13th Hour Haunted House — Attraction in Wharton

A Review From A 10+ Year 13th Hour Employee.

I started as a seasonal haunt actor in 2012, worked other jobs in between seasons. Started full time with the escape rooms and hatchet throwing in 2020. My experience since 2020 has been up and down. I was considered 13th Hour's primary hatchet instructor, but in the off seasons, I'd definitely work the escape rooms more often due to their popularity. The time I worked 2020-2022 was great. I was given decent hours, my other coworkers were always friendly and helpful, I was occasionally learning new things about the details of building a haunt/escape rooms, and there was always opportunity to learn more. It's a bit difficult to describe (in words) exactly how everything went downhill so fast for 13th Hour. Somewhere near the start of 2023, a small group of haunt actors were hired to help run the escape rooms, both part & full time. They were a very talkative bunch, mainly with each other, but also with the owner of 13th hour, Steve. More into 2023, as workplace relationships were developing from this new group, a tidal wave of drama followed in their footsteps. Drama, both work and non-work related, which included talking about others behind their backs, lying, and spreading rumors about them. There are many examples of how this constant drama interferes with work activities, but one notable example was when one female employee was bullied into quitting after a workplace relationship went sideways. The girl who was bullied was a great employee who always did her job efficiently. However, this new group of employees convinced her that nobody else liked her because she didn't do her job well enough, both of which were lies, and she ended up quitting soon after. It bewildered me at first how the owner Steve would allow this kind of bullying to happen, until eventually I found out that he actually encourages, and even participates in the the drama, lying, and spreding of rumors behind his own employees backs. This was definitely a suprise to me because it was NEVER like this before this new group of employees came along. Whenever I tried to air my concerns with Steve about how these new employees bad behavior is interfering with work, his response was: "If you don't like it, you can leave. Don't tell me how to do my job" I obviously found that very strange and definitely should've quit after that, but I stayed a while longer hoping he would come to his senses and things would get a bit better. I'm beyond disappointed to report that this is still the current state of 13th Hour employment. The workplace is filled with lies, rumors, drama, gaslighting, and gossip, to the point where good employees are forced to quit. Newly hired employees are either sucked into the drama and bullied, or they're scared off by the drama and quit. You are always expected to ignore the drama while putting on a friendly face for the customers. You cannot run an escape room in that place without being bombarded with gossip and drama from other employees in the control room, which makes it very difficult to focus on the customer's experience inside the escape rooms. For some mysterious reason, the owner Steve happily participates in the lies and drama, and defends the employees who are the worst culprits of spreading lies and drama, and those bad employees are always given priority despite the fact that they interfere with work activities and ultimately cost the company more money from training new people and ruining customer experience. It is extremely rare for any employee to part ways with 13th Hour on good terms. If you are currently seeking employment from 13th Hour, I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. 13th Hour is not a proper workplace, and the toxicity makes the job not worth learning. If you are currently employed by 13th Hour, I recommend finding other means of employment instead of subjecting yourself to this terrible environment. I'm saddened that I had to write this review, but I felt like I owe it to the other employees who were too scared and intimidated to speak up...

My friends and I are horror fanatics and this is genuinely one of the best haunted houses me and my friends have ever been to. Even if you’re not easy to scare, the amount of effort and detail that went into the houses and the props throughout the house is more than worth the price! FOR REAL, the best haunted house we’ve went to this year.

Update: review has gone from 5 stars to 4. We enjoyed 13th hour enough to go back for the escape rooms. We tried the cookhouse (3 difficulty) and absolutely loved it!! We were just as impressed with the detail of the room and even got a few scares from the room. There was an unlimited clue button that you can press only when needed and was super helpful for the experience.

We decided to go back for another escape room, and this time to do a harder one: The Trophy Room. We were brought to the room and the door slammed shut and the time started, in which we realized there was no clue button. A live actor instead came in and gave us a hint when we didn’t know where to start which was nice. However, we didn’t know that there were going to be live actors constantly during the entire experience. And that was the problem, it ruined the entire experience.

It’s one thing to come in and cryptically give a hint and evil laugh or whatever to scare us and then leave. But at one point there was clear frustration when we weren’t getting certain parts of the room (which duh we’ve never done the room how tf would we know). I can’t imagine paying to have condescending live actors in the room who started cleaning the room mid escape room for the next group.

Upon not knowing about the live actors I also did not know that they are allowed to touch you?? I read a review where someone had a similar problem however the actor was not harassing me the way it seemed he was harassing them. But he did move my head around and also grab my wrist and pull me to a certain part of the room. It wasn’t crazy but definitely didn’t like the actors making me and my friends feel dumb. Also did not like the actors breaking part and discussing something random in the room while we were still there. My suggestion is even though it was a 3.5 difficulty- cut out the live actors and keep the clue button but cap the amount of clues for a harder room. There was lots of parts that did not make sense.

At the end of our experience when we got to the “end” we were not even aware of the end. We even got to the final step and heard celebratory music playing faintly, but was not aware it was the end. We stood awkwardly until the actor came in and made us do exactly what we already did and then didn’t even explain we won. We had to ask is that it? In which she still didn’t say it was over until she told us to run outside to escape.

Our friend did the Great Room (3.5 difficulty) with another group of friends and they had the exact same experience.

FOR REAL, this made me not want to come back again and the 4 stars are only for the haunted house and...

I thought I posted a review for this location previously, but I guess not. Nevertheless, this review is from Summer/Fall 2022. I first heard about 13th Hour from the owners of Trapt in CT in the summer of 2022.

During a "daycation" towards the end of August, we decided to visit this ER since we were in the area. 13th Hour is located off the main road on a mini campus in a huge warehouse. My first impression, was "where the heck am I" because it seems so isolated. However, once you get inside it's like being transported into a horror film (which is a good thing). I love an Escape Room that pays attention to detail and ensures that their guests feel the vibe from entrance to exit.

The team/game masters we had were amazing, and creepy (in a good way). There is/was a young girl that was there that fit the theme so perfectly. She was so quiet and would appear out of nowhere. We would ask for a hint, and the next thing we knew she was standing right there 🤣. It's important to have a game master that's just as excited about the game as you are.

They have about 8 rooms I believe. Between our two visits (August and September), we played and escaped The Dungeon, The Cookhouse, The Great Room, John Hayden Room, and the Trophy Room. Yes! We played all of these rooms over a course of 2 visits 🤭. Of all of them, the Dungeon had to be my favorite. Without giving any spoilers away, you start cuffed in a cell in the dark (yes, I'm weird lol). I also enjoyed the Cookhouse and the Trophy Room. The other two were fun, but those three were my favorite.

As a hint, we came close to the wire for a few of the rooms and there were 4 of us. Also, don't overthink the puzzles, we made several of them more complicated then they needed to be.

Overall, would I recommend? YES!!!! 13th Hour is definitely my favorite in the NJ-NY-CT area. I think you'll have fun and will enjoy the storyline so much that you'll want to do them all.

As a side note, there is ample parking. During the Halloween season they also have a haunted house and live actors in their Escape Rooms. Keep that in mind if you plan to visit around that season. Unfortunately, time did not permit for me to visit in October, but...