The Scariest Haunted Houses in AMERICA — 2020’s Top Haunts
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It’s that time of year again! However, this Halloween season, the scares *and* the experience will be different. It’s even possible some of your favorite Halloween traditions may not be running this year! To save you some hunting, we’ve put our heads together over here at Scary Overload to bring you the SCARIEST haunted attractions that you can experience for 2020!
Editor’s Note: We’ve put them in no particular order, as these haunts are all worthy of a number one spot. Enjoy!
- ILLINOIS – Midnight Terror – Oak Lawn
- UTAH – Fear Factory – Salt Lake City
- INDIANA – Thirteenth Hour – Indianapolis | Hysterium – Fort Wayne
- RHODE ISLAND – 13th World – Cumberland
- PENNSYLVANIA – Pennhurst Asylum, Spring City
- NEW JERSEY – Brighton Asylum – Passaic
- WISCONSIN – Dark Side Haunted Adventure – Ixonia
- TEXAS – Dark Hour Haunted House – Plano | Hatch & Kraven’s Slaughterhouse – Denison | The Haunted Hotel – Beaumont
- NEW YORK – House Of Horrors And Haunted Catacombs – Buffalo
- CALIFORNIA – Pirates of Emerson – Pleasanton
- IOWA – The 5th Realm – Cedar Rapids | Hillside House of Hell – Glenwood
- KANSAS – Zombie Toxin – Junction City
- WEST VIRGINIA – Maniac Mountain – Buckhannon | Infernum in Terra – Wheeling
- CONNECTICUT – Legends of Fear – Shelton
- NORTH CAROLINA – Woods of Terror – Greensboro
- SOUTH CAROLINA – The Fear Farm – Blacksburg | Dark Castle – Elgin
- NEBRASKA – Eagle Hollow Haunts – Eagle | Bloodrush – Elkhorn | Haunted Hollow – Omaha
- NEVADA – Asylum Hotel Fear – Las Vegas
- ARKANSAS – Fear Factory 501 – Jacksonville
|Illinois|
Midnight Terror described in one word? INSANE. This haunt is well-built, and definitely designed with terror in mind. At times the actors are above you, climbing along contraptions built to challenge your senses and cause you to duck and move around them, screaming all the while! The actors are well-trained and know exactly when to strike! The lighting and sets were aesthetically pleasing…but don’t stare at the structures too long…that’s what the monsters want you to do. Midnight Terror also offers escape rooms and axe throwing on-site! This is definitely a worthy spot for an evening of thrills and chills.
MidnightTerrorHauntedHouse.com
|Utah|
Fear Factory is one of the top Halloween attractions in the world, made up of 6 buildings, up to 6 stories high, with 2 underground passages, and is a massive haunted attraction in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. With awards ranking them as #3 in the world (buzzfeed.com), and top 10 in the US (USA Today & Travel Channel) Fear Factory has quickly grown to be one of Utah’s – and the world’s – favorite Halloween entertainment attractions. It’s vastness requires a waiver to be signed prior to entry, and opens each fall, plus periodically throughout the year for special events. Home to over 11 documented historical deaths, featured in movies and films, boasts over 100 nightly live actors, and heavily awarded within the industry, it’s a great place to bring family, friends, coworkers and more for an evening of entertainment, thrills and fun.
|Indiana|
In 2020, the Thirteenth Hour expands again as Indy’s Most Immersive Haunted Attraction. Experience The Cathedral of Souls, Reaper’s Hollow, and Mine No. 13 on one horrifying journey. This Halloween Season, step inside the 13th hour and learn what secrets lie below the surface; a new chapter awaits, Indianapolis.
