Halfway through November and I’m still writing about haunted houses. Leave me alone. I’m a mess. But here are the last 3 haunts we visited this Halloween season!

FRIGHT FARM

You might know that this is typically one of my favorites but the process of actually getting there and onto the hayride is really starting to be too much for me. To avoid the super outrageous crowds (because this place does get more packed than a Wall Street bro’s nose in the 80s), we try to go on a Sunday or we wait until the last week when they’re open every night and we aim for Wednesday which always SEEMS like it would be safe but Fright Farm still finds a way, you guys.

On this particular Wednesday, we arrived around 6:45pm and got our wristbands. Normally, we’re also given a pretty elaborate ticket that has artwork for that year’s theme. It’s always one of my favorite ones to paste in the ol’ haunted house journal. But this time – JUST A WRISTBAND?!

“I need an actual ticket for my haunted house journal,” I cried to Henry as we waited in the rain for our hayride group # to be called. The way I was actually so stressed out about this, like it was truly on the back of my mind even later while I was getting assaulted by chainsaw guys. “They always have the BEST tickets, too,” I whined at one point, probably cutting off something “important” Henry was saying about his day.

I could NOT let this go.

“I had the perfect spot for it in my haunted house journal, too,” I sighed wistfully. I don’t think Henry was listening anymore.

Afterward as we were leaving, I HAD TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. So I went back to the ticket booth and breathlessly cried, “I HAVE A QUESTION DO U NOT GIVE OUT PRINTED TICKETS ANYMORE.” My patented panicked run-on. The ticket lady explained that they were about to run out so they stopped giving them out. “We still have a couple left, do you want one?” Lol the way I said yes with more emotion than when Henry proposed, my hand has never shot out so fast to receive something (NOT EVEN THE BODY OF CHRIST).

“OMG I feel so much better,” I said to Henry, exhaling deeply in the car as I admired the ticket. He just frowned. I texted all of this to Chooch in real time and I don’t think he cared but I also don’t think he was surprised that I was on the verge of losing sleep over a haunted house ticket. He was actually more fixated on the fact that they used AI on the ticket design.  That is pretty disappointing, Fright Farm. Do better. Have a contest for local high school kids to design next year’s.

Overall, it was fine. The thing that gets me though is that even though it wasn’t crowded, the hayrides were supposed to start at 7PM and didn’t start running until nearly 8. So we had to sit there and listen to some shitty Wedding DJ crank out 15-minute Taylor Swift medleys and firehall reception line-dance hits like Cupid Shuffle. This is not what I want to hear while waiting for a haunted hayride! Look, I already angrily scribbled five pages about this in my haunted house journal but by the SECOND TIME they played the SAME IRRITATING BENSON BOONE SONG and I used CAPSLOCK for that because both times, the VOLUME WAS TURNED UP, I was actually twitching and considering leaving. It had me in the foulest mood – music should not do that! Music should set the MOOD and this was only exacerbating my anxiety of having to wait for so long in the cold rain.

And then, even though it wasn’t crowded, their crowd control during the actual walk-through parts is soooo bad that there were basically 30 of us walking through like a hive. It got a little bit better in the indoor section, but not much. The positive side of this is that everyone was decent, no outliers, no drunks, etc. I didn’t actively hate anyone around us, aren’t you proud of me??

The highlight though was the final, optional walk-thru which is literally just a building full of chainsaw guys. They actually ARE good about only sending in small groups of people at one time for this one. I got so freaked out during the little “show” in the first room where we were locked in, that as soon as the door opened behind me, I took off running so fast that the chainsaw person in that room didn’t even have a chance to get me, and then I just kept running – I think I was actually catching the scare actors off guard – until I realized HOLY SHIT I’M ALONE and then turned around and RAN BACK to get Henry who was like, “WHERE DID YOU GO, PLEASE CALM DOWN” and I was like, “I CAN’T – THAT BUNGEE GIRL IN THAT ONE ROOM MADE ME PEE MY PANTS A LITTLE!” I was legit running like a scared rabbit the whole way through, only now I had Henry to fling around like a shield. My heart was racing by the time we made it out, probably a full 3 minutes before the rest of our group, I can handle so much in haunted houses but those damn chainsaw guys, man. Such a cheap scare but they get me every time.

