Features:
✓-Free Parking✓-Restrooms/Porta Potties On-Site✓-Food/Concessions✓-Gift Shop/Souvenirs✓-You will NOT be touched✓-Original Characters✓-Indoor/Outdoor Waiting Line✓-All-Outdoor Attraction
How Do We Get These Scores?
Our Rating System
UPDATE FOR 2022: Our former “Atmosphere” and “Theme” categories have now been combined and renamed “Immersion.” Our intent with this is to give more appropriate credit to attractions that have shown a clear focus on achieving and maintaining better customer experiences (both inside and outside the attractions) and developing creative storylines.
Each of the category scores in this review are calculated using a weighted average of several questions that we rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
The following breakdown explains what these scores typically mean. All of our Teams use this as a reference for providing accurate ratings:
10: “Peak Performance”This score is treated as if it has a chastity belt on it. “10’s” are reserved for the best of the best; those that we feel could not possibly improve on what they’re doing.
9: “Innovative and Groundbreaking”It rocked! Nearly everything seemed to go as planned and it was one of the best we’ve ever seen! These guys are leaders in the industry, and attractions like this are truly hard to come by.
8: “Solid”A high score on our scale. They had a good handle on it and, overall, they knew how to use it well. Most attractions can learn from what these guys are doing.
6 to 7: “Good”We could tell that a good effort was made. However, we’ve seen this done much better at other places, or can detect areas where significant improvements can be made. This is about the top end of what we’d call “Family Friendly.”
5: “Average / Fair”Compared to the competition, they weren’t the best, but definitely not the worst. Scares and Special Effects in this range are usually considered “Family Friendly.”
3 to 4: “Below Average”We could see that a clear attempt was made, but most other professional attractions are doing a much better job at this.
1 to 2: “Poor”It appeared that very little time, thought or effort was contributed to this aspect.
0 (Zero): “Non-Existent”No apparent effort was made to make this a significant contributor to the attraction.
Afterword:This rating system is standardized across all of The Scare Factor’s official haunt review teams. However, keep in mind there will always be minor differences between Teams, as we all have varying levels of experience. Regardless, we do our best to remain true to our core values, which is to promote all haunted attractions!Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is: sometimes the score – in and of itself – doesn’t tell the whole story about an attraction’s merits. This is why we provide detailed explanations for each category… to help you better understand how and why we chose the score/s that we did.We do our best to not let feelings or emotions rule our judgement, while also viewing the attraction through the lens of the typical haunt-goer. But, because all reviews with ratings are inherently subjective, this is nearly impossible to completely prevent. Though, when in doubt, we tend to give slightly lower scores than our original “gut feelings” to account for this, and also give the attraction more room to improve over time.We also do our best to be fair and consistent across all of the haunts that we review. We know that you’ll be looking at these scores and comparing them to other attractions, so we hope this review helps you out in that aspect.Do you have some feedback about our review system? Contact Us Here to let us know what you think!
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Final Score: 8.44
How Did We Get This Score?
Final Scores:
(15% of Final Score) Cast: 8.8
(15% of Final Score) Costuming: 8.67
(10% of Final Score) Customer Service: 7.92
(10% of Final Score) Atmosphere: 6.6
(15% of Final Score) Special Effects: 8.82
(5% of Final Score) Theme:
(15% of Final Score) Scare Factor: 9.19
(5% of Final Score) Entertainment & Value: 8.25
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Summary:
After sitting out last season due to a zoning issue, we were pleasantly surprised to hear Trail of Nightmares (TON) announce their reopening in this crazy year shortly before the season’s start.
Like many haunts, they received late summer notice that they could open and spent the next months scrambling to prepare. They told us they screwed in the last black light bulb just hours before showtime on opening night!
This was our first visit, and you never know what you’re going to get. We weren’t sure what we were walking into when we rolled in during the late hours of an evening rocked by severe storms. We arrived at a rather dark parking lot of what appeared to be a self-storage facility.
What we found as we toured the sinister woods behind the building stunned and shocked us…
Cast: 8.8
How Did We Get This Score?
Cast Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of Cast Score) Did it seem like there were enough actors?: 8.8
(30% of Cast Score) How creative, believable and convincing were the actors?: 8.9
(20% of Cast Score) How interactive were the actors (verbally and physically)?: 8.8
(15% of Cast Score) How creatively & appropriately did they use dialogue?: 8.4
(15% of Cast Score) Was there a good variety of characters?: 9
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Kudos to the entire TON cast. This was the best troupe we’ve encountered in a while. Everyone knew their place, their energy was up, and they showed crack timing. We can’t think of one cast member out of 30 that didn’t make an impression or get a reaction out of us.
From the first scene where a creep with a pickle-shaped nose threatened us to the menacing clowns at the end, everyone was spot on. We’d like to call out literally everyone involved, but the best of the best were the exorcism girls, what we’ll call the skull freaks from the white rock and roll room, the witch and her captive, a goofy mad scientist, and the squeaky-voiced girl with her unnerving demeanor.