Hysterium Haunted Asylum in Fort Wayne, Indiana began its life as The Haunted Cave back in 1998 and reemerged as Hysterium Haunted Asylum for the 2014 season and has been under that name ever since. Hysterium has awesomely detailed sets, a large, energetic cast and two escape rooms. f you make it out of the escape rooms, you can get VIP access to the haunt! That definitely makes trying everything at this attraction worth the money!
|Pennsylvania|
Have you ever been to an actual asylum? Well…there are many that claim this place is *actually* haunted. This Halloween season, we DARE you to go to a haunted haunted house, and Pennhurst Asylum is one of the BEST! You might want to bring some burning sage with you, you know, better safe than sorry. There are several attractions on-site, and even an area where they serve food and have live entertainment going. This haunted attraction also offers ghost hunts after hours for anyone brave enough to endure. We’ve been considering a Scary Overload paranormal exposé…stay tuned!
|Rhode Island|
The 13TH World haunted attraction returns in 2020 Bigger and better than ever before! Located in Cumberland, RI with easy access off highways and ample parking. 13TH World has featured a new haunt each season for the past 19 years. This year they will bring to life all your favorite characters from movies and even some you have never before seen. 13TH World even offers a “Bounce Back” day – This is where you get to return for 50% off. Not many haunted attractions offer family fun days. 13th World Family Fun Days offer a chance for children to experience the haunted attraction without any monsters! This is also a FREE event. 13TH World recommends for kids to wear their costumes and enjoy the fun! 13TH World suggests you visit their website for Covid-19 specific procedures and information for this season!
|New Jersey|
Brighton Asylum is not for the faint of heart. The patients and tortured souls found within these walls are only one thing…crazy. You never know what to expect! Brighton has more than one attraction on-site. The Bleeding Grounds was intense! It’s upstairs and said to be “staff quarters”. I can definitely say whatever was going on up there was in your face! The Slasher Thursday events come highly recommended as they are the only time you will get the opportunity to get scared by your horror legend favorites such as Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees! Brighton constantly innovates and brings new events to terrorize, check them out throughout the year as they do have multiple off-season shows.
|Wisconsin|
The DarkSide Haunted Adventure has some buzz surrounding it as it is voted Wisconsin’s scariest haunt year after year! DarkSide has a hauntingly generous 7 haunted houses featuring the Grimm Reaper Railway! The DarkSide is made up of over 40 acres of FRIGHT, a midway area with light shows, and multiple concessions options! So if being scared makes you hungry, you are ALL SET! The DarkSide is like a trip into a Halloween horror story. Something that they did wonderfully was making us feel like we were in another world. Welcome to the DarkSide, they may not have had cookies…but we were just as thrilled to have been there for an evening of SCREAMS!
|Texas|
This haunted attraction definitely supports the claim that Texas haunted houses are the best in the country. They are not opening normally this year, but they do have an exclusive backstage tour available for the week of Halloween. A limited number of folks will get a three hour guided tour to see the Magic of Dark Hour Haunted House.
Hatch & Kraven’s Slaughterhouse returns in 2020 with an onslaught of new terrors, fresh cuts, and devilish nightmares. This haunted attraction is not for the faint of heart! This is their 13th season and they are out for blood! This year patrons can expect experiencing Hatch & Kraven’s differently as an outside trail. They have moved locations and are now in Denison. Please see their map on their website for directions. They also have many policies and procedures put in place to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Check their website for further details!
Check into the famous Haunted Hotel in Beaumont, TX. This proud family-run attraction has operated for 30 years and is still terrifying Southeast Texas. The Haunted Hotel continues to add new scares and haunting elements each year in an attempt to scare us out of our minds! Our only fear is…if we check In we may never check out. When on-site, be sure to engage in conversation with their signature characters that entertain the crowds of folks outside. These characters are celebrities of sorts and are well-known to the surrounding area! Make sure you tell them “Large Marge” from Scary Overload sent ya!
|New York|
This haunted attraction is definitely next level. The creature design and makeups were outstanding! The actors really knew how to use the space they had and had us on edge most of the way through! There are several haunted attractions on-site including Hell House, Killer Theater, Mark of the Beast, and The Infected. They also have a new haunt for 2020! The He HIVE! What we found really interesting is their take on an infection haunt! They went more alien virus and government experiments gone wrong with this haunt vs the traditional and overused zombie methods. While we love zombies, it was insanely refreshing to see something new! Be prepared for mutated monsters and gore! House of Horrors and Haunted Catacombs even has a burial simulated experience and 4 escape rooms to offer. This is definitely a Halloween destination if we ever saw one! Don’t miss what they have to offer this year, but you’ll only want to take the bravest of friends.
