Get ready for one of the most terrifying haunted attractions in East Tennessee! The folks at The Scream Chamber have outdone themselves again! This year, The Scream Chamber decided to showcase your worst nightmares by putting you into a dream that you cannot seem to wake up from.
The Scream Chamber can be seen easily from the road. Once you pull into the parking lot, there are multiple parking attendants directing you where to park. You will need to go through security before entering the Midway area. There will be a number on your ticket, and when they call that number on the overhead speaker, it will be when you get in line. In the meantime, you can check out the Midway area.
There is an optional touch pass, which I highly recommend because your fears will increase if the actors can touch you! Of course, you must be at least 18 years old to do this. Regardless of whether you have the touch pass or not, your fears will come to life here at The Scream Chamber!
Everywhere you turn within the Chamber, there is a plethora of actors. Each room, hallway, and corner has at least one or more actor hiding, waiting for you to stumble across them. You are not safe anywhere while you are stuck in your dream sequence. Every actor within this attraction created the illusion that they were real. Some victims seemed like they were really in danger. The most convincing victim was the poor fellow in the doctor’s bed. He didn’t stand a chance against that crazy doctor.
The scare actors were amazing! Every single one of them did something to interact with us. Whether it was something simple like preventing us from moving forward or having a conversation with us, we enjoyed our interactions with them! One of our favorite lines by the actors is when I was told to get into the chamber with the dead body. I said, “I can’t fit!” He said, “Squeeze in there!” There was even an actor who told me to “give the body a hug” and “rub his head for luck.” The butcher told me to “get on all fours and squeal like a pig”. He would not allow us to continue without doing so! We were even told, “You smell like fish tacos,” and we caused two clowns to argue because one of them let us into the other clown’s area. He did NOT look happy about that.
The behavior of each actor was unique from all the rest. There is A LOT of crazy within that nightmare. Many of them had a reason for acting the way they did. We really enjoyed the goofiness of the clowns, the mental behaviors from the mental patients, and the evil behavior from the nun and the priest.
The costumes were very realistic! They all appeared to come directly from a nightmare. Each actor seemed as though the costume was custom-made for them. As always, we really enjoyed the nuns’ costumes. But, in addition to that, there were many clowns, dead people/ghosts, miners, butchers, and MANY more. Each one was unique from the rest.
The masks that the actors wore were creepy, and the makeup was very detailed! The chef looked disgusting, the nun was terrifying, and the dead truly looked dead. The miner wore a gas mask, and there was this creature in the dining area with all the doors that was frightening! A scary part about this haunt is that the actors are not afraid to get in your face, so you will get the opportunity to see their makeup or mask up close!
Most of the costumes fit well in their respective scenes. We do have to keep in mind that we are having a nightmare, so a lot of strange things can happen in our dreams. With that said, there were only one or two out-of-place costumes. Unless you consider them part of your messed-up dream.
The queue actors are always a ton of fun to play and interact with. Immediately after getting our tickets, the doll actor grabbed my arm and dragged me to the hearse ride. The dead hearse driver gladly took me in as his next victim. And the doll actor came along for the ride. They are a ton of fun to interact with!
This attraction is easy to locate because of all the lights and signs. We put “The Scream Chamber” into our GPS, and it took us right to it. Once we pulled in, a parking attendant stopped us. She gave us a quick rundown of the rules and directed us to the next parking attendant. When we were parked, it was easy to see where the entrance was.
You will have to go through security, so make sure you don’t have any prohibited items on you. The ticket booth is located immediately after security, and once you purchase your tickets, you can spend time together in the Midway area while waiting for the number on your ticket to be called. If you miss your number, you can enter the queue whenever you are ready. We have found that this system can significantly reduce the amount of time you have to stand in line, but you will still have to wait your turn.
We felt like there were no safety hazards at The Scream Chamber. Everything is well-lit, there are not any trip hazards, and there is security on site every night.
Each employee we encountered was very friendly. After she tried to poison me and put me in a coffin, even the doll actor was friendly. And when it came time to leave late at night, the parking attendants were still willing to help get us back to the main road with a smile on their faces.
