Thrillvania

As you drive down a lonely dirt road, you will notice huge flames randomly shooting up from a frightening mansion. This feeling of being out in the country adds to the scare factor. While walking up to the ticket counter, you will begin to already notice the detail that has been painstakingly worked into this attraction.

We decided to get warmed up to the action, we would walk along the new Dr. Lycan's Trail of Torment. Most haunted trail attractions are somewhat tame, and you realize that you are mostly scaring yourself. With this trail however, there are some huge surprises and some things none of us have ever seen at another attraction. Some phenomenal effects are achieved here involving pyrotechnics and amazing prop work.

After the trail, we moved to Cassandra’s Labyrinth of Terror. One thing about the building this is in is the great outside detail. This complex has been here for quite sometime, and you should really take the time to notice the detail given to even minor things. The Labyrinth is a roughly 20-30 minute walkthrough filled with some fantastic props. There are some clown actors that did an amazing job as we walked through.

The next thing we did was Granny Lupus's Séance Theatre. The ‘show’ does not run as smoothly as it could. I’m sure that back in it’s early days, this was a cool buffer between haunts. Years have run it down now, and a few things are out of sync. However, there are still a few large scares packed into this 15 minute show. I know that plans are in the works to get this show up and running the way it should be. Who knows, maybe even by mid-October. While things do need to be worked on in the show, I still recommend going to see it. There are some major scares that still work, and you don’t want to miss them.

After watching Granny’s show, we moved to the main attraction of the haunt, Haunted Verdun Manor. I encourage you to go to their site and read the history behind the place. You have to walk through a graveyard and a swamp to get to this house. There are more scares and better prop work than some whole other haunted attractions in these two sections alone. The swamp has a ridiculously cool giant flame blowing animatronic dragon that will blow your socks off. Once you arrive to the house, you are told some history regarding the place, and told that you can enter. Immediately upon entering this old mansion, you know that this is a different type of haunted house. I encourage you to slow down occasionally, and pay close attention the detail. Sure, there are scary actors and everything, but honestly, after you have jumped and screamed, if you can muster the courage, slow down and really examine your surroundings. This house is amazingly done. Try to pick up on the story being told through the scenes you walk through. There is a sign explaining that you are about halfway through the house and I remember feeling shocked that the house was that large. This haunted house is not one filled with cheap scares and tons of air blasters to keep you on edge, it’s atmosphere alone can achieve that.

Thrillvania has had a whole lot of hype built around it for many years now. It is difficult to imagine that the place can live up to its reputation, but it does. I strongly recommend this haunted attraction for many reasons. It is completely different than any other place we have been. There are not too many cheap thrills here, there is some genuinely creepy stuff. If you enjoy places like The Haunted Mansion in Disneyworld, you will love this place.