Koa Binder – 10
As the fall season approaches many people are looking forward to visiting one of America’s #1 haunted attraction: Field of Screams. Field of Screams is a haunted attraction located in Lancaster, PA and consists of two walk-through haunted houses as well as a haunted hayride and an outdoor walk-through event. Field of Screams consists of four main events: a haunted hayride, a walkthrough haunted trail, a walkthrough haunted mansion, and a walkthrough haunted asylum. Visitors recommend going through the attractions starting with the Haunted Hayride, then the Nocturnal Wasteland, and then the Den of Darkness, and ending with the Frightmare Asylum. Visitors can expect to be touched throughout all of the attractions and must sign a waiver in order to access their tickets and partake in the attractions. “The hayride is a good start because you have no choice but to sit there until it’s over and it’s not super enclosed like the walkthrough houses. The asylum is a good place to end because you get to warm up to it and the actors are so touchy and more confined to one specific area,” Sophomore Dakota Shneider says after visiting Field of Screams for the first time.
The hayride is one of two attractions where the staff will take visitors’ pictures, and then they can decide if they want to buy the pictures or not. The Haunted Hayride is a 25 minute long ride and although the hayride itself takes place in a cornfield, the scares happen elsewhere. The hayride takes numerous stops along the way of the attraction. Whenever the tractor stops, it is normally an enclosed space and doors close releasing the tractor from the wagon it is attached to. While riding the hayride, visitors can expect to come across a slaughterhouse, mutants, shaking of the wagon, crazy clowns, angry rednecks, an executioner, an abandoned greenhouse, and chainsaw wielding killers. Although visitors do not get as touched on the hayride as they do in the other attractions, they can still expect to be poked, tickled, touched with fake chainsaws, and have actors in their face as well as hopping onto the hayride itself.
The Nocturnal Wasteland is a haunted trail and is the second attraction that takes a picture of the visitors before they walk through the real attraction. Due to it taking place outdoors, many visitors suggest wearing worn out shoes because it can get muddy and dirty. The wasteland is full of scare actors of all ages, including children. The trail consists of abandoned buses and shaky ramps as well as a new scene called “Shantytown,” which is in the middle of the attraction and features many scare actors lurking in abandoned cars and even an abandoned airplane. Although Nocturnal Wasteland takes places outside, it is one of the attractions with the most ability to see. It does not have many flashing lights but does have lights of all different colors. One area that is very bright, but still hard to maneuver, is the swamp-like scene that has lights and fog to give the illusion that visitors are walking through murky waters and makes it hard to see below the waist. In this scene, actors will scramble around beneath where visitors can not see and will rattle the boats. After the visitors are finished walking through tunnels and finding their way out of the forest, they eventually escape.
The Den of Darkness is a haunted mansion and is one of two attractions that take place indoors. It is popular for the words written above the entrance, which read “pay to get in… pray to get out.” Upon entering, the actors are friendly and one might even introduce visitors to his friend, Fred, who is a headless body that hangs from the ceiling along with many other bodies in the room. While walking through the corridors of the mansion, visitors can expect to be grabbed, mainly by their legs and arms, and often have people jump out at them who hide in the shadows. As visitors near the ends, they come across a man standing next to a fireplace. He will direct visitors to get down on their hands and knees and crawl through the tiny space. The space is occupied by dust and bodies lying around. The Den of Darkness is one of the attractions where visitors might have a hard time seeing the things in front of them due to the dimness of the mansion as well as constant strobe lights. At the exit of the mansion, there is a person waiting with a chainsaw who will touch visitors with it and may or may not chase them once they arrive. “The key is to not run, because then they have nowhere to chase you to,” Sophomore Koa Binder states, “My uncle did not listen to this advice and ended running all the way out to the main area, which was pretty funny.”
The last main attraction is the Frightmare Asylum. Many visitors consider this walkthrough house to be one of, if not, the scariest attraction at Field of Screams. “We had to take about a 10 minute break after the asylum because we really got shaken up,” Dakota exclaims, “There were a bunch of actors hiding and jumping out at us, one even grabbed a fistfull of my hair and gave me a little push and at one point there was a lady sitting on a toilet screaming about nothing coming out, so that was pretty funny and gave us a little break from all of the scaring.” At the end of the Frightmare Asylum another actor carrying a chainsaw often chases visitors out of the attraction.
Along with the four main attractions, there are many other activities. These activities include games, a digital photobooth, live music, escape rooms, and many food stands. Field of Screams is a great experience for anybody looking for a good scare or an adrenaline rush. It makes for a great trip during the halloween season with friends and family.
For more information visit fieldofscreams.com
