This haunted house is in short… UNREAL!; but in a good way. I chose to go last night for a couple of reasons. The primary being that I’m a big chicken when it comes to haunted attractions. Going early in the season gives you a couple big bonuses; 1) there are less visitors going so the wait to get in is relatively short and 2) there are less actors working so early in the season which provides you with a false sense of security that you can slip through without being so often frightened. Boy was I wrong on number 2. That place was packed with what seemed like an endless amount of actors coming at you from all directions.
First, I arrived and waited in a modest line to purchase tickets. After getting tickets for me and my friend, we waited to see if some of our other friends would arrive to go in. The never showed, but I wonder if the exterior had anything to do with this.
So after waiting nearly an hour, we decided to head inside. The security guard working the door had a lot of fun making sure each and every “victim” who entered was already scared out of their mind before they started. You enter and make your way in thinking that you just walk in the building and start the fun. Not entirely, you go in and enter probably the coolest queue I have ever seen for a haunted house. It was completely themed to help get your fright started before you ever enter the house itself.
I spent like 20-30 minutes waiting in the inside queue to go in but all is not lost here. Several of the actors from throughout the house make their way down to this room to assist with preparing the victims for the fright before they get the chance to truly be scared. It was in this room that I really enjoyed myself, not because I was scared but rather because there was this guy and two girls who were so scared they kept freaking out like crazy. So, to my credit every scare actor that made their way to me was given a whisper with their names and location to make them suffer… Mwahahaha…. Okay, so that wasn’t as creepy written down as it was when my co-workers just stared at me. LOL.
As we inched through this queue waiting for our turn to enter the darkness that lies ahead we met and got to know the couple standing behind us. A middle school teacher and his wife and this was his first time ever going to a haunted house; I have to say hearing him when he was frightened was hilarious to me. He never screamed or yelled he just shouted “Oh Jeez…” or “Oh My God…” but it was breathless and like a shouting whisper. I got quite amused throughout the entire haunted house. As we were about to finally exit the queue we came across this creepy witch (which of course was an animatronics) who gave us the back story to the darkness.
So, finally we entered into the darkness and we were immediately thrust into what looked like an ancient ruins. This looked like it was right out of an Indiana Jones movie.
The sets were so good and highly detailed. One of the best aspects to the actors in this area is that they seemed like they were statues. They were so still and able to hide almost anywhere on set and it was so cool. I know, I sound kind of like a 13 year old saying that. But it’s the truth. I have never seen such highly themed sets for a haunted house before. No, I have never been to HHN, although I want to go. The icing on the cake with the ruins was the giant T-Rex that literally comes within an inch of you passing by.
After moving on for what seemed like eternity and making our through the ruins we finally entered a swamp. The witches swamp to be exact. This had a rickety bridge that actually moved as you walked on it making your equilibrium be thrown off. And at some point I hit a spot in the bridge that completely caught me off guard because as soon as you stepped down on it the whole thing dropped like 3 or 4 inches. If the actors weren’t enough to get you by then, this bridge will. The idea in this part is that you are passing through a cursed swamp and it couldn’t be more real. There was running water under the walkways and coming down the walls. The fog hung like a mist, the air was cooler, and the lighting really made you feel like you were suddenly thrust outside. I never had a run in with the witch while we were there. But, that didn’t stop her blood thirsty minions from going after each victim as they made their way through.
Again, I was highly impressed with the theming, so much so, that I really wish they offered day tours that are “lights on” so I could go back and really look at the sets and pay attention to the details.
After making our way through the swamp and crossing over a few rope bridges we entered a grave yard complete with a headless horseman.
Now, I have seen my share of haunted graveyards that are “haunted houses” but this one was different. They actually had ghouls that climbed out of the graves; literally climbing through what looked like dirt, moss, and grass. Add to that the werewolves that seemed to come out of every dark shadow around you and you were totally helpless. It was often the shadows that made it hard to tell where you were going. If it wasn’t for the designated paths that you followed, I am sure we would have been stuck in the grave yard for well over an hour.
So, we pressed onward and entered the mansion, where we were greeted by this butler who really served no purpose other than to alert the “family” that you were there.
In the mansion the designated path disappeared. You entered each room and had to work your way around to move on. There was no wrong way to go, but making the wrong decision forced you to spend more time in the room with the actors giving them more time to scare the sh** out of you.
My favorite part of the mansion was the mirror maze. Between the mirrors were curtains which were cool and creepy at the same time. The curtains gave the actors the perfect space to pop out and scare the crap out of us. They jumped out and just as fast as they did, they went right back into the curtains and you couldn’t tell they even fit there.
