Hellstead Manor — Local services in Liberty Township

The pros: Hellstead Manor is in a creepy, wooded, rural location. The house is nice to look at, and the indoor portion of the attraction has a promising storyline.

The cons: You're not in the manor long enough. Guests are inside the structure for two or three rooms, and then they're outside in covered areas walking in dirt for the remainder of the manor portion. I would have been OK with that if it was well done, but there weren't enough actors or scares, so I was left wondering what the point of the different scenes were.

Once the manor portion is finished, guests move on to two outdoor trails, and this is where my biggest problem with Hellstead Manor lies. The mud along the trails was deep and slippery, especially going up and down hills, as there is nothing to hang onto.

The website has a disclaimer that the trails can "get muddy at times" and to wear proper footwear. That's nice, but that doesn't inform guests just how severe the mud can get. I wore trail sneakers with great soles - shoes I never had a problem wearing on trails before. That's what they're made for - trails. But they were no match for the mud at Hellstead Manor.

I slid down hills and on bumpy and uneven terrain, as were the other people in my group. I almost lost a shoe in the mud on one occasion because it was so deep. My shoes were ruined by the end of it. I could live with that, but the disclaimer really should inform guests when mud is severe so they can wear high boots with high-traction soles and impenetrable rubber to keep their feet dry. Worrying about falling detracted from the haunt experience.

As far as the scares along the trail go, they were few and far between. There were too many areas of the trail that go on too long with absolutely nothing happening. It seemed that the purpose here was to make a long attraction without building enough scenes to keep a good scare flow going. There's nothing scary or fun about so many empty areas in what's supposed to be a haunted trail.

If increasing the number of scenes in the trails isn't possible, perhaps shortening the trails and moving the scenes/sets closer together so that patrons are hit with one scare after another, instead of encountering so many empty areas, would add excitement. There are some haunts with outdoor trails that do this quite effectively - Sir Henry's Haunted Trail in Florida is one of them.

Another issue I had was with the $45 VIP pass. It was useless, even on a Friday night. There was no line outside to get in, and I was directed to enter the house to a waiting area. I waited here at least an hour before going through the haunt. There was no separate line for VIP inside the waiting area. There was no benefit to spending the extra money the VIP pass.

Sadly, this is one haunt I...

I was expecting a fun and scary experience based on prior reviews however right from the very beginning, unless you're the first person in the group, and even then you may get scared once or twice. The three people in the group with us agreed it was not fun at all and they were in front. It was so disappointing and not worth the money at all! Then, the woods and new swamp attraction are even worse. Besides for walking through nothing but mud and several people falling and legitimately getting hurt, the woods or swamp were not scary at all. I never like to leave negative reviews but we have been to haunted attractions all over and drove an hour to this one with high expectations. It was by far the worst one we've ever gone to and a complete waste of $80. I asked several of the "actors" throughout there how can we get out and leave and I was very serious and they laughed. The "contract" that you have to sign going in we were told was only to agree that we won't touch the actors yet it was a page long and refused to let us read it before we signed it. I get that with excess rain there isn't a ton they can do but with the price to get in they certainly can afford to lay down rock or at least hay. When we finally got out and headed to our car I fell in even more mud and twisted my knee. I was crying and couldn't walk on it and the parking lot attendant laughed. My husband got me to our vehicle and now I'm heading to the ER covered in head to toe in mud. I highly highly do not recommend it. Also, you don't even go through the "mansion" you're in there for two minutes waiting on line then lead right outside. I really don't ever leave negative reviews but this entire attraction is so misleading and someone if it hasn't already happened is going to be seriously injured. There were a few elderly couples online behind us. I am shocked that the staff knowing how bad it was in the woods and swamp would even allow them to go through. They did post on Facebook to wear boots due to the mud which we did but the boots did nothing that's how bad it is out there. Also, most of the areas in the woods the only thing to hold on to are prickly bushes which I heard several people afterwards in the parking lot trying to pull them out of their hands. Despite it not being scary at all it is the most unsafe attraction I've ever been to. I'm not sure how they get away with doing this. I'm assuming it's in the contract that you're not allowed to read. I asked if I could have a copy and was willing to step aside to let others go but was told I couldn't because then if the people behind me wanted to do the same it would hold everything up. That made no sense because it wasn't...

We drove over an hour to get to this haunt that was rated 5 stars on social media. Parking—well lit but seemed to be a cluster f—-. Had to wait for a parking spot. Merch truck and food truck well lit. Job Johnnys not too terrible outside. Tickets—my friend bought discounted tickets online. Was supposed to be BOGO. Told at the booth it was invalid. Had to buy another ticket. Ok not sure who is at fault here. The lines—no indication of what was VIP and what wasn’t. We went to the wrong line. Very disorganized process. People in line with us seemed very nice and we passed the time by chatting. We were all first timers. The “haunt” we were the last group of the last night. They made one group of 6 out of three groups of two. Little did I know at the time this was a very good thing. The first part is the house. Not there long at all. Obnoxious screaming but not scary. Next up-outdoor “maze”. For a kid would be scary. Little muddy but straw laid down. No warning was given about the excessive use of strobe lights. Maybe 1-2 jumps but that’s it. Last 2? Parts all blend together. Into the woods we go. Poorly lit. Nothing to hold on to. Scare actors few and far between. VERY slippery terrain with VERY deep mud. My friend and I destroyed our shoes. Almost fell several times. So did our line buddies. Teamwork came into play as we helped each other through. All of us almost lost a shoe. Three “scare actors” blocked a path. Told them pretty much cmon we are losing our grip. When they moved it was a slippery downslope where we almost fell. They laughed at us. No interaction at this point. Coming out if the woods was very poorly lit. No scares or anything there. As we were all asking each other if we are on the attendants were laughing at us. I’ve been going to haunts many years and this was by far the worst I’ve ever...