Halloween often brings excitement over costumes, but, most importantly, it gives Halloween aficionados the chance to get spooked over ghosts, goblins, monsters and the occasional masked man with a chainsaw. Going to haunted houses and hayrides with friends on a chilly fall night is a favorite activity during the Halloween season. Luckily, West Chester students don’t have to go far to find some of the best haunted houses and hayrides in the country.
Three Philadelphia area haunted houses have been included in the Travel Channel’s “America’s Scariest Halloween Attractions” top picks. The famous Eastern State Penitentiary, The Bates Motel in Glen Mills and The Fright Factory in Philadelphia are among only eight haunted houses and hayrides chosen by the Travel Channel.
Eastern State Penitentiary, America’s most historic prison, hosts “Terror Behind the Walls” every Halloween. This year, a new attraction called “Night Watch” has been added, in which visitors will explore the dark penitentiary on their own with flashlights. There are five separate haunted houses within the penitentiary, an 11-acre complex. The other attractions at the penitentiary are “Intake,” “Maximum Security,” “13 Rooms” and “The Experiment.”
“Intake” boards visitors on a prison bus and takes them through the processing center of the prison. They meet with the warden and insane guards and inmates in the prison yard. “Maximum Security” takes visitors to cellblocks and “13 Rooms” leads visitors through the mess hall and the morgue. From there, visitors will enter “The Experiment,” in which the mad prison doctor is performing experiments on inmates. “Night Watch” is the final part of the journey through the Eastern State Penitentiary’s “Terror Behind the Walls.”
All five haunted attractions are included in the admission price. Prices range from $20 to $30, depending on time of arrival. The haunted houses take place between 7:00 p.m. and midnight and runs until Oct. 31.
The Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride is located at Arasapha Farms in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, which is only seven miles from West Chester. This year it was rated number four in the nation and number one in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware by Hauntworld Magazine. Haunted Attraction Magazine editor Leonard Pickel called it the best haunted hayride he’s ever seen. It was also rated one of the top 13 haunted attractions in the country by Riga Mortise Magazine. The haunted house, hayride and maze are recognized for their high tech special effects. They are all equipped with sound and video effects and realistic looking sets.
The hayride is 20 minutes long and has over 30 actors involved. It starts at dusk and the ticket booth for all the attractions opens at 6:30 p.m. The cost of the hayride is $15.00, the haunted house is $10.00 and the maze is $10.00. All three attractions are $30.00.
The Fright Factory, located at 2200 S. Swanson St. in Philadelphia, is open on Friday and Saturday nights, 7:30 to midnight. It offers three haunted attractions, “Forgotten Insane Asylum,” “Village of the Damned” and “Horror High.” A $20.00 ticket price includes all three attractions. The website claims that the building was an insane asylum just over 20 years ago.
To continue the haunted tours after Halloween, the Chester County Historical Society offers a Tour of Haunted West Chester until Nov. 18. The 90-minute tours take visitors through the spooky lanes and cemeteries of the town. The tour is $10.00 a person and begins at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday nights. The tour meets at the Chester County Historical Society at 225 N. High St.