I was pretty irritated overall after this long-ass evening and had declared that I thought it was time to maybe retire Fright Farm from the annual line-up after this, until I realized that I have one Fright Farm-shaped ticket spot left in the haunted house journal so now I feel obliged to at least go back one more time next year, ugh.

(Please excuse Penelope’s tail in that picture – I pasted the ticket in immediately when we got home and took this to send to Chooch who was like, “Wow. Do you feel better now.” Jerk.

CASTLE BLOOD

You KNOW Castle Blood is bae, my ride or die, my absolute can’t-skip. Even if we hadn’t had time to go to any of the other haunts during this truncated season, we’d have found a way to fit in Castle Blood.

We ended up going here on actual Halloween night after our abysmal trick-or-treating ended and it was such a mood-booster. I knew it would turn the night around!

Boris paired us up with a young couple and yelled at us to get to know each other because he “didn’t feel like talking to us” – rude, but also such a Boris thing to say! It’s not a visit to Castle Blood without a little berating by Boris – I like to think of it as the amuse-bouche before the real haranguing happens inside the Castle.

Anyway, our new friends were from Morgantown, WV and instead of saying introducing ourselves by name, the girl part of the young couple immediately asked for our signs. She’s a Libra and that must be good because we meshed so well from the get-go that it was like the 4 of us had already known each other and made plans to meet up there intentionally.

I don’t know how the Castle does it (yes I do, actually – they’re a gaggle of geniuses up in there) but their haunt is mind-bending every year. I never feel as dumb as I do when I come to Castle Blood and I mean that in the best way – this is way more than jump scares, you gotta pay attention (apparently not my forte) and actually apply teamwork (a little shaky there too if Henry is involved). It’s the best feeling when I finally do something right there.

And they always change it up year to year – a new storyline, new talisman to collect, new OFTENTIMES FRUSTRATING challenges and puzzles to complete.

When we were in the library awaiting our turn in the lab, we all formally introduced ourselves – our WV friends are Brooke and John! Brooke asked how Henry and I know each other, and in a put-out monotone that could only be described as “ugh vocalized,” I said, “We’re married.”

“REALLY?” she said, and it made me crack up because maybe I look even younger in the very forgiving black lights of the Castle??

And then I told them about how long Henry waited to propose and how we only JUST got married a year ago. She was HORRIFIED and goes to John, “You better not do that to me!!” I found out later that they have just been dating for a few mths and they seem so sweet and cute together so all the best to them!

She also took in a sharp intake of breath when I told her Henry is a Gemini. “That’s bad, isn’t it?” I asked her and she was like, “I mean….” LOL.

We hung around for some time afterward, catching up with some of our Castle friends (except for Dawn who was still inside Hexibart’ing it up!). I am not just saying this because I have developed friendships with the Castle Blood crew over the years, but I am always so impressed and completely in awe of the magic they create within those walls, that I usually tear up when writing about it in my haunted house journal afterward. Between conquering the missions with a cool couple to the entertaining and perfectly condescending cast, the immaculate gothic vibes and brilliant storylines, this was one of the best and most memorable Castle visits ever. I scream about it every year but if you live in this area and still have not gone then PLEASE hit me up next season and I will go with you.

ANYWAY GUESS WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THIS. I posted about it on Instagram and true to my cringey form, I said “Brooke, if you’re out there, hi, it’s me – Erin the Leo. #Missedconnections #hauntedhouseedition

Because my friends at Castle Blood love to troll my dorky ass, they reposted that to their story and within a few hours, I had a new friend notification and a comment on that post from Brooke! I can now add “friendship matchmakers” to my list of reasons why this is my forever #1.

(This was another thing that I got to disappoint Chooch with via text!)

IGOR’S FRIGHT SHACK – whhaaaaat???

Oh my sweetly syruped jonnycakes, where do I even begin with this one.

