Freddy’s Haunts — Local services in Independence Township

No social distancing, no masks.

We arrived around 8:00 the evening of 10/30, unsure of what to expect. The wait time seemed like it was going to be significant, but this was expected for the night before Halloween.

First, we waited in the ticket line which was pretty quick at about 20-30 minutes given the volume of people. The line for a ticket was very tightly compacted as if no global pandemic were actually happening. Only a few people on either sides of us had masks on. We were given a group number in the 90s, and at the time we were unsure what that meant.

Upon arriving in the waiting area, which had a concession stand and large bon-fire, we heard group 21 get called. I would estimate 250-350 people were in the waiting area, a majority shoulder to shoulder around the bonfire. I would also estimate that only about 10-20% had masks on, and many of those had them on incorrectly. A quick peek into the concession area and there were 3 employees serving food and drinks. 2 of these employees had on no mask, the other had one just on his chin.

Due to the lack of comfort to wait in this area, we decided to wait in the car where we could still hear the numbers being called out over the loud speaker. The frequency of taking groups was slow, but I feel this was due to what they advertised as “blackout weekend”, as I believe they were trying to provide more space within groups to reduce the visibility to others.

From getting our ticket to deciding to leave, we waited about an hour. During that hour, they progressed from group 21-33, which meant a 5+ hour wait until our group was called. Since we had chosen to wait in the car due of lack of comfort for the waiting area/bonfire, we decided we didn’t want to wait and we went home. I think they would have had to pick up the pace eventually, but we weren’t going to wait for that.

The one star review is not reflective of the wait time or the amenities. All businesses have a social responsibility right now to help lead by example and help contain the spread of the virus. What I witnessed was a place demonstrating no responsibility. Some may argue that since it was outside that masks are not needed, but you have to see the volume of people and how close they were together to really understand the risk this event creates. My opinion is this place has the potential to be a super-spreader event, and I would strongly discourage anyone from attending until this place changes...

After reading reviews I was really excited to visit this haunt only to be extremely disappointed. No.1 was not easy to get too, I even went with people who go there yearly and we almost got lost cause we missed the turn. Some signage would've helped on the dark back roads in the hills of PA. Parking was spacious and had a potty close by. We got tickets on site and a number for our group to wait by the bonfire. They had a snack bar that had nice options and a small photo op. Now I'm a fan of a nice fire but with no barriers to keep guests at a safe distance their fire made me nervous oh how haphazardous they built it. They would put several pallettes on at a time (like 6 to 7 at once), the wind was pretty bad and would kick up which sent flames extremely close to guests and it even popped something which almost got someone. The amount of small children and the ability to drink on premises with an unprotected fire and no safety was very alarming. The haunt itself was large and did have a decent maze. Some sets were nice but it would get real tight in places, lots of bare wood, loose props and screws caught people in our group. Most of the actors were children (from young teens to 7/8 year olds) with a few adults (the adults that were in there were very good). With no security on site there was no management of other guests. My group and I were going at a good, steady pace when we entered a tight dark hallway with hanging pipes when another group and the actor ran into me (I was at the end of the group). I was EXTREMELY upset being a haunt actor and a person with chronic back pain. I yelled at them to stop running but eventually let the other group go ahead cause they wanted to trash talk that we were going slow. The haunt did a good job pacing groups, no reason for that group to run into me like they did unless they were running the entire time. That same group, we met back up with in the dark maze, only be blinded by them with their cell phone lights. No security stopped them or checked on me so my experience was completely ruined by lack of handling of other guests not following the rules. This haunt was extremely lacking on safety so enter at your own risk because I will not be returning. Very disappointing. 1 stars for nice snack bar, large haunt with some cool stuff I've never seen but lack of good actors and safety/security really bombed...

This is our 4th time coming to Freddy’s Haunts. The first year we came back in 2021 was amazing. We enjoyed it sooo much. It was well put together and actors everywhere! We went back once in 2022 and once in 2023 because we liked it so much. Enjoyed it a lot. So this year I raved to my friends about it and how much fun it is, along with the maze. This year we went, tonight to be exact, a Saturday; and it was nothing (actor wise) like it’s been in the past. We walked through the first part with zero actors. We came in the grim reaper room where he talks to us and then onto the rest of the haunt. The rest of the haunt had very few actors. Each room basically needed 1. There were sooo many hiding places missed. We walked through tons of rooms where we remembered actors coming out of the corners where the hanging plastic always is, and nothing, absolutely no one. It just wasn’t enough actors or scares this year. The maze was completely lit, no darkness or strobes. It was a lot easier to do. Missed at least it being all dark. But 3 actors in it and the only good 1 was the chainsaw person. Also need to add that in 2 parts of the haunted house, we walked by at least 3 actors that when we noticed them they were standing there looking asleep against the wall or just looking at us. They didn’t do anything to the whole group. I walked by saying “why isn’t this actor doing anything but staring?”… it was dumb. It felt like hundred acres manor (as a Halloween museum) type haunt this year. It had lots of tight spaces, uneven ground, and too close of walkways in those tight spaces that actors couldn’t scare you. They needed far more actors, more darkness in the maze and less tight spaces. It’s still fun but needs to get back to 2021 2022 and 2023 years. This year...