Muddy pathways, creepy clowns, jump scares and chainsaws; who would not want to pay to see that? Maris Farms, a pumpkin patch in Buckley, hosts an annual haunted woods every year. They manage to keep costumers coming back year after year. With a bunch of random strangers, my cousin and my friend walked through the spine-chilling house with unknown spooks all around the corners.
I have been to Maris Farms multiple times before yet it still gets to me every time I go through. The thing that always scares me the most is the chainsaws. When I got there I did not hear them so I thought I was safe but I was completely deceived. Before you even get into line there are clowns, witches and scary puppets roaming around creeping up behind unknowing victims, which was pretty great. Knowing that you could get scared and not even having to go through the woods.
Maris Farms knows how to play with your brain. They have many deceptions that toil with all of your senses. Touch, sound and vision–those are the keys to a great haunted house; you cannot just use jump scares all the time. You have to remember that the actors cannot touch you and you cannot touch the actors. They have you step on something that feels funny, or squeezing through a small passage. I really liked how they played tricks on your mind. The way they used the different lighting to simulate different situations or the strobe lights to completely disorient you. This is why haunted houses work so well. They also play to all of the different common fears. They have clowns, small spaces and creepy dolls, along with guys following you with chainsaws.
If you are a big American Horror Story (AHS) fan like I am you will thoroughly enjoy this. They referenced “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” in one of the attractions they had. I was really excited when I heard the theme song for AHS. When I finally came upon where the music was coming from I was too excited to be scared. Twisty the clown was in his school bus waiting to scare you.
A downfall I thought was the price. For the haunted woods it was $25, a little pricy for me. I believe should have been more like $15. That would be more reasonable. Also some of the situations were cheesy such as walking through a room with a robot girl in a coffin. I would have liked to see more actors and less robot-like figures. Humans can do more to scare a person rather than something you know will move sometime.
Overall, I would recommend going to the haunted woods this October. I cannot wait to see what Maris Farms has in store next year.