Let’s take a trip back to 2003, I’ll hold your hand. I know it was a scary time with all the Uggs and severe side parts, but we won’t be there for long.

There was this small haunted yard type thing called Igor’s Fright Shack that I went to with Henry, my brother Corey, my friend Keri and her husband who hated me, Dean. (I haven’t talked to Keri and Dean in approx. 18 years but I imagine Dean would probably still hate me as I am just as annoying as a 46-year-old as I was back then.)

I can’t remember how we found this place, probably one of the haunted house review sites? But it was in a place called Ralph, PA, near Uniontown. And for some reason, I latched on HARD to it. Don’t get me wrong – it was really fun and legit scary for being on the low-tech side – but you know me, I was so consumed by extreme giddiness that I had created some blown-out love story between me and one of the monsters – Vladimir. I just remember this place being an outside walk-through, sort of on a hillside? And Vlad RUNNING down the hill toward us at one point, me screaming, “VLAD! YOU CAME BACK FOR ME!” and my brother being like, “YOU ARE SO EMBARRASING” while Henry was mostly likely ignoring all of this.

I wrote about this AT LENGTH in my haunted house journal back then, and even recorded myself dramatically reading it out loud for LiveJournal at the insistence of my friend Alisha, who would always encourage me to do really embarrassing things under the guise of “No, it will be cool, people will totally think you are so awesome and funny and not WEIRD at all. Nope. Not weird. AT ALL.”

Thank god I don’t have that voice recording anymore.

But after years of referencing Vlad in my blog – he had become the benchmark of scare actors for me, I compare everyone to him ever since then and say things like, “That guy with the ax in his head was pretty hot, but he’s no Vlad.” – I was finally transcribed that old 2003 review on here so people (a/k/a my three readers) would understand who Vlad was.

Because of this and also the fact that I remember the night being hilariously chaotic, full of over-the-top screaming and that good-good haunted house-induced adrenaline that I am always on the hunt for like a junkie looking for a fog machine fume fix, I have NEVER FORGOTTEN ABOUT IGOR’S FIGHT SHACK.

Sadly, that was apparently the last year because I searched the internet for years after that, looking for it on haunted house listing websites. I think once we even drove out that way to see if there were any advertisements in the area. But nothing. Igor’s was gone, destined to live on only in my heart.

Until about two weeks ago when Henry said that he had seen something online for Igor’s Fright Shack. I was in the middle of typing a work email when he casually eased THE BIGGEST NEWS OF 2025 onto my plate.

“Excuse me sir what now??” I cried, frantically Googling for myself.

“It can’t possibly be the same place, though,” Henry said. “It’s out near Murrysville.”

“OK seriously, how many other people would name their haunted house something as specific as IGOR’S FRIGHT SHACK?” I cried, cracking my knuckles and putting on my investigative haunted house hat and trench coat. I dismissed Henry; the Haunted House Expert was now on the case and it took me all of 30 seconds to deduce that it is in fact the same place, resurrecting all these years later by Igor himself and his wife and kids are all involved in the reincarnation!

And luckily for us, they were open on Friday and Saturday last week, and there were a few spots left. I reserved two for last Saturday with a quickness and was so freaking stoked about this, actually ran around the house squealing a little.

Finally, last Saturday arrived and I had regressed into a ball of schoolyard giddiness in the car as we drove to reunite with our old friend Igor. The new location is at the family’s house in a residential area so I was intrigued by how they were going to pull this off. Home haunts always amaze me – the things people do with small spaces feels like magic.

We were paired up with another couple and had a fun little chat with the guys at the entrance and then also the women at a table in front of the house where we waited for our turn. They asked if we had ever been there before (I can’t believe they were back last year and I DIDN’T KNOW) and I said that we didn’t know about last year but that we had visited once in 2003. They said we were the first ones that had been to the OG haunt and that they needed to tell Michael (a/k/a Igor!!). I didn’t think anything of it, figuring they’d probably wait until the end of the night if at all.