|California|
Tharr she blows! Pirates of Emerson in California is sure to blow your mind! One ticket to this scream park yields a drive thru haunted experience! One ticket covers ALL of the passengers in your vehicle!With 6 acres of thrills located on the Pleasanton Fairgrounds, you will feel like you’ve shipwrecked on an island of terror! So grab yer shipmates, and get ready for an evening of horrors unchained at Pirates of Emerson this Fall!
|Iowa|
The 5th Realm or “Nevermoor” is a supernatural, interactive haunted attraction that focuses on atmosphere, story, and delivering a “WOW Factor” to their patrons. While you walk through, you are put you into the stories, and it’s your job to find your way out! This is a very interactive theater type of haunted attraction, and it is an experience you won’t soon forget! Inspired by the owner’s love of theatrics and shows like “The Twilight Zone,” “The Outer Limits,” and “Kolchak: The Night Stalker,” their attractions inject you directly into the supernatural veins of a parallel dimension where tortured souls flow through the heart of the paranormal realm.
For Covid-19 specific procedures and policies please visit the attraction’s website.
Iowa’s Scariest Haunted Houses are Hillside House of hell & klown kraze 3D. located in the glenwood area. Hillside House of Hell is only 25 minutes from downtown Omaha and features over 50,000 square feet of heart pumping fear.
|Kansas|
There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like…HAUNT! Kansas is home to beautiful vistas of farmland, tasty Barbecue, and apparently one of the scariest haunted houses you could ever find in the Midwest! About an hour West of Kansas City, in the quaint little town of Junction City is where you’ll find bloody butchers, frightening clowns, and some of the best scares we’ve ever had! We’ll say this, if you ever find yourself traveling West on I-70 and happen to drive through Junction City, do yourself a favor and stop in at Zombie Toxin. You won’t regret it…but no matter what they say, do NOT let them inject you with anything. Or the only travel snacks you’ll be eating are other human brains!
|West Virginia|
Everything your Halloween heart could want and need this season! A hayride, a haunted house, AND a haunted corn field! Maniac Mountain offers the best of both worlds: scares AND story! This first year haunted scream park just had to make our list this year!
ManiacMountainHauntedHouse.com
Running this Halloween season 2020 – September 25th through November 13th. A new Nightmare comes to Wheeling West Virginia!
You cringe at each creak on the old stairs, does it sway your determination to make it to the top? You see a shadow flickering at the corner of your vision. You freeze, and as you stand there, you catch the scent of lingering decay in the air. A shiver curls through the hairs on the back of your neck then cascades down your backbone. Do you hurl yourself back down the stairs towards safety or do you continue into the Nightmare?
You’re being drawn in, drowned in slumbering evil, there is no escape…
|Connecticut|
Board our tractor pulled hay wagons into our fields and forest of fear for thirty minutes of spine chilling fun. You may try and huddle together for safety, but in our domain we live to hear you scream! Into the darkness you will descend imprisoned on our sinister ride… deeper and darker the driver will go. No one will hear your curdling screams over the chainsaws and the clowns’ maniacal laughter. There is no escaping the nightmares they create!
|North Carolina|
Woods of Terror sits on 45 acres of land 12 miles outside of Greensboro, North Carolina. The land is said to be the permanent home to countless spirits who made their way out of this life during The Great Depression. At the time, local priest, Father Eddie Howie McMillan, was the owner of this land. He passed it on to his great grandson, Eddie Howie McLaurin, in 1970. It became known as McLaurin Farms. McLaurin used the area as a junkyard. He collected fees from individuals who would dump their unwanted belongings ranging from refrigerators to cars. These items remain as a part of the set used by Woods of Terror. The haunted park opened in 1991 and has been producing a wild amount of screams ever since!
|South Carolina|
When we pulled up to The Fear Farm, let’s just say this…if there was any question on where to go? All we had to do was to follow the blood curdling screams and it led us right to the ticket booth! Home to five separate haunted houses at one event, The Fear Farm delivered an eventful night of screams, laughs…and yes…intense moments of FEAR! Can you say…AHHH!! Because you will…over and over! We love a good scream in October and it seemed that people from all over the Carolinas eagerly agreed. Do not miss this amazing, multi-attraction event!
