Best Haunted Houses In The Cleveland Area
Halloween is a time to have fun scaring each other and ourselves. To add some spine tingling to the festivities, a haunted house may be the way to go. Haunted houses are more elaborate than ever with Hollywood-type sets and scary themes throughout like insane asylums, haunted prisons, witch trials, haunted forests and more. You are sure to find a scare at one of these haunted house experiences this season or for non-scary Halloween experiences for younger kids, check out Boo At The Zoo.
The Fear Experience Haunted House
10701 Brookpark Rd.
Cleveland, OH 44130
(216) 245-3327
www.fearexperience.com
The Fear Experience is often top rated in industry magazines, and for good reason. The 90,000-square-foot facility offers four haunted houses and a "buried alive" coffin ride to thrill guests. There are Hollywood-quality sets made in part by musician for the band Mushroomhead, Rick Thomas, making the experience even more real...and more frightening. The four houses include: The Braxton Estate remains, an old mansion where brutal murders occurred; an abandoned mental facility, Centralia Mental Facility, where visitors will be dealing with inmates that still roam the area; the Centralia County Fair and Circus, with all of the circus freaks one can handle; and finally, District 13, an industrial wasteland with chainsaws and monsters around every corner.
Bloodview Haunted House
1010 Towpath Trail
Broadview Heights, OH 44147
(440) 526-9148
www.bloodview.net
This haunted house experience is unique from the others as it is put on by the Broadview Heights Lions Club. In its 34th year, all proceeds from Bloodview Haunted House go to charity and all of the actors and workers are volunteers. Don't think that means it is any less scary though. This haunted house is improvisational and interactive, so visitors may be touched during this experience. Bloodview Haunted House also features different themes over the eight weekends like "The Zombie Hordes," "The Witch Trials," "Classic Monsters" and many more.
Carnival Of Horrors
Blossom Music Center
1145 West Steels Corners
Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223
(330) 644-4473
www.carnivalofhorrors.com
During the summer months, Blossom Music Center is home to great concerts like The Cleveland Orchestra or national touring popular acts, but come fall weekends, it becomes the Carnival Of Horrors. There are four haunted houses featured for everyone's frightening excitement. There is The Fun House with creepy clowns to scare visitors; The Wicked Woods, in which visitors are supplied with just a flashlight to try to find their way out from the dark woods with monsters creeping around the trees and bushes; The Freakshow in 3-D, Northeast Ohio's first 3-D horror haunted house experience to terrorize visitors; and The Insane Asylum, a maze through a not quite deserted insane asylum. All ages are welcome, but use judgement with younger kids as it is quite frightening.
Ohio State Reformatory's Haunted Prison Experience
100 Reformatory Rd.
Mansfield, OH 44905
(419) 360-5689
www.hauntedx.com
There is an old prison in Mansfield that closed in 1990 that is said to be haunted. During the Halloween season, it opens for the public to experience its haunted prison experience. What makes this experience a little bit scarier is the fact that it is held in a real prison. Visitors to this experience must be at least 13 years old with no exceptions.
Boo At The Zoo
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
3900 Wildlife Way
Cleveland, OH 44109
(216) 661-6500
www.clevelandmetroparks.com
For younger kids, Boo At The Zoo at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo offers Halloween festivities without the scare. There is a hay maze, a Monster Mash Dance Party, animal shows, a festive train ride based off of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" called Pirates of the Scaribbean and lots more fun carnival-like entertainment. Kids will receive a treat bag and everyone is invited to dress up in non-scary costumes. This is a very popular event and advanced tickets are encouraged.
Related: Best Halloween Costumes of 2013
Marcia Hudgel is a writer, yoga teacher, wife, mother to her animals and aunt to 10 nieces and nephews living in Cleveland, OH. She writes about family, animals. Her work can be found on Examiner.com.
