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| Photo courtesy of Reaper's Revenge |
By Tara Adams
Writer, Haunt Hunters App
SCRANTON, PA – A rusted ferris wheel broods over the darkened wooded trail, squealing as its paint-chipped frame eerily rotates.
It's a piercing sound that stands out among the screams and warped outbursts of twisted clowns and ghouls stuck in a carnival gone terribly wrong.
“That's a real ferris wheel,” Reaper's Revenge Owner Paul Kotran said of the Wonder Wheel. “We do not grease the center bearings, so it sings auautomatically."
A short distance away, an abandoned roller coaster, “Coaster of Doom,” stretches high above a covered walk-through, with a cart stuck atop a hill carrying what's left of an unlucky rider.
A run-down carousel, draped in cobwebs and grit, slowly spins along the trail, a reminder to guests that they've wandered onto foreboding ground.
The eye-catching props are among several large carnival pieces in The Lost Carnival, one of five haunted attractions at Reaper's Revenge.
Reaper's also features the Haunted Hayride; Delirium, a twisted 3D funhouse, Pitch Black, a high-intensity dark house that unleashes an assault on the senses; and Sector 13, which leads guests through an apocalyptic government science lab full of mutants and monsters.
“This is Sector 13 - often imitated, never duplicated anywhere in the United States,” Steve DeEsch, who manages Sector 13, said during a daytime media tour. “This is a big, metal compound. It looks harmless from the outside, from the inside during the day, but you guys will get your fright at night.”
In its 17th-year, Reaper's Revenge has grown into a nationally-recognized and award-winning haunt known for its large, detailed, elaborate sets; atmosphere; effects; sound; quality of scares and entertainment; and its more than 170 talented actors.
Pitch Black takes guests through a shuttered light bulb factory, which closed in 1924 after an electrical accident claimed the life of the owner's wife and most of his employees.
“However, locals state that Pitch Black Inc. is still very much alive, even though the lights have been off for years,” the Reaper's Revenge website states.
Guests enter the high-intensity, lights-out attraction and must feel their way out, meandering through narrow passages and twists and turns, all while loud, disorienting music, noise, sensations, and unseen scare actors startle them.
The house confuses the senses and is known to be one of the scariest walk-throughs in the country, Kotran said.
“So, it's brutal there,” Kotran said. “You can't see. You can't hear. It's claustrophobic. It's scary.”
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| Photo: Haunt Hunters App |
The disorienting sound is achieved by pumping noise through 48 speakers and 10 subwoofers, which make Pitch Black's bumpy walls vibrate. The walls are also wet in some places, which guests have to touch to feel their way out.
“We tried Vaseline, we tried hand cream, we were looking for something … so we got a bug sprayer and we filled it with water, and I pay somebody every 10 minutes to wet the walls,” Kotran said. “And it took Pitch Black to a whole new level. So the stuff that's on the walls, when it's wet, just feels that much cooler.”
The Haunted Hayride features enormous Hollywood-level sets covering 66 acres, such as a 150-yard cemetery scene in which zombies emerge in fog from mausoleums and real tombstones. They climb aboard the wagon to scare guests, before stopping to perform a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson's “Thriller.”
Another section of the hayride features an elaborate Alice in Wonderland scene, which begins when riders descend into the rabbit hole. To achieve this effect, the wagon travels underneath a large, $4,000 projection screen suspended from trees that lights up with lasers and colorful, warped patterns.
“I wanted to go higher and bigger. When you see this at night, it's unbelievable. It's better than any Christmas show,” Kotran said.
Guests encounter the Queen of Hearts on another suspended projection screen, the Mad Hatter, Alice, and numerous detailed props, including a gigantic Ace of Spades, which towers high in the air and then suddenly drops down toward guests on the wagon, providing a rattling scare synced with pyrotechnics.
“Why didn't you listen when they warned you?” the Queen scolded guests as the wagon stops just below her projection. “Why have you come here at all? You think this is your way? No way! It's my way! ... The truth is whatever I make it. I could set fire to this world and call it rain!”
“Off with their heads!” she demanded.
Reaper's Revenge runs Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through November 2, 2025. For more information, visit https://reapersrevenge.com/
