From haunted houses to ‘Hell on Earth’: Where to get scared in the U.S. this Halloween

For you lovers of gory lore, creeps and costumes, and the ghostly paranormal, this is your season. In this day and age, it takes a lot to tingle the spines and curdle the blood of the public, but these Halloween attractions in the U.S. seem set to spook, and entertain, even those with the thickest of skin.

Haunted houses

At the top of the “America’s best haunted houses 2009″ list released by trade publication HauntWorld Magazine is 13th Gate in Baton Rouge, La. The 40,000-square-foot attraction may have you “crawling thought a Crematory oven and an old hearse” or “standing on a rickety bridge overlooking hundreds of live snakes,” according to the attraction’s website, and they even advise that those with preexisting heart conditions, women who are pregnant or anyone with a weak bladder should not visit.

Other haunted houses ranked highly by HauntWorld include Netherworld Haunted House in Atlanta, the Beast in Kansas City, Mo., and House of Torment in Austin, Texas. Nothing on the West Coast made it on the list, but the Haunted Hotel in San Diego was nominated.

Another one omitted on the list is the Haunted Mortuary in New Orleans, near the “Cities of the Dead” cemeteries. An erstwhile mortuary billed as “actively haunted,” the neoclassical revival structure is transformed into a haunted house for the Halloween season. And in New Orleans — where you’ll find voodoo, crypts and graveyards aplenty — there’s lots else going on this season.

Chilling penitentiary

A former working prison, the Ohio State Reformatory Historic Site in Mansfield, Ohio, has served as a location for films (”The Shawshank Redemption,” “Air Force One”). And, this old stone-walled penitentiary is reputedly super eerie. The “Hell on Earth” Haunted Prison Experience here, running now through Nov. 1, features “the longest haunted cell block ever and loads of ghosts, demons and creepy characters brought to life via live actors, Hollywood special effects and high-tech scare devices,” according to a news release.

Hair-raising hayride

In Ulster Park, N.Y., the Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses on a property spanning over 45 acres has earned accolades among various media for the scariness of its Halloween attraction. Visitors can take part in a one-mile hayride, a labyrinth maze and three haunted houses. This attraction, according to its website, is “family oriented.”

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Photo: A scarecrow at Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses. Credit: Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 11:19 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Deals, East Coast, Fall, Family & Kids, Midwestern States, New Orleans & Louisiana, New York, Southern States, Texas, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.