Ashland Berry Farm Inc — Attraction in Ashland

Everyone's account of the lack of public consideration for safety, while advertising their safety measures, is accurate. I'd hoped my group's experience was more or less a one off since we did come to the haunt the night before Halloween. We let a lot roll off our shoulders assuming it was the time we came and a tough year. Probably some truth, but apparently throughout October others had quite a similar experience. We've come the past couple years to Halloween festivities here, and those experiences were great.

So, besides the huge lines and long waits, zero crowd management, blurred lines on where the company stands with safety measures (Again, signs everywhere about wearing a mask and 6 ft. apart from others while you're being pressed back to back with strangers by staff who want to move things along and most people don't have masks... Especially staff)... My biggest criticism to share with the company and its fans is a social incident which occurred at the Wolf's Den.

Leading into this I need to reiterate what others have mentioned here. There were very few workers in the haunts. Most seemed annoyed to be there, and out of character (just sitting around with character masks off). Wolf Den's line organizer/ticket collector the night before Halloween was a mess. She seemed to have had a hard night and it appeared she absolutely hated everything around her, especially the public. Going into this line two young women were leaving the wait upset and warning the rest of us newcomers to mind the lady upfront because she was rude. The lady took no time to live up to that screaming at the crowd to split into two based off admission (stamp or ticket). This wasn't done in an informative manner. She just jumped into screaming to insult and degrade. Calling us all animals and rude, criticizing our ability to behave and have manners. It was ironic. There were no signs advising of the line split, so nobody could have known to organize that way, yet she screamed (visibly upsetting herself) that we should have known. Everyone listened to her pretty instantly and split up, but she was relentless complaining about us... to all of us. She reveled in picking fights with every black woman in line too. She herself was a young black woman. She argued and damn near encouraged a fight to break out with how she left her post to walk into the line and further argue with a more mature black woman.

Skin color must be mentioned here because of what happened next. This little lady is barking at the group (a black family) behind me telling them to learn how to act in public while they advocate to be spoken to with a shred of decency. At this point all of us have witnessed her being obtuse and disrespectful. One customer was just tired of it. She's there with her kids for a good time, not so they can watch their mom get singled out and screamed at. Out from the door of the haunt a tall older white man emerges and randomly, out of nowhere and for zero reason, walks up to a little Latino family before my group, puffs out his chest and gets in the face of the father loudly stating "Yo comprende AMIGO?" "She means YOU. Back up!!". Literally everyone was dumbfounded. The white man stood there glaring at the Latino man for a minute until walking out the line. The Latino man was so not who the little worker lady was popping off about. The white fellow's bigoted broken spanish was just not needed. Both of those individuals should not feel sound speaking to the paying public, especially families like that.

Our Wolf Den line was actually well behaved compared to others throughout the night. The whole display did encourage some people to leave the line, the rest of us just spoke softly about how horrible it all was before being ushered in. Workers at this attraction, as well as the Woods were also smoking. The Wolf Den smokers were smoking INSIDE the structure though.

Had to write a lot in hopes that the farm can have a full account and maybe revise some things moving forward. The overall feel from this year was just so sad compared to...

I had been twice this year prior to tonight (November 1, 2013) and had a great time, but to be completely honest, tonight ruined the whole thing for me. I'm new to this area, and I grew up in Northern Virginia, after the first two amazing experiences I had this same year, I decided to take some of my older dance students as a bonding experience- I regret my decision.

In the first maze, we started in the Vortex, which was the shortest. I was leading, and had four 14-16 year olds behind me. Needless to say, the "haunters" took the scaring a bit to far. They began harassing the girls I was with. Not only were they saying things like, "you're a pretty little thing aren't you?" and they told me that they were resting their head's on their shoulders and pushing them through the maze and nipping at their heels. With a single shove, they sent our youngest participant into a wall which caused her to hit her head. She assumed she was fine and kept walking, regardless of the fact they were still following and shoving us, but once we got out she realized she was bleeding with a huge knot on her head.

The staff was more than willing to help. They kept her upped with ice all night and filled out a very, very, detailed report as to what happened. They also had their EMT staff check her out and gave her clearance to go on with the rest of the night if she so desired. Of course, she didn't, but honestly, I wouldn't either if I was shoved into a wall. She admitted she was more frightened by the blood pouring down her face than the she was in pain. The fact that they were more worried about her than she expected was nice. At least the out of character staff was friendly.

By the time we got to booger woods, the three girls each wanted to go with me, so I took a single by herself, and we had a great time. She said it was her favorite! They paired the two of us up with a group of four other people, but the second time, they sent me and the other girl in by our selves, a group of two. Here is where things got a little too real for us.

During a part of the maze, since I had been in multiple times before hand, I had even been in more than once that night, and things were terrible the second time. In one part, strobe lights start and these guys with chainsaws chase you threw a clearing into the next set of tunnels. Long story short, they left their posts and followed us into the inside part, WITH THEIR CHAINSAWS. For the final closed in portion, they has one person in the entrance of the building, and one at the exit so we couldn't leave. The two clowns with the chainsaws ended up cornering us and not letting us leave. It took us nearly ten minutes to get out of that singular part of the longest maze, and caused us almost to miss our hay ride back to the main base. I genuinely feel as though if we hadn't gotten physical with them, they wouldn't have let us go. Not only did we feel violated, but in the first time ever I hadn't felt safe. Plus, the fact that they had their chainsaws on, in a closed space, and so close to us that we could feel the heat and were sick from the gas smell after they chased us the whole way back to the hay ride.

Everyone on the hay ride was confused and concerned that we were both nauseous and that they chased us all the way there- since they hadn't done it to anyone else all night.

Needless to say, I won't be dropping nearly as much, if any, at Ashland Berry Farm...

I visited Terror on the Farm for the first time this year with the VIP Pass, and while my group had a great time, there are a few areas that could be improved. The layout was well-organized and easy to navigate, though it’s important to note that the terrain is uneven since it’s a farm, which could be challenging for those with mobility issues. Parking was plentiful and organized, and hearing chainsaws and screams even before leaving the car really set the tone for the night!

With the VIP Pass, we had access to a designated greenhouse where there were drinks, seating, and a staff member dedicated to bringing food and escorting us to the front of the lines. Our escort was friendly and welcoming- I didn’t catch her name but she said that she usually worked parking but was filling in that night (October 11th).

Although I typically don’t get scared in haunted attractions and just go for the fun of it, I was pleasantly surprised by a few moments that genuinely spooked me. However, the themes of the individual haunted houses weren’t always clear, and some seemed short on scare actors. For example, Reapers Revenge 3D felt more clown-focused than Clown Rehab, and the extreme darkness in many areas of the houses made it difficult to find your way, which took away from the overall experience rather than enhancing it.

Booger Woods was by far the highlight of the night. It’s a long, immersive attraction with a lot of potential, but I feel like it’s missing opportunities to be truly exceptional. Adding more scare actors during the hayride and in the corn maze while waiting in line would take the experience to the next level.

All in all, we had a fantastic time, and I would definitely recommend visiting. A few tweaks could make it even better, but it’s a solid choice for a fun...