Veil of Darkness Haunt Review (2026)

The main road turnoff is lit with some attention-grabbing lights. Just a heads up, the road that leads to the haunt is very narrow, so be sure to make room for other haunt-goers on the road. The haunt had a parking attendant with a light stick to guide you to the free parking space, and there is plenty of space. From the parking lot, there is a very visible, fairy-light-lit path leading you to the ticket booth.

The park is very well maintained; they offer drinks, snacks, shirts, and keychains at the ticketing booth and give guests free s’mores kits and invite them to sit around a very well-maintained fire pit where a scare actor awaits and tells guests campfire tales about the lore of the haunt before directing them to the beginning of the trail. They also have a screen where they show some horror movies for guests! While we were there, they were showing Halloween.

During the queue, there are some Wendigos coming from the woods to help entertain guests while waiting, and towards the end of the line you get to meet Granny, who will lore-drop – and if you’re lucky, might even give you some candy from a questionable keeping place. Granny will give your group leader a lantern and send you down the path into the forest. The line moved at a good pace, and having a VIP pass moves you through the line very quickly.

Upon exiting our cars, some of the first sounds we heard were a female voice loudly taunting whichever group of poor souls had already started the trail, followed by chainsaw roars. Oh… that could not be good. Making our way towards the ticket booth, a big orange banner with the words “WELCOME CAMPERS” helped enhance the illusion that we were setting foot on an actual campground, along with the bonfire pit and the giant games- Connect 4 and Checkers- on the lawn. Adding some more camp-themed props to the waiting area, where room allows, would make this even better.

The story behind Veil of Darkness is that it was once the site of Camp Cedar Lakes. Unfortunately, an accident involving a radioactive chemical spill contaminated the camp’s waters… you know, the same ones the campers were drinking from and swimming in. The counselors did what they could to bury the campers who succumbed to their subsequent infections – only to wind up contaminating themselves. We were warned of rumors that the surviving campers and staff were still roaming the woods and waiting for new “campers” to show up…

Once we set foot on the trail, many of the scenes we walked through lined up with the haunt’s storyline, with just a few things that didn’t quite make sense. We started off in a cabin, then progressed to a “doll” house in the playground, a toxic waste (!) site, the cafeteria, the nurse’s office, and more. Signs along the trail not only pointed us toward each scene; they were also labeled with the names of them – a nice touch of realism! Tents and another bonfire also helped to sell the idea that we were walking through a campground gone terribly wrong.

With nothing but the lantern light, our intrepid group set off into the woods. We wound our way through cabins, past lakeside views, a graveyard, and more. Dreamlike lighting dominated the scenes, with each one taking on a primary color – red in the infirmary, green in the playground, purple in nuclear waste disposal, and more. We’d have liked more emphasis on the sound design, as some parts of the trail were quiet. The quieter parts did let us hear the natural sounds of the forest (mixed with screams, of course), which worked with the camp theme.

The infirmary scene had some particularly intense scenes, with cannibals who apparently weren’t too happy with their meals, judging by the retching sounds coming from them. Puke-sensitive types beware: between the retching and the squishing from the flesh being devoured, it pushed one of our team members to the brink. Scene design here was strong, and we’d like to see this level of detail and interaction in parts like the dollhouse. Thankfully, after the infirmary, we made it to an eerily beautiful ritual site where we got to join hands and sing campfire songs. The song was about lifting the veil, and the ritual left us smeared in blood, but the vibes were welcome.

Prior to beginning our trek into camp, Granny gave us a breakdown of the rules we’d be expected to follow – while insisting we have some of her “titty candy”. (It’s fine. We promise. Just take it, and don’t tell her “No”!) Right away, we noticed the effects the radiation had on some of the former campers… some skull-faced critter, along with a horned beast that could’ve been a wendigo or a Skinwalker, lurked around the line while we waited.

Despite the horrible accident that had laid literal waste to the campground, we still came across several survivors out there. They might’ve been a little… ah… worse for wear, but surely, we’d find some friendly faces among them – right? We met one of them in a cabin right away, who gave us more information about what happened, inspected us for bugs, then enlisted a group member to help her stir the “soup”. As we wandered out to the hills, more campers approached. We offered the soup to the one who kept complaining of hunger, but it seemed our flesh was the only thing that would satisfy them. Approaching the playground, we came across a gaggle of deranged girls who seemed to think they were dolls – and almost lost another group member when one of them latched onto their arm and wouldn’t let go! Eventually, we did find what we could only guess was “ground zero” for Cedar Lakes, and that was the toxic waste site. Contamination was inevitable; we tried to avoid it but ultimately met whatever nasty chemical got spilled over the camp.

Walking into the graveyard, where all the deceased campers were buried, was a mistake. An unfortunate group member immediately had a livid gravedigger in their face… well, all our faces, but especially *theirs*… ranting about his new role at Cedar Lakes, and how crazy we were for venturing in and trying to dig up its secrets. The nurses in their office- rather aggressively- wanted to “treat” all of us; the problem was that their idea of “treatment” was trying to sit us down and give us our “shots”, and boy, they didn’t take kindly to our attempts to refuse! We even wound up smack dab in the middle of a ritual, where we were marked with blood and inducted into the cult for assistance with “lifting the veil”. (Why is there *always* a cult at these things?!)

Costuming and makeup were solid. The level of detail with makeup looked varied, but everyone was done up in some way, and we saw some cool masks used, too. It wasn’t hard to tell who, or what, most actors were portraying.

Don’t worry about giving the lantern to your bravest group member – there is no safe space in your group. The front, middle, and side of our group were constantly being targeted, and the group was mixed up in scenes. The types of scares were varied, with monsters sometimes appearing from the mist, sometimes engaging with us for a more psychological scare, or just grossing us out with nuclear waste or blood. We were grilled by the spirit of a girl who was particularly skilled at hiding. So good, in fact, no one ever found her while she was alive. She wouldn’t let us leave until we admitted she was the best at hiding.

Some scenes had good bones but could’ve been more effective with some tweaks. For example, the spider scene in the woods would’ve been terrifying if the spider had been better concealed in the trees and had some chittering sound effects.

Finally, after running through camps and managing to keep our heads on our shoulders and helping the witches lift the veil, we made it through the portal. Dazzling light and mist wrapped around us as we pushed through, only to find a chainsaw-wielding madman waiting for us. We were so close to making it out!

General admission is $20, VIP admission is $35, and it lets you move to the front of the line. They do charge a $2 fee for card purchases. As stated above, for $5 extra, you can make the haunt light touch for a little spookier fun! It took us 24 minutes to walk the whole trail. With a GA ticket costing $20, this provides a minute-per-dollar value of 1.2, which is a good value. They also offer a nice area to hang out and vibe in the beginning, and at the end, they have several craft vendors who offer handmade products for purchase, in case you’d like a souvenir from camp!