“Are you here for the haunt?”
This is what the woman at the entrance to the parking lot asked us after we made the long drive through the woods to reach the Dreadwood Haunted Forest in Hudson, Wisconsin. We nodded and she told us to follow one of the parking attendants, who would show us where to park. After Erin pulled up the window she asked, “Did she ask if we’re here for the haunt or the hunt?”
The Dreadwood Haunted Forest is in the middle of the nowhere. Literally. To get there, you drive down a dark highway and turn into the “driveway,” marked by a tree with a red light. As we drove through the woods to the haunt we often wondered if we were in the right place, but wooden signs continuously pointed us on.
The haunt is a fright walk through a forest. Each group has a guide that leads them through a half mile path through the dark woods set up with different scenes and people to scare you.
What I liked about this attraction is that they used both adults and children as volunteers. It was a nice mix and children can be pretty creepy.
However, this haunt missed the mark for me. I thought it would be scary–I even grabbed one of my friend’s hands as we walked through the first house–but in the end, nothing scared me. That being said, one woman in my group was screaming the entire way through and we were warned not to let go of the rope (yes, we had to hold onto a rope as we made our through) because there had been sprinters the night before. So it definitely worked for some people, just not for me. In the end, the anticipation and the drive to the haunt were the scariest parts for me.
It was worth a visit and if my friends wanted to go again in the future, I’d tag along to see what they do differently, but I’d also make sure to get a trip to the Dead End Hayride in too. That hayride/fright walk/corn maze freaked me out! In a good way, of course.
Do you like to go through haunted attractions?
