Newspaper staff members have fangtastic time at Thrillvania

Looking for a place that will frighten you and your friends? Have a spooktacular time at Thrillvania Haunted House Park. Staff members do their very best with costumes, creepy personalities and all of the haunted attractions the park has to offer! “Cassandra’s Labyrinth of Terror 3D,” “Sam Hain’s Trail of Terror” and “The World Famous Verdun Manor” will leave you running to your mummy!

I was invited to go along with another staff reporter, Caroline May, to Thrillvania, by Mr. James Hood, who is on the staff for the park. We brought along a few friends and met each other out at the location. We were greeted by park staff at the ticket booth, dressed up in their spooky costumes like zombie pirates, vampires and ghostly fairies, which pointed us in the direction of the entrance.

The first attraction we went to was “Cassandra’s Labrynth of Terror 3D”, where you wear 3D glasses in the attraction in order to see the surprises inside. As we walked inside, we were immediately thrown off by all of the bright colors and strange objects. We stuck together, closed tightly in our group of friends, as we made our way through the attraction. There were many illusions that popped out at us, as well as staff members dressed in bloody, dirty costumes, trying to scare us; they succeeded. At one point there was a bridge that seemed to be rocking and spinning upside down as we made our way across. Exiting the attraction, we were “greeted” by a man with a chainsaw that chased us out.

As we walked from the Labyrinth, we were laughing and chatting about how confused and scared we were in the Labyrinth. Just around the corner you could find little “stores” and “stages” where there were scary signs and mannequins.

Next to those was the entrance to the next attraction, “Verdun Manor.” We had to walk down a path through the “yard”, which was muddy and creepy, and every now and again, were greeted by “ghosts” of the manor. Here we ran into Mr. Hood. I had to take a picture with him, of course.

We entered the manor and it was pitch black. We walked into several dusty, bloody, spider web filled rooms, full of skeletons, dead people and staff members trying to scare us. There were loud noises and eerie music that made us jump as we made our way through the hallways and up the stairs of the manor. At one point we were walking through a hallway and an opening in the wall that held a staff member cracked open loudly and scared me nearly to death. We were so creeped out that we began to sing “jingle bells” to try and distract ourselves from the horror as we practically ran out of the manor, trying to escape as soon as we could. At the exit, we were again “greeted” by another man with a chainsaw. It seemed to be a popular theme.

After we left the manor, we made our way to the final attraction, “Sam Hain’s Trail of Torment”. We walked into the darkness of the woodsy area and were immediately confronted by a bloody, crazy looking lady who followed us for a good few minutes. Suddenly she yelled “DINNER!” and we heard screaming and loud noises in the distance. We were all saying “What? Dinner?” and kept walking forward timidly. It was very muddy and dirty as we walked through the trail. We walked through several small houses that held scary staff members, trying to get further down the trail towards the exit. Walking inside one of the last houses, our vision was gone and we were surrounded by fog. We couldn’t see anything in front of us and spent at least 10 minutes freaking out and trying to find an exit. During this time a staff member, dressed as a creepy old man in a top hat, would pop up in front of our faces and disappear again. We exited the attraction and all laughed at how funny it was when we all screamed and ran through the attraction.

Thrillvania is located on 50 acres of land at 2330 Co. Rd. in Terrell. It is open from September to October every year, in celebration of the Halloween holiday. Tickets are $29.99 for adults, $19.99 for kids 10 and under regular admission and $39.99 for adults and $29.99 for kids under 10 for VIP Speed Passes. Overall, Thrillvania offered us an outstanding, blood-chilling experience. We recommend it to all looking to find a good scare. I can’t wait to go back again next year!