Field of Screams Review

By Cameron Day//

Halloween is a season that haunts some and humors others.

One thing bewildering aspect of Halloween is how people will pay to get scared. I got the privilege to do that at Field of Screams in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

I went with three of my friends as we took on the four attractions— The Haunted Hayride, Frightmare Asylum, Den of Darkness, and Nocturnal Wasteland. Other than the attractions, there is a main hub with rock music playing, carnival games, and food stands so you can eat while waiting in line.

The setup was pretty amazing and the scares did not disappoint, as the Den of Darkness and Frightmare Asylum had me sprinting out of the attraction. It does not matter if you make it through the attractions because actors are strolling around the hub with chainsaws, waiting for you to feel safe when you are not.

As you wait in line to enter the Asylum, you’ll hear a chainsaw in the distance as you watch people sprinting out of the deteriorated building. Inside, you face all kinds of crazy actors jumping out from hidden doors or from the top of refrigerators. The worst of all is a chainsaw man hiding in the final room, where strobe lights flash, prohibiting you from finding the exit.

When I found the exit, I ran until I was around people who, of course, laughed at a 20-year-old screaming and sprinting away from terror. They will grab you and they do not care how much you are screaming because, to them, that screaming is fun.

After I realized I would be having nightmares for the next month of a chainsaw man, waiting in line for the Den of Darkness was the worst, as they are not kidding— this place is just dark. It’s dark enough for four 19-to-20-year-old men to hold onto each other’s clothing so nobody gets lost.

In the darkness, there are actors pretending to be mannequins. Then, they jump out and breathe down your neck, holding an axe to your face, all while asking why you are screaming.

You are forced to crawl through a pitch-black attic, in which lies a fake body. So, when you are crawling, you freak out and, well, you start jumping like a cat on all fours when you touch the fake body…whoever is in your way better move. 

The Haunted Hayride was the longest attraction. You are sitting in a pile of hay as a tractor takes you to about five different barns, where they trap you in and bring out just about every fear a human could think of. That is considered a warmup before the tractor moves on to the two houses along the hayride, in which your heart will start skipping beats.

The Nocturnal Wasteland was a nice switch-up as you go through a walk in the woods, weaving through old school buses, broken down sheds, and even a projected room that makes it look like you are walking into water. This contained the worst scare of the night for me, as an actor was inside a tree and scared me to the point where I sounded like a teenage girl screaming for Justin Bieber in 2010. 

If you have a group of friends who all enjoy being scared, this is the perfect spot. Field of Screams won the No. 1 spot on the “USA Today” list of the best-haunted attractions in the nation. Rightfully so, as the actors were amazing, the costumes were scary, and they hit every fear you could possibly have all in one night, making you scream like a little kid.

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