had an old swing set on which to place their Barbies. The Soul Collector’s realm featured black-robed mannequins and an altar covered by skulls and candles.

Much of the rest of it resembled a redneck junkyard wonderland of tire piles, stacked pallets, and relocated battered street signs. Strobed fog rooms proved to be extremely disorienting.

The audio portion of the program mixed bits and pieces of music with a few animatronic noises. Actors accounted for most sounds though, from soo-ee calls to chainsaw revs to weapon banging.

The Hidden boasted some seriously unsettling young actors. And they’re not kidding about the attraction’s name. The mob of creatures secreted themselves in every crevice and dark patch of the place, truly transforming into The Hidden. They dangled from above to caress the top of our heads. They crawled from below to grab at our ankles. They stormed out of doors and jumped out from behind trees.

The creatures invaded our personal space effectively, fondling our hair or running a finger over our spines. They whistled and called ahead to the next tormentors, creating a sense of apprehension in us. Same with the zero-visibility fog rooms.

The witches separated us, one to use as a sacrifice and one to be taken care of by their pet wolfie, Bingo. Long-distance pursuers did their best to creep us out. The crazed chainsaw maniacs jacked up the feeling of imminent danger. All of them contributed to crafting scarifying scenarios.

General admission costs $15 for either the trail or the mini-golf. We walked the trail in 30 minutes sharp for an eye-popping MPD (minutes of attraction time per dollar spent) of 2.0. The benchmark we like to see is at least 1, so The Hidden doubled up that target! Paying $15 for a full half-hour is an insanely low price to pay for the loads of fun we had on the trail , so we think this attraction offered a massive amount of value for the buck.

The $15 cost for the trail or a round of mini-golf is called the Silver Pass. A combo of the trail and mini-golf sells for a $25 Gold Pass. Add a Speedy Pass for the trail to the Gold Pass for a $32 Platinum Pass. If you’re only doing the trail, a Speedy Pass is a $10 add-on.

On a non-reviewable note, make sure you arrive hungry so you can hit the food truck. It served up some of the yummiest chow we’ve ever had at a haunt. A lady from Louisiana swore their Texas chili (no beans allowed!) tasted like the real deal. We vacuumed up the pulled pork tacos. The lightly fried shells were crispy and chewy at the same time. Soooo delectable. We would eat those at every haunt visit if we could.

On another non-reviewable note, we got here too late in the evening last season to play the mini-golf course. This time we made sure to arrive early and we loved it! They keep the grounds well cared for and the greens in nice shape, and their golf balls glow in the dark. It’s a full 18-hole course overloaded with skeleton knights, potion-quaffing mad scientists, a carnival full of clowns, animatronic zombies, toxic barrels that have infected a pond, the big bad wolf waving a big bad blade, and much more.

On Sunday, October 27, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., The Hidden will host a free Halloween Spooktacular with family-friendly events like trick or treating, music, and crafts.

If you’re a haunt fan and a mini-golf enthusiast, get your golf cart over to The Hidden to swing your putter toward the tin cup …and then the monsters can swing their chainsaws at you.