Valentine's Day Chaos

Hollerin Haunts Hayride to hold My Bloody Valentine, Feb. 10 & 17, 2024

Photo courtesy of Hollerin Haunts Hayride

While corny and cliché love celebrations might be typical this time of year, a haunted attraction in North Carolina is hoping couples scream their way into each other's arms this Valentine's Day. 

“From a man's perspective, it's almost inevitable that you're going to get closer to your girl going through,” said Robert Pfouts, an owner of Hollerin Haunts Hayride in Clinton, NC. 

“I don't really know why girls do it,” he joked.

Hollerin Haunts will be open on Feb. 10 and Feb.17. 2024, for couples, friends, and haunt fans to celebrate Valentine's Day in a not so conventional way. 

Guests likely won't find beautiful bouquets of roses, cheesy ballads, and lovey-dovey signs of affection at the event, called My Bloody Valentine. 

Rather, Hollerin Haunts will be full of creepy clowns, creatures, and chaos. 

“I think it's just something different,” Pfouts said. “It's a different vibe for Valentine's Day.”

Photo courtesy of Hollerin Haunts Hayride

The haunt's hayride, which ends with a walk-through attraction, and The Darkness, a blackout walk-through, will be open. 

Guests can also play games, participate in escape rooms, grab a bite to eat, experience a coffin ride, and hang out and enjoy the spooky atmosphere. 

The haunt also will be showing a movie, possibly My Bloody Valentine, while guests enjoy their evening, Pfouts said.

At least 65 actors will be on hand to scare guests throughout the night. The same amount of effort that is put into the regular season will be put into the Valentine's Day haunts, he said.

“We strive to give everyone the best possible show every night,” Pfouts said. “We put the same amount of effort into the Valentine's Day show as we do for Halloween. So, it should be a good time.” 

If you go:

My Bloody Valentine

Feb. 10 and Feb. 17, 2024

7 to 11 p.m.

Ticket packages for the hayride/walk-through and The Darkness start at $35. Speed Pass and VIP options are available. 

More information can be found at www.hollerinhauntshayride.com.

Scares, Not Sap at Lincoln Mill's Valentine's Day Haunt

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Looking for sappy love festivities to celebrate Valentine's Day? You might want to skip this Philadelphia attraction. 

Lincoln Mill Haunted House, in the city's Manayunk neighborhood, plans to spread fear rather than affection among sweethearts with Viktor's Valentine, A 'Dark' Love Story. 

"We were looking at doing something different," Jared Bilsak, the haunt's co-founder, said. "We thought a story about cunning and evil was interesting, not one of love and forever." 

The haunt's twisted Valentine's event, open Feb. 11th, 2023, deepens the legend of Viktor Kane, who owned Lincoln Mill during the Great Depression. Bilsak described Viktor as a sinister villain.

With the help of accomplices, Viktor tortured, experimented on, and, ultimately, killed employees of the former textile mill. 

As the Valentine legend goes, one of the accomplices loved Viktor but also began to resent him. So, she developed a sinister plan of her own to take place on Valentine's Day in 1939.

Luring Viktor to a hidden chamber inside the mill with a trail of hearts, the woman stabbed Viktor in the heart and then killed herself, Bilsak said. 

Guests will walk this same trail in darkness, with the assistance of just a candle. Bilsak said the trail will contain clues about the identity of Viktor's killer, who they eventually will encounter. 

"There's a very good chance that they will experience the death of Viktor," Bilsak said. 

He said the story is perfect for the middle of winter, which tends to be cold and gloomy. And, no other haunts in the Philadelphia area hold Valentine's Day events. 

The dreary winter atmosphere adds to this different kind of date night, although, Bilsak said anyone looking for a scare is welcome attend the event. 

"It's not just for couples," he said. 

Bilsak said Lincoln Mill emphasizes storylines, and each event it holds will expand upon the mill's history and main villain, Viktor. 

"We're very story-driven, and this kind of digs deeper into that story," he said.

The haunt will feature about 35 actors, only a few less than regular haunt season, and is about 20 minutes long, Bilsak said. 

A single ticket costs $25, while the Lovers' Pair is $45. Each ticket option includes admission to the deck overlooking the Schuylkill River before or after the show. 

Guests can expect to see animatronics in the haunt, but actors are the main event, Bilsak said.

"We do place the emphasis on our actors," Bilsak said. "They're the stars of our show." 

Factory of Fear: Vampires Suck

With at least 85 haunted attraction across the country opening for Valentine's Day scares, one Illinois haunt has come up with a unique way to bring the fear to love birds this February.

At Factory of Fear's Love is Blind - Vampires Suck event, guests will step into a 600-year-old blood feud between vampires and werewolves. The haunt is open Feb. 10-11, 2023.

"Both types of monsters have a taste for human flesh and can't wait to attack unsuspecting couples," according to the haunt. 

The re-emergence of the feud was brought on by a "blunder" from a research company inside the factory called Jacobs Energy. 

Guests will be on the frontline of this feud and will be confronted by the monsters almost immediately, Brett DeLeo, haunt director of the Moline-based attraction, said. 

"They will probably interact with the first vampire 5-feet in the front door," he said.

Factory of Fear chose to build the original haunt around vampires and werewolves, because it believes the monsters are making a comeback in pop culture. 

The interest in werewolves might be due to the popularity of Netflix's Wednesday series, DeLeo said.

"When Wednesday came out, obviously, werewolves are going to be on the upswing. If werewolves are going to be big, let's include werewolves in ours."

The haunt will feature characters in different stages of their monster transformations, from freshly bitten to fully turned. 

Scenes in the haunt will include werewolves and vampires stalking guests in a moonlit cemetery and a swamp with hybrid monsters, DeLeo said. 

Guests will encounter several different types of vampires and werewolves, rather than just the traditional monsters. 

"My goal is to not have a hundred people be vampires," DeLeo said. "By the end,  that's going to be stale."

And guests won't be hearing common phrases such as, "I want to suck your blood." In fact, DeLeo said that phrase has been banned from the haunt. 

The actors are trained to depict fresh and unique characterizations of the traditional monsters, he said.

DeLeo said the haunt will be full of actors, as it typically features 80 to 100 per show. Usually, the haunt's off-season events have more actors than regular haunt season because of its "open door" policy, he said. 

This means DeLeo brings in actors from other haunts that don't have off-season events, as long as they have their managers' permission. 

With its location in northwest Illinois, Factory of Fear has attracted actors from places such as Des Moines, IA; Omaha, NE; and Wisconsin.  

DeLeo said the Valentine's Day haunt offers a unique way to celebrate the occasion but still allows time afterward for guests to grab dinner or a movie. 

The main Valentine-themed haunt takes about 25 minutes to walk through. Factory of Fear's second attraction, Fear Underground, which is a pitch black-style maze, takes about 5 to 10 minutes. Visitors get both attractions for $30.

Guests are allowed to walk through at their own pace, even if it means stopping to allow patrons behind them to pass.

"I don't herd people through like cattle," DeLeo said. 

Guests will also encounter roaming actors and actors in the queue.

Factory of Fear is planning Easter, Halfway to Halloween, and Christmas haunts in 2023, in addition to its regular haunt season. 

While, technically, in its 32-year, the haunt will celebrate its 30th-Anniversary this year. 

DeLeo said the haunt plans to open another full-length attraction in two to three years, and is planning expanded midway offerings, including additional food and drink vendors, and a larger parking area.

"Our goal is to make it a place where you're able to spend a full evening," he said.