After making it through the maze (make sure you always go to the right, you’ll find the exit a lot faster this way) we continued on through the mansion finding rooms that had morphing and talking portraits. These were very cool, but being the chicken I am, I made sure to not stop and look as this would provide the perfect opportunity for the actor to sneak up on you unprepared. So, I literally pushed my friend forward so we wouldn’t get trapped. And as I did we dumped into a kitchen so foul that my friend high tailed it through, dragging me along. Til’ we came face to face with pig man in a room filled with hanging pigs.
All four of us had one of those hanging pigs slam into our heads and we all ended up with headaches. I could have complained, but opted not to as about the time we finished the mansion our headaches were finally gone. After exiting the mansion, we ended up “outside” in what appeared to be a junk yard where we were terrorized by deadly mechanics out to repair us from the inside out. This area was filled with tons of 55 gal. barrels and the actors seemed to come from all angles as they banged on the barrels from out of sight and just like the mirror maze, they had the ability to pop in and out at will confusing you as to where they were actually at. This room was the end of “The Darkness”.
The Darkness Haunted House is produced by Halloween Productions Inc. and with them one house is not all you get for your admission fee. After journeying through the two-story haunted house we are dropped into the queue for another terrifying haunted house “Terrorvisions 3-D”.
The concept behind this is creep/scary clowns. I felt that this house lacked for a couple reasons. It totally relies on you wearing the cheap 3-D glasses. I wear glasses and these didn’t really fit over them, so they kept falling off, thus ruining the whole set up for me. Add to that, that they had bright fluorescent lights on, instead of black lights and it really kind of ruined the whole thing for me. And this haunted house only had 5 actors in it. I am glad it was included in your admission because it was cheap and not viable as a separate house. (BTW, HPI says this is one of their original designs that they sell to other organizations.)
Once you have completed the lackluster “Terrorvisions” you are done with the haunted house and put into their new museum. Where you can see many cool set pieces and other related Halloween memorabilia.
This museum also doubled as their gift shop, but of all the items in it not one thing there was memorabilia for you take home “advertising” the haunted house itself. I bring this up because, when you purchase your tickets at the box office you can see stacks upon stacks of shirts, hoodies, and sweatshirts that they mention on the website being up for sale. As most people would do, they would buy these types of thing at the end not the beginning for two reasons. 1) If you like something you are then more likely to purchase a souvenir and 2) if you buy a souvenir before you enter the haunted house you are more likely to lose it inside.
All said and done I give the haunted house a 4.8 out of 5 stars. I am taking off .2 points because of the horrible “Terrorvisions” house. I would say come early in the season if you want to visit this house without much wait. As the season grows on, the line outside the house lengthens and it’s not uncommon for the wait to be up to 2 hours or more.
The Darkness Haunted House is now open weekends in September and daily in October. For more information on how to get there or to purchase tickets visit www.scarefest.com.
I am planning on visiting their other location in the Saint Louis area later this month. I will post my Trip Report of “Creepyworld” after I do so.
Additionally, I am planning on making it out to Six Flags Saint Louis for Fright Fest later this month. I have been told that much of this year’s event has been revamped and improved. You’ll have to wait on that trip report to be posted.
BTW, I don't remember reading it...but how much did the event cost?
Why anyone would take a child into such a "scary" place is beyond me. But there were some troopers that went in, I would venture to say around 8 or 9 years old. They were little guys.
I too will be checking my fright fest soon at SFGA. From what I see, its about the same as last year, but thats fine. It has special scare actors that come back every year (Pumpkin Head, the Mayor of Necropolis, the underpass trolls, and the Janitor to name a few)
Some of the pics are mine and some were sent to me from HPI directly so I could illustrate my report. After I was finished going through I went and spoke to the manager about me posting a TR for the place. Which he was incredibly excited about. So he emailed me some hard to get shots to help the report.
Silo X and the Raven's Manor were good, but don't sound near as good as the Darkness as you metioned it. Online they describe Silo X as being the biggest haunted house in STL (how can this be with the Darkness).
Creepyworld is a temporary set-up that begins construction every year in July. Prior to that all the set pieces, lighting, etc. sit in Tractor Trailers. The same ones that surround the haunted houses. Despite this, they have been working every year to improve the aesthetics of them to make them more believable. Don't get me wrong CW is hugely popular due to its theme. And is one of the largest haunts in the area.
Darkness is in a 2-story warehouse in the Soulard neighborhood of Saint Louis City. And although it seems huge... I actually made it through in about 45 minutes. CW took me well over 2 hours to complete. About 1 hour and 15 minutes just for Silo X alone.
I hope this answers your questions.
When we went CW as a whole took 1-1.5 hours max, with Silo X maybe taking 30 minutes. No way was it over 1 hour. Plus, the haunted cornfield took 5 minutes (now I think its a graveyard), and the hayride pretty much sucked, except for one actor who really interacted with our vehicle. Then again, I am not counting the hour of waiting we did beforehand, so in total it took 2 hours.