The character roster showed great variety, and the actors performed their parts wonderfully well. Some were silent, others like the fire and brimstone (literally!) preacher and mad scientist were gabby; and we heard an extended menu of bizarre vocal noises including grunts, groans, snorts, whistles, squonks, screams, clicks and clacks, and a few we don’t have words for!
Costuming: 8.67
How Did We Get This Score?
Costuming Scores (15% of Final Score):
(15% of Costuming Score) How complete / finished did the costumes appear to be?: 8.7
(25% of Costuming Score) How creative / detailed were the costumes?: 8.4
(20% of Costuming Score) Was their makeup creative? Detailed? Realistic?: 9.2
(15% of Costuming Score) How effectively did they use masks (if used)?: 9
(25% of Costuming Score) How appropriate were the costumes for their scene/s & theme/s?: 8.3
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Costuming was excellent across the board. Masks were well fitted, makeups both subtle and grotesque, and the costumes were detailed and complete. Nothing looked out of place and everything looked like it should properly be there. This was an area in which the attraction and the actors clearly took pride.
The real test was passed when we consistently felt horrified by the characters’ appearance. Haunting hats off to all, but especially creeptastic were the skull freaks, the witch, the pumpkin-headed killer, and the clowns.
Customer Service: 7.92
How Did We Get This Score?
Customer Service Scores (10% of Final Score):
(25% of CS Score) How easy was it to locate the attraction, park, and navigate the premises?: 6.8
(30% of CS Score) How safe was the attraction?: 8.4
(25% of CS Score) How professional, helpful and friendly were the staff members?: 8.8
(20% of CS Score) How easy was it to find their information before* arrival?: 7.5
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GPS will get you to the location that’s in a small town by Mansfield (halfway between Columbus and Cleveland), but you might not trust it when you do arrive. There’s a small light-up sign visible from the street and a couple non-illuminated signs in the lot announcing the place, but those ones were a little hard to see on this dark and previously stormy night.
Free parking is in a normal retail-style lot with attendants. The lot, line, and ticket booth (cash only, ATMs on-site) are a bit dark. It looks as though the queue can be outside or inside, depending on the weather; we were inside on our stormy night.
At this time there’s no website. They do maintain a regularly updated and responsive Facebook page.
It’s a trail, so don’t be one of those chuckleheads who tries to wear flip-flops. It was a pretty solid trail though, once or twice we got caught by a root or something, but generally, it proved to be good footing even with wet leaves on the ground.
For COVID, hand sanitizer is provided and masks are required.
Atmosphere: 6.6
How Did We Get This Score?
Atmosphere Scores (10% of Final Score):
(60% of Atmosphere Score) How obvious was it that you were at a haunted house before entering?: 6
(40% of Atmosphere Score) How well did the atmosphere prepare you for what you experienced inside?: 7.5
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Props to TON for managing to line up some food and other atmospherics in their short deadline to open. We noted a couple of small puppets at the ticket line before heading in, a fire pit, food vendors (unfortunately it was shut down for the night during the earlier storms, so we did not get to sample the onion rings and big fish sandwich!), an actor terrorizing patrons coming out the exit, and a photo opp.
Special Effects: 8.82
How Did We Get This Score?
Special Effects Scores (15% of Final Score):
(20% of SFX Score) How effective were the sound effects?: 9
(20% of SFX Score) How creative / original were the scenes & props?: 8.4
(20% of SFX Score) How well were the scenes detailed?: 8
(25% of SFX Score) How well did they achieve & maintain the suspension of disbelief?: 9.3
(15% of SFX Score) How effective were the SFX at providing scares / entertainment?: 9.4
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Moody lighting and unsettling audio were expertly employed throughout. Right from the start, a tense mood was set with a sense of apprehension and ‘something being off’ that struck us as a result of lighting and audio choices. Circular camping lamps suspended above our heads swayed in the breeze, with no soundtrack or audio effects at all. Just the wind blowing through the trees and the sound of our steps on the trail.
Other exemplary meldings of light and sound were the thunder and lightning at the graveyard, the bright white lighting with deafening Rob Zombie soundtrack (‘Dragula,’ yeah!) in the white rock n roll maze (white is a striking choice for a haunt, and it worked), the shadowy crypt with robed cultists accompanied by a rising chorus of intense chanting, and a terrifying lights out moment… we’ll let you find out for yourself where that one is!
The haunt has built some great looking structures, including the unholy church and the crypt. The set design was finely tuned, with some areas (mad scientist’s lab, little girl’s playroom, a fabulous looking cemetery) offering up many details where there was an opportunity for a breather and a chat with one of the talkier characters, or a slower stroll to soak in the setting, while others (the witch’s hut, say) got by with as much dressing as needed to build the world and set up distractions. The balanced approach really worked well.
Theme: N/A
How Did We Get This Score?
Theme Scores (5% of Final Score):
(30% of Theme Score) Could you tell what the theme was?:
(50% of Theme Score) How well was the theme carried throughout the attraction/s?:
(20% of Theme Score) How well does their location authenticate the theme?:
This score is left “N/A” when we believe the haunt is trying to target a random variety of themes or phobias, rather than a single overarching “Theme” or “storyline.”
