Here at the Mike McCann Team, we are really into Halloween festivities. We love candy, costumes, caramel apples, and all things spook-tacular! We are going to as many amazing Halloween attractions as possible and we want to help you do the same. Here is our guide to the best Halloween attractions in (or near) Philadelphia.
The Bates Motel in Glen Mills features a haunted hayride, a haunted motel, and a haunted corn maze. Their hayride has gotten a lot of attention because of the super scary professional actors and top-notch effects. Set in a dark forest with trips through caves and insane asylums, it is easy to see why guests get SO scared and come back year after year. They’ve even added a full scale mock-up of a church, a huge cave, and the long-awaited return of the Headless Horseman! The Motel is known to take terror to another level with intense, unpredictable, in-your-face, scare tactics. The corn maze promises lots of unexpected scares and realistic horror scenes throughout. Make sure to tour all three attractions for a thoroughly frightful experience.
This boat tour by Patriot Harbor Lines promises history, scenery, tales of ghouls and goblins and lots of R-Rated over the top vulgarity and profanity. Hop on board for a wild, scary and offensive ride. Watch out for pirates and the Jersey Devil!
South Philly’s own Fright Factory is overwhelmingly terrifying and will make even the bravest among us weak at the knees. There is no limit to the evil, disgusting, disturbing and disorienting elements of this haunted house. Their newest additions aren’t for the faint of heart, including the Industrial Nightmare (a factory gone insane!), the Silent Scream Asylum complete with dentists and clowns, and a whole new area of the original Fright Factory. The feeling of being trapped inside a warehouse full of the demented and undead will definitely get your heart pounding and leave you jittery for weeks!
Perhaps one of the most well-known fright fests in the area, Pennhurst Asylum is absolutely dreadful in all of the right ways. Based in a real abandoned asylum, this attraction blends horror and reality. Many parts of the haunted asylum are real relics from the days of its operation. You will not be able to tell which ghosts are real and which are actors. After a chilling walk through The Dungeon of Lost Souls and a bone-shaking journey through the Tunnel of Terror you are actually sent off on your own to search for the paranormal throughout the abandoned hospital, just like the Ghost Hunters did. Their most recent addition is called Containment, featuring tunnels that are over a thousand feet long underneath the hospital itself. Beware – they’re filled with creepy government researchers looking to snatch up new patients for their horrible experiments! Whether your frights come from real or fake ghosts, you are guaranteed to leave very, very afraid.
None of the haunted attractions in or around Philly can quite match up to Terror Behind the Walls. Held in a real abandoned prison with a reputation for paranormal activity, this attraction will scare you to your core. With freaky sights and jumping monsters, you will move through each cell block with an increasing sense of paranoia, wondering what they could possibly throw at you next. Three dimensional images will throw you into a state of confusion, escaped prisoners will chase you down, scenes of torture will turn your stomach, and you’ll find yourself lost in total darkness in the depths of the prison with no one to help you get out. Guards have either turned insane or are seen running for their lives, leaving you on your own to navigate through eerie, chaotic scenery. Follow the path marked with bones to the Penitentiary’s latest attraction, Blood Yard, where a long-forgotten camp full of bloody carnage awaits! Terror may be an understatement for this masterpiece of fear.
Well Philly, if you like being scared, we have a lot to offer. You can find shocking attractions right in the heart of the city or within easy driving distance. Though we have some clear favorites, our suggestion is to get out there and try them all! Make sure you let us know what we are missing out on.
