By Staff
Hands down, our Niles Haunted House is something that should be on everyone's to do list this year.
I've always been impressed with the house. I can remember being scared out of my mind the first time I ever went through it. That was when it was located on Bell Street at the old school house. Just the smell of that place would give me the creeps.
Throughout the years, I've always made it a point to visit the house at least once. I've also volunteered my time there, getting to go behind the scenes and actually work in one of the many rooms offered in the famous house.
I was one of the people who would jump out and scare you from some unknown location. I had a blast, except for the time I almost got punched by a guy I scared the pants off of. Guess I really got him good.
As the years have passed, though, I haven't visited the house as much as I used to. The last time I was there was about four years ago. So when I got the invitation to attend media night this year, I was actually pretty excited.
I invited a few friends along with me – one took pictures and the other two were my "photo props" so to say. We were anxious to get a great picture of the two of them screaming, but unfortunately everytime they got scared, we did too and missed the opportunity.
Before we went to the house, my friend and I were trying to describe how well-known and scary the haunted house is. He's originally from New York, so naturally being from a big city, he thought maybe we were over-exaggerating just a tad bit. He quickly realized we weren't lying.
Our first adventure was through the new small haunted house, which features The Asylum and The Bloodmore Castle. The rooms in this house were phenomenal! We didn't even get the full effect of the house and still jumped in almost every room.
Next we took a trip through the Field of Screams, an amazing outdoor maze. Luckily, we had a tour guide through our whole tour, but at times she forgot the way out too, so we found ourselves at deadends quite a bit.
In the maze, there's a location called "claustrophobia" where you have a chance to run between two airbags which literally suck you in and make you squeeze your way through the 16-foot long tunnel. If you're claustrophobic, don't even attempt this one! I'm not, and I turned around twice before getting the nerve to run through the whole thing.
After the maze, we walked around the Midway, where our tour guide explained all of the different games and food vendors that are set up.
We were able to walk the entire path leading to the house. This is where people in line wait. On a busy night, plan on waiting a half hour or more in line. Yes, it's a while, but worth every second.
As we continued through the hallway line in the house, we finally came to the entrance where you're swept away by Beetlejuice and escorted to one of the many doors. Of course, we entered a door with a shallow hallway and off we went.
We entered room after room, all decorated differently with amazing decorations and props. We had a chance to walk through the Puke Barrel, and I can see why it's called just that. We even entered a room with a bunch of sports memorabilia. It confused us at first, but then O.J. Simpson jumped out, tried to scare us and asked if we would buy a copy of his book. Creepy! (And also not true. There is no O.J. room so don't request to see it.)
Getting a chance to walk through the house and actually take time to stop and look everything over truly amazed me. My friends were equally impressed, even the one from New York said there is nothing like this where he is from. "I figured we were going to a little old fun house, but this is just amazing" he said. We will all be making trips back during normal business hours to get the full effect of the house.
The volunteers who work year round to make this one of the best known haunted houses in the area deserve a huge pat on the back. Because of them, The Niles Haunted House is nationally recognized as one of the best haunted theme parks in the Midwest.
This year, make it a plan to visit the haunted house. You will not walk away disappointed, but you may need to change your pants.