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Scare Factor: 9.19
How Did We Get This Score?
Scare Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of Scare Factor Score) How scary was it?: 9.6
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide scares to the entire group?: 9.4
(25% of Scare Factor Score) How predictable were the scares?: 8.8
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How well did they provide a wide variety of scares?: 9.3
(15% of Scare Factor Score) How strong was the ending / finale?: 8.7
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As your doctors of menacin’ medicine, we prescribe a big swig of Trail of Nightmares’ toxic tonic to all those tough guys out there who say haunts don’t scare them. Longtime hauntgoers can find it easy and natural to become resistant to scares. It can be refreshing to find you still can be scared… as well as a little off-putting.
Well, simply put, TON scared us. A TON! Repeatedly and forcefully.
This place positively thrummed with high-voltage jolts and shocks. Not just quick jump scares, either, though there were those too. Frights were brought on by the creepiness of the woods, effective dynamics (light/dark, quiet/loud), excellent distractions, and slow-burn scares that took some time and setting up, sometimes when an actor would be standing motionless at the start of the scene a good distance away, silently watching our approach.
Some very nasty surprises awaited us until they were suddenly revealed in several areas. The dark maze was an almost unbearable exercise in tension, release, more tension. One of our team members had the beginnings of a panic attack in there.
This was one of those places where you think to yourself, gee, I hope there’s not some real psycho in here who’s gonna shiv me and stick my body under a pile of leaves. So, nice job, TON. You were scary. Mission accomplished.
Entertainment & Value: 8.25
How Did We Get This Score?
Entertainment & Value Factor Scores (15% of Final Score):
(30% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment received during the main attraction/s?: 9.5
(25% of E&V Score) How satisfied were you with the entertainment that’s available with* the ticket price, excluding the main attraction/s?: 6
(30% of E&V Score) How appropriate is/are the ticket price/s?: 9
(15% of E&V Score) Have they effectively used their available space?: 8
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Our woods walk took 24 minutes. General admission is $15, for a minute to dollar ratio of 1.6, which is pretty good, especially for the high-quality haunting.
There’s also a ‘half-person = half price’ rate, which we assume refers to kids and not to unfortunate accidents, though we’d think twice about impressionable youngsters here due to the intensity, plus a group rate of $10 each for 10 or more people. Tickets are available at the booth only, with no online sales as there’s no website.
Plans are afoot to add to the haunt and its accouterments next season. Aside from the threadbare infrastructure this year, we were wowed by what TON delivered in terms of the main event.
The owner told us it was more of a bare-bones attraction this year, but if this was bare-bones, we might need a straight jacket or an ambulance to leave when we visit next season… either way, we know we’ll be back, so should you!
How Did We Get These Scores
Our Rating System
Each of the category scores in this review are calculated using a weighted average of several questions that we rate on a scale of 1 to 10.
The following breakdown explains what these scores typically mean. All of our Teams use this as a reference for providing accurate ratings:
10: “Peak Performance”This score is treated as if it has a chastity belt on it. “10’s” are reserved for the best of the best; those that we feel could not possibly improve on what they’re doing.
9: “Innovative and Groundbreaking”It rocked! Nearly everything seemed to go as planned and it was one of the best we’ve ever seen! These guys are leaders in the industry, and attractions like this are truly hard to come by.
8: “Solid”A high score on our scale. They had a good handle on it and, overall, they knew how to use it well. Most attractions can learn from what these guys are doing.
6 to 7: “Good”We could tell that a good effort was made. However, we’ve seen this done much better at other places, or can detect areas where significant improvements can be made. This is about the top end of what we’d call “Family Friendly.”
5: “Average / Fair”Compared to the competition, they weren’t the best, but definitely not the worst. Scares and Special Effects in this range are usually considered “Family Friendly.”
3 to 4: “Below Average”We could see that a clear attempt was made, but most other professional attractions are doing a much better job at this.
1 to 2: “Poor”It appeared that very little time, thought or effort was contributed to this aspect.
0 (Zero): “Non-Existent”No apparent effort was made to make this a significant contributor to the attraction.
Afterword:This rating system is standardized across all of The Scare Factor’s official haunt review teams. However, keep in mind there will always be minor differences between Teams, as we all have varying levels of experience. Regardless, we do our best to remain true to our core values, which is to promote all haunted attractions!Perhaps the biggest thing to remember is: sometimes the score – in and of itself – doesn’t tell the whole story about an attraction’s merits. This is why we provide detailed explanations for each category… to help you better understand how and why we chose the score/s that we did.We do our best to not let feelings or emotions rule our judgement, while also viewing the attraction through the lens of the typical haunt-goer. But, because all reviews with ratings are inherently subjective, this is nearly impossible to completely prevent. Though, when in doubt, we tend to give slightly lower scores than our original “gut feelings” to account for this, and also give the attraction more room to improve over time.We also do our best to be fair and consistent across all of the haunts that we review. We know that you’ll be looking at these scores and comparing them to other attractions, so we hope this review helps you out in that aspect.Do you have some feedback about our review system? Contact Us Here to let us know what you think!
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