The Scream Chamber has an awesome website with all the information needed to plan your visit. You will find basic things like the dates/times, pricing, and location. But you can also purchase tickets online, read the FAQ page, and find out more about the Midway games.
The pre-haunt atmosphere is so much fun! There is music playing, a laser light show, scare actors roaming around, spooky decorations, Midway games, and concessions! The games are an additional cost, but you could either ride the hearse in a coffin, play a mini escape room, go through the fog maze, do a tarot card reading, or do axe-throwing. We had the opportunity to do everything, and it was a blast! We even got ourselves shaved ice, and it was delicious.
The storyline was simple. As soon as you enter, you get the illusion that you are going to sleep. Once you fall asleep, you enter a nightmare. The best part about this is that nightmares are random, so the haunt was random. There were rooms you would not expect to see after a toxic waste area, for example, there was a dining room with a lot of doors. Everything happened when we least expected it.
Overall, we were completely immersed in the attraction. The flow from one scene to the next was not perfect, but again, we are supposed to be dreaming/having a nightmare, so this may be expected.
We exited the haunt where we normally do, which is near the exit of the Midway. We stuck around a while longer to enjoy the scenes and shaved ice. I needed it after the experience I went through!
The sounds inside The Scream Chamber were an overall spooky sound that seemed to work throughout the haunt. The area with the swamp had cool swamp sounds, and the carnival had circus sounds. We enjoyed the overall sound of the chamber.
Each scene had a lot of detail and thought put into it. Every room had something different to see, with things that only my partner noticed (He did not get the touch pass). The doctor’s office had things like X-rays on the wall, and the child’s bedroom had a ton of toys.
The Scream Chamber did not use very many animatronics, but they did not need them. The ones they had were cool. The props were even better. They used many props in each room, and every one of them was realistic and fit the scene well. We really enjoyed the multiple false picture frames/walls that hid actors behind them. The carnival was a lot of fun, too!
There were several special effects used throughout the chamber. They used many different lighting methods, including flashing, dimmed, colored, and flickering. The swamp had a cool laser/fog effect. There were even sparks flying a few times, as well as water splashing on us multiple times.
21. How scary was it? (35% of score): 9.88
22. How well did they provide scares to everyone in the group? (15% of score): 9.13
23. How predictable were the scares? (25% of score): 9.88
24. How well did they provide a wide variety (types) of scares? (10% of score): 9.75
25. How strong was the ending / finale? (15% of score): 9.25
The Scream Chamber is appropriately named because you are sure to scream when you are within the chamber. This year has had the most intense scares that we have ever experienced!
Our review team only consists of two people. One of us got the touch pass, and the other did not. We feel that the person with the touch pass received more attention than the person without. However, we believe that if the whole group had the touch pass or did not, they would receive equal amounts of attention from the actors.
The actors used amazing distractions within the haunt. Because most rooms had multiple actors, it was easy to achieve this. They were all perfectly timed and scared the crap out of us at the same time.
There was a huge variety of scares used within the chamber. Many different phobias were used – clowns, dolls, spiders, the dark, enclosed spaces, etc. They also used camouflage, disorientation, intimidation, blood, victimization, and many others. As always, The Scream Chamber has found new ways to scare us!
The finale of this haunt was different from previous years. If you have been here before, just be sure to expect a brand-new crazy ending!
We were highly impressed with The Scream Chamber and the entertainment provided! We were in the chamber for 26 minutes, and every second of that was intense! It took an hour drive back home for me to finally calm my nerves.
Aside from the main attraction, The Scream Chamber has other things to do and enjoy that are included with the ticket price. For example, you can enjoy the music and the laser show, the queue actors, sit around the bonfire, and the many photo opportunities. They also have things available for an additional cost, such as mini escape rooms, fog maze, axe-throwing, and more!
The Scream Chamber is always a fun place to visit. You are sure to enjoy yourself, or wet yourself (yes, this happened; they had to clean up inside the haunt while we waited). Are you going to join the tally of people who chickened out? Or are you brave enough to make it all the way through?
1163 Highway 11 North, Athens, Tennessee 37303
