Dark Manor — Local services in Sprague

That’s it?!?! This is what all my friends and our high school boys said after exiting Dark Manor. We are veterans of “Trail of Terror” in Wallingford and have done that the last few years including this year. We read some good reviews and Reddit suggestions about this place so decided to make the long drive to this place which advertises as the #1 scariest haunted house in CT. Trail of Terror is better in EVERY WAY. We were expecting to go inside the manor, so we were very surprised that the entire walk was outside in the yard. The whole thing took about 15 mins but then at the end they give you a glow bracelet to indicate you finished once and then SEND YOU THROUGH THE SAME LOOP A 2nd TIME?!?! We were all extremely confused and thought we were “doing something wrong” or made a wrong turn but this is just how it works. The second time through is weird because you know where all the scares are going to be and are looking at the same scenery. You encounter the same actors giving you the same schpeel so it is awkward. Trail of Terror probably takes 40 mins to make the whole trip through and there are so many elaborate themes that differ every year with maybe a hundred different actors in different costumes. Dark Manor in comparison maybe has 20 actors including some people just popping out of walls that are not really in any elaborate costume. There were only a handful of costumes that I would consider good and not something that you can buy at a Spirit Halloween store for under a hundred dollars. There were only a handful of rooms that I would consider impressively themed. The doll room was pretty cool. Still… Trail of Terror probably had 15 or so areas with unique themes that were impressive… when you walk in they give you a $5 Dunkin Donuts promo card which I thought was weird but now I am thinking it was kind of an apology. For $30 apiece this was not cheap and we all felt scammed. Would not go back here. Don’t believe any of the reviews on the site. Trail of Terror was 10X better. Maybe you would enjoy this if it was your first haunted house and didn’t know any better but honestly not sure why there are so many...

If I could give ZERO stars I would! I will give them an A for effort as I know it is very difficult to please everyone that comes to haunted attractions, however there needs to be many things addressed at Dark Manor. First off I am very traveled in seeing many different style haunts around the country and I definitely offer my insight and ideas to several of them. My critique is this...

Very tiny spaces to walk through which doesn't allow for very much scare zones

Due to lack of space there are not many actors to interact with throughout

Too many opportunities missed with scare zones that offer more space.

Why have customers go through twice? The scare factor is gone after the first go round.

Speaking on scare factor, you need to allow 3-5 minutes between groups, we were ushered in through VIP and within 30 seconds there were already people slowed down in the front of my group and then a group of 10 quickly came up to us, basically taking any scare factor away as you see what's ahead because the actors have ZERO time to reset.

To the girls (actors) that feel the need to scream, why do that? You don't need to scream to be scary, all you are doing is making people deaf. Let the screams come from the customers. Great job by the girl in the dollhouse scare zone, she was in character and played it well.

Parking is an issue there, I understand you work with what you got but it should be more organized, especially for larger crowds, you shouldn't have to make people drive back out again just in hopes people leave so you get a spot.

I will leave you with this also, if you have an option to buy tickets on premise then make it easily accessible, there are way too many people just bunched up in a small area just waiting to get into the attraction, this is a problem all the way through, NO SPACE! People shouldn't have to squeeze through a doorway, poor...

Great setting and bang for your buck. I think the fact that this is in a creepy old building really gives it that extra scare factor. You start off in the building, then you end up outside in "the graveyard", and then after that you go into the basement. The basement really creeped me out. All I could think of was that movie, "Hell House LLC". See it before going, if you haven't already, to set the tone lol. I don't want to give away too many details but I thought they did a great job with the scares and the props. We waited about 20/25 mins in line, which isn't bad, but it was a rainy night so I'm assuming business was slower. You pay right as you enter which was a little different to me. You also wait outside, so plan accordingly as it's open rain or shine. It is very muddy in the graveyard area and in the waiting area to get in. If you go when it's rainy or has rained, just be prepared for mud and be careful because it is VERY slippery.

I didn't give it 5 stars because we did catch up to the group in front of us, and they seemed to catch the group in front of them, and the group behind us caught up to us too about halfway through. I know that can happen, but we were actually going at a good pace so I don't know what happened. It kind of ruined it towards the end in the basement which was a very cool area overall, so it was too bad. We were stopped a lot of the time down there.

Overall though, a great place to go to. We drove an hour to get there and I think it was worth it. $21 on a Saturday night, the weekend before Halloween, is cheaper than most places around here. It was about 20 mins I'd say, which is average to slightly above average for a haunted house. Probably a few mins longer because of all of the stopping. Setting is what really made it creepy....