Screams In The Dark — Attraction in Orange Township

I was skeptical of the hour long drive, and for what could possibly be a quick 20 min scare. I’ve heard the stories of the crazy long wait times as well. Despite this, our group of six decided to check it out. We chose Sunday night 10/22 hoping for less busy plus it’s $2 cheaper. The drive was beautiful as the colors in route were absolutely stunning! The trees were on fire with color! Upon arrival we noticed the huge parking lot and realized we beat the traffic by a landslide. Knowing they opened at 7:30pm, we planned to arrive at 6:30pm to beat some of the line. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS! We stood in line and felt like we were close to the front which is always a spirit lifter. While our group waited, there was an actress that walked up and down the growing line. I advise going in a group so you can feed off each others conversations and laughter. We had a gal with us that was so easily scared, it made the evening that much more enjoyable. Even just the thought of this actress walking past her made our friend jump to hide behind our friends as the others got a kick out of it. We could smell the elephant ears calling out to us from the food trucks. I was happy SITD posted “cash only” on their site to make sure we were prepared. Finally the line started moving. Once we went through the gate, we were welcomed by a beautifully spooky ghost town. At this time you are still in the entrance line but you’re waiting among the awesome old structures, character actors, creepy props. A lot to look at. This gives you time to take it all in. Soak up the surroundings. We were in awe at the amount of work this took to create. The amount of labor and materials to erect something like this just to scare folks. More actors, again entertaining the crowd. They were perfect. Very scary and quietly taunting people. I love how they single out the ones they know will react. 😂 As we are finally up to the grand entrance, the tallest building with an ominous feeling, we hear the screams of its previous victims. Our anxiety gets pumping and it’s time to enter should we dare. This was not a 20 min scare. Definitely longer. I’m not sure how long it took but after we went through all of the haunts we felt fulfilled and that it was all worth it. It was a good amount of scares, great displays, great jump scares and screams, a lot of details. Ending with the tarot card reader at the end -should one choose to have their cards read. Out of our group of six, three of us hard our cards read and they were all spot on! Of course our group had the cheese fries, elephant ears and a gourmet hot dog. -I mean when I’m Rome, right? While exiting we noticed the crazy line! So glad we arrived when we did. The place is a hot spot for sure! The way home seemed faster than usual because we told the stories of the scares, laughed and recalled all the happenings of the evening. —“the toilet character ” 😂That’s all I’m going to say. No spoilers, but those who know, know. 🤣 I bet people speak of that afterwards! It’s only going to grow from here. Thank you for the amazing adventure! See...

------A lesson in the art of fear------

I'm a Halloween & scare-adrenaline enthusiast, I like an immersive experience. I think its a difficult task for a haunt to suspend disbelief to someone like myself. Let me tell you how this haunt accomplishes this task at a 5-star rating.

Driving in: When you pull up to the parking lot the experience hasn't begun yet, you are not in this world they have created. Yet... its there, in the distance in a field in the middle of freaking nowhere. That's the first seed of doubt, willingly walking far into the creepy field off the map at night.

The Line: That seed of doubt is nurtured carefully because even a massive crowd isn't a long wait (~45 minutes in a very dense crowd) so your anticipation remains. Meanwhile their actors have committed to these characters they play and they use the dark creepy field effectively. You are a sitting target when you're in line and the scare crew can sniff out the easily-scared unfortunates in line. Its funny to watch the crowd screaming when a scare actor makes a move but you also know you're soon to be next.

The Haunt: Suspending disbelief starts with detail, this haunt does that by being more than just scary props. This haunt is designed around lore. Props, scenes, designs, they all have a purpose; this isn't just whatever props were available on eBay & marketplace. I admired the details because I'm an enthusiast, I like stories and this is what this haunt is.... its a story. Beyond the details of the story is HOW to get the scare, I was very impressed by the level the costumes are at but more impressed by the commitment under the masks. I appreciate a decent jumpscare + a scream but I LOVE a well-planned spot in the art of fear. There's no predictable pattern in the scares, each person was planned in a way that your guard only drops when your primal instinct takes over usually resulting in a scream then backing up fearfully..... not by me of course, no no, everyone else was totally doing that. Well done Screams in the Dark.

Business & cost: From the logistics side the cost of a ticket is very appropriate, especially considering the detail I mentioned and the large scare crew. Furthermore, everything else has flown high in cost lately so I rarely say that anything in 2024 is appropriately priced. After the haunt is over, if you don't need to change cloths or anything like that (you know who you are, use the bathroom BEFORE you go in next time), you can enjoy the food area. I think that is a unique aspect: a variety of food vendors, gothic-themed guests like tarot card readers, and even a souvenir shop. Definitely gives you the chance to catch your breath and talk to random strangers about this adrenaline experience you've all just...

So my daughter and her 5th grade friends decided they wanted to try and brave the SITD experience Friday night. They are only 10 and the website says 12+ so going in I knew I was basically gambling buying tickets early with no refunds. $20 per person is pretty steep with no kids prices but I didn’t mind knowing it went towards more upgrades in the future for SITD and this wasn’t a kid experience. (More on that later)

They were super excited on the drive from Traverse City to southern Kalkaska. Things changed however once we finally arrived. I made sure to arrive 20 minutes early right at open so the darkness wouldn’t be too bad for them with less of a wait in line.

Surprisedly it wasn’t busy at all around 7:30 and we got right in. They do have a butcher in full costume wandering around and that made the girls even more nervous. They targeted them many times seeing how scared they were getting. Unfortunately this resulted in 2 of the 4 girls to chicken out early. Im a single dad so the staff were kind enough to have a security guard stay with the 2 girls that chickened out early at the exit while I continued in with the other two girls. Major shout out to that security person btw!

They have a super cool que line in front of the Manson before entering. Lots to look at with the butcher walking around again. Also major shout out to that guy! He was doing a great job.

We finally enter the mansion and the 2 girls im with immediately tap out at the first room. I was even getting scared and im 38! Another major shout out to that first scare actor woman for seeing that the girls and myself were beyond terrified and safety got us to the nearest exit making sure the other actors wouldn’t scare us. THANK YOU!

Overall it was what I expected to happen but at least we tried and the girls still had a good time at the exit with lots of photo opportunities and FOOD TRUCKS! Also thank you to the owner for taking a picture with us before we left. It mysteriously vanished off my camera roll so thats really creepy or else I would share it!

As a dad I was kind of disappointed that there is not a less scary trail for kids. Thats my only suggestion to have something for the younger group because they love Halloween too! I know this is only your second year so maybe in the future there will be a less scary zone or something. Just something to think about!

Thanks again for the experience! Hopefully next year we will make it through more...