There’s something special about the House in the Hollow. Yeah, I say that a lot because I am really good at finding cool things that make each haunt different, but these guys are really over the top. They actually built an entire freaking haunted house from inside to outside. Not only does it loom as fiercely as Disney’s Haunted mansion but it has similar ingenuity and design incorporated throughout.

This is one of the few haunts that does not feel disposable. It feel like an ongoing project that started with good design and solid craftsmanship which keeps getting extrapolated each year.

There is good reason for this. I am told that Alan, the designer behind the house comes from a Disney Imagineer school of thought. You can clearly tell that it was inspired by Disney, but not derivative. This is basically what happens when a haunter that isn’t bound by Disney rules put forth best in class effort with Disney level skill.

The result is breathtaking.

They changed a lot this year and I am told that they even change from night to night. 17 rooms are open to the public plus a graveyard and crypt. No chainsaws are involved with this room, but the finale is the strongest I have ever seen. I won’t spoil it for you, but the sound design, architecture, and everything involved achieve something that no chainsaw finale could ever do with 1000x the memorability.

Each year I am blown away by this place and this year was no exception. I recommended this to some friends and they literally bought 3 more tickets to go back in multiple times. It’s that good.

Also on the premises is Sleepy Hollow Hayride and the Field of Fright corn maze. I like the approach of having the actors hang on the sides of the cart in the hayride and really liked the beginning, I feel that this is more creative than most. I also think that if they took a theatrical element and advised the actors to banter back and forth with each other it would greatly “level up” this attraction with minimal investment.

I also love how in the Field of Fright they built up mini haunted house-type areas within it. Similarly to the hayride, I feel that a theatrical element would take it up to another level. The guy screaming “Corn! CORN? CORN CORN!” cracked us up and was probably the best ever.

All in all we enjoyed everything here. The House in the Hollow is the fan favorite, but all of these attractions together make for a great family night out. They took what they had last year and made it better all around. I love the creativity and ingenuity here and truly feel that nobody does theatrical haunts better than these guys, which is why I’d love to see more of it throughout all of the attractions. Every year we look forward to coming here, and that will never change.

This place is a true gem. DO THIS ONE.