After a few more minutes of chatting (really nice women!), it was our turn to enter the graveyard! Now, I don’t want to give anything away because there were quite a few “Wait—what?? How did they do that??” moments, but they transformed what I assume was their upper driveway and garage area (?) into what felt like a sepia-tinged Victorian nightmarescape. The mind reels.

Igor & Co. have acting chops, their makeup & costume person is a legend, and the set design had me completely forgetting we were at someone’s house in the ‘burbs. It was intense, chaotic, and nostalgic in the way it rejuvenated my love for haunted houses. It brought back that excitement I used to get in the 90s after running out of the old Victory haunt in Elizabeth or the Castle Shannon Haunted School. I walked (OK jogged) out of there with the biggest smile on my face, breathlessly saying, “That was so effing good, Henry! IGOR’S FRIGHT SHACK IS BACK!”

We could have left right then and it would have been such a memorable night, but wait, there’s more!

Igor’s wife approached us at the exit and asked if we were the ones who visited in 2003, and asked us to wait while she got Michael (he will always be Igor to me). Since they only send in one group at a time, he was able to come out quickly and I figured we’d just say hello, we love Igor’s, thank him for bringing it back. You know, the standard fare.

But as he was shaking Henry’s hand, he said, “You look familiar” and in my head I thought he was just being polite because there is no way he could have recognized us from 2003. But then when he turned to me, he goes, “You’re Oh Honestly Erin” and I was like, “OMG how does he know that, what did I do, what did I write” because you know, my track record with this dumb blog isn’t the most savory. How many stories start with, “Welp, my blog got me in trouble again.”

He explained that he had spent some time reading my blog a few years ago and then he laughed and added that he “still wonders what you would have given Vladimir—you don’t have to say it in front of my daughter!” because his kids were also standing there for this!

I could feel the blood rushing to my face. And I could see feel Henry side-eying me and psychically hissing, “What did you write Erin?? WHAT. DID. YOU. WRITE.”

As soon as we got in the car, I frantically searched for it on my blog and quickly skimmed what I had transcribed from my paper journal in a post from 2021.

“Oh, it’s not THAT bad,” I relayed to Henry. “I said that I gave Igor’s Fright Shack ‘5 gigantical thumbs up and a bunch of things to Vladimir that will remain undisclosed.’ OK so only slightly unhinged.”

In the meantime, I had texted all of this to Corey since he was at the OG haunt with us in 2003. I sent him the link to the blog post and he immediately started texting back snippets and his only commentary was “OMFG.”

One snippet was “or perhaps take him back to the shack where he could impregnant me with our tawdry love child.” I read this out loud to Henry in a high-pitched wail. “Now he probably thinks I’m some freaking weirdo with a niche Kmart zombie mask kink who writes haunted house scare actor fanfic! Who goes to a haunted house and imprints on a scare actor? ME, OVER AND OVER AGAIN!”

(Literally, there was this one time in high school that me and Keri fought over Jason Voorhees at some haunted attraction that was at Civic Arena and HE CHOSE HER. No really, we hung out with him in the parking lot afterward. He took his mask off and I knew as soon as Kert shotgunned a cigarette with him that I was the official third wheel. I feel like they talked on the phone for a little bit after that but then it fizzled.)

(He wasn’t even that great of a Jason Voorhees anyway. Michael Myers over Jason any day.)

Henry, actually laughing out loud over this, said, “Good one, Erin. Good one.”

Chooch, meanwhile, was so ashamed of me, his immature mother. I was texting him this whole scene in the car on the way home and he said, “Good job. I’m glad I wasn’t there. Wow.”

I could say that this was written in 2003 and I am so different now! Very mature, much more stable! But the fact is that I am still an idiot as soon as a keyboard is placed before me, or, even worse, pen and paper.

But never mind my self-induced humiliation! The most important thing here is that Igor’s Fright Shack: The Reboot received a major glow-up while still retaining the purest spirit and heart of Halloween! And I love that it’s a multi-generational family affair. I am still so stoked that we got the chance to visit and if they are back again next year, you better believe I will be there! (Unless there is a restraining order on me.)

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