Haunting Report: Nightmares from Elmridge, Bennett's Curse, and Terror After Dark

[melaniesuzanne]

Nightmares from Elmridge
Cheesy, and not just because it was in the basement of the Arbutus Domino's Pizza. Props, actors, and "story" were okay. psalite was nibbled to death by ducks a giant head person in a top hat. Weird. The deranged pig people and toothy clowns went after the tweens (thank God). The best part was the dark hallway with hands (both real and rubber) that grabbed at us. Some shrieking ensued.

Bennett's Curse
The directions said this attraction was located at Arundel Mills and we looped the mall three times before finding a security officer who could send us on our correct way. The attraction featured two "houses": "House of the Vampyres" and "The Sanctuary of Insanity". Vampyre House was full of animatronics, strobes, gorgeous gothic architecture, and people in black robes jumping out at us. I think I'm getting jaded because I found the attraction only okay. Oh sure, I jumped when spooked, but there was a lot of uninteresting dead space in this one. We thought we'd accidentally gotten stuck behind the attraction one time, but that was the path to the next vignette. Hm.

Insanity Sanctuary started off with inflatible walls (hate those) and then an inflatible ceiling which lowered until you had to practically limbo through an opening into the next chamber. The second chamber was a pitch black maze wherein I got separated from the group and lost for a few minutes. When dawnhutchings, pirategirleee, and psalite entered the third chamber, they were (I assume) dismayed to discover that I was no longer with them, the DC101 crew, or the non-speed-pass-enabled folks who were allowed to wander the Sanctuary with us. I eventually clawed my way into the third, fog-filled chamber which featured a maze of barred walls, death metal cranked up WAY too loud, strobes, and a couple of monsters. Since I arrived at the party late, I saw the monsters moving the walls around. Okay, that's funny and a great way to make a tiny maze seem huge. After wandering around in flashing fog for an eternity, they finally set us free and one of the DC101 guys took off running when the chainsaw fired up. Silly man. Chainsaw guy took off after DC101 guy, of course. I was able to make my escaped, unmolested.

Terror After Dark
After a disappointing dinner, we four RACED back to Sterling to visit the three haunts of the Terror After Dark attraction outside Dulles Town Center and arrived with about twenty minutes to spare. This attraction houses "Bloodstone Manor", "Darkmare", and Cell Block 13 Death Row". We, of course, purchased tickets for all three.

Bloodstone Manor housed the typical spooky props and had a few actors in black robes popping out of doors and yelling at us. We entered the attraction in pairs so Dawn got to "enjoy" having things follow her about the maze as we wandered through. I topped off that attraction by leaping out at Psalite when she and PG emerged from the Manor.

Darkmare was my favorite house of the night. It's a pitch black maze with stringy things that feel like spiderwebs or spanish moss hanging from the ceiling. Occassionally, skeletal hands floated out of nowhere an menaced the four of us. That was AWESOME. The attraction ended with my being run over by Christine. Thanks for making me point, girls.

There were warnings posted about the graphic nature of Cell Block 13 and they weren't kidding. This attraction was filled with the goriest, most disgusting and disturbing props I've seen. Seriously, they looked like leftover cast members from a Wes Craven film. The only good part of the attraction was the spinning tunnel at the very end, but a chainsaw revved up and I bolted out of the Cell Block without being able to enjoy the tunnel. Yeah, I won't do that one again.

In order of enjoyment, Terror After Dark: Darkmare, TAD: Bloodstone, Bennett's Curse: Sanctuary of Insanity, BC: House of the Vampyres, Nightmare from Elmridge, and TAD: Cell Block 13. Like pirategirleee, I think that Darkwood Manor in Luray is my favorite haunt thus far; I wish it weren't so far away!

Comments

[wombatgirl.livejournal.com]

I've heard that Kansas City is supposed to have great haunted houses. Want to fly out?

[melaniesuzanne.livejournal.com]

Y'all have actual haunted houses, too! I would love to fly out and will have to wait until next year to do so. :)

[reasdream.livejournal.com]

Darkmare sounds like what I used to build in my garage (slightly more hi tech, I imagine) - best kind of scare, requires not so much money.

[melaniesuzanne.livejournal.com]

I want a pair of the skeletal hand gloves, and I would need a blacklight at all times to go with.