The Dark Castle, outside of Elgin, SC, was formerly known as the Dark Knight’s Terror Trail. However, as the haunt complex has grown, adding more and more pieces to entertain and amaze, so too has the name changed. Now, the Dark Knight’s Terror Trail is simply the name of the outdoor trail that winds through the back of the haunt around the southern woods, through visions of the macabre, the strange and the surreal. The indoor haunt is now called the Dungeon of Darkness and the outdoor/indoor zombie hunt is simply known as the Zombie Zone. But, that’s not all! The Dark Castle complex also houses a pair of 5-minute escape rooms (Brisk Breakouts) and a Break Room where you can smash a variety of things to let out your aggression. The Escape Rooms and Break Room do carry an added cost but if you’ve got the time and the money, you can easily spend an evening at the Dark Castle taking time to do everything or to tailor your visit to your specific tastes.
|Nebraska|
Eagle Hollow Haunts provides an entire evening of fear for 1 low price. Your ticket gives you access to three impressive new haunted attractions, firepits, full concessions, adult beverages & additional attractions to keep you entertained all night. Take a trip through the vortex to Luminon’s 3D alien world, journey down our haunted trail to the Darklands, and try to survive a nightmare trip through Night Terrors. Once you’re good and scared, it’s time for dinner at the full concessions, have a few drinks around one of our fire pits and enjoy some Scary-oke.
Experience Nebraska’s LONGEST & MOST INTENSE haunted attraction! Nearly a half hour of pure terror, Bloodrush will test your limits and make you come face to face with your fears! See what people are calling “Omaha’s scariest haunted house” for yourself & bring your friends! Full calendar & coupons available at www.scareomaha.com.
Haunted Hollow has quickly become one of Nebraska’s FAVORITE Halloween attractions! They offer you the chance to investigate an actual hotbed of otherworldly activity! Paranormally speaking, we were super creeped out! There are videos online with mediums that SWEAR the activity is real. That was enough for us to ensure that we were sufficiently creeped out before we even arrived! When you choose Haunted Hollow, you get one of the top-rated scream parks in Nebraska with frightening attractions that will scare and delight crowds! The even have live entertainment. Monsters and music as they say! With 7 acres of frights and fun, you’re headed for an intense evening filled with scares and laughs! However, when you are leaving Haunted Hollow, just whisper “the fear stays here”. You wouldn’t want one of their ghostly spirits to follow you home!
|Nevada|
The Asylum began life as The Meadview Health Sanctuary in the late 1800’s. Once a cutting edge facility its theories on health fell from social prominence, the facility declined into disuse. It was reincarnated by Dr. Vander to address the issues of mental health. Tragedy befell Meadview as the Dr., his wife and daughter were killed by a resident. The son, Adrian a medical prodigy was away at school. He vowed to not just provide treatment but find a cure to rationalize his family’s deaths. Under the guise of a mental health facility there have been unknown activities at the Asylum. Rumors abound, everything from genetic enhancing to viral testing. To appease local concerns the Asylum is allowing visitors to view the facility. But all is not well on this tour as we are experiencing some unknown electrical issues at the facility! Hopefully all is safe and everything remains contained…. or so they hoped!
|Arkansas|
This Halloween, step through the doors of the infamous Fear Factory 501 in Jacksonville, AR for a frightful evening you won’t soon forget! Known as the place where darkness never sleeps, Fear Factory 501 offers numerous attractions that will terrify even the most seasoned horror enthusiast! From the grotesque Torture Chamber to the adrenaline-pumping “Escape Room”, our undead hosts will provide you with an otherworldly Halloween experience. The screams carried through the air, and added to the anticipation of the evening. We much enjoyed our time at Fear Factory 501! This is a must-see this season for good reason!
Halloween is definitely a sacred time of year and the scares and screams are going to be different! If your favorite haunted house is closed, give a new one a try! As long as they are doing all of those proactive, Covid-safe procedures that we have all come to expect, Halloween is certainly *not* cancelled! From all of us at Scary Overload, we wish you the best this season. Happy haunting!
