Haunted House Ratings

Imagine after a long days travel sinking into your motel bed and smelling something foul. Would you investigate or just try to sleep through the stench? After reading this, I can almost guarantee your answer will be to investigate the odor.

In 1991 stories began to ooze through the newspapers and by word of mouth of individuals who would rent a hotel room for the night and have a disturbing night trying to sleep due to a foul stench in the room. What was this foul stench? A dead body of course! These types of stories pop-up every so often and are chalked up to being just another urban legend. However, this story actually happened, several times.

One of the more recent “bodies under the bed” stories occurred in 2003 when a man checked into a hotel east of downtown Kansas City. The man complained to management about a stench for three days. Hotel management told him there was nothing they could do about it. The man eventually checked out because of the stench. When housekeeping came to the room after the guest’s departure, a corpse was underneath the mattress and in a severe state of decomposition. The next time you check into a hotel room will you check under the bed just to make sure there are no bodies lurking or will you ignore the notion and pray you’re safe and sound?

There are countless urban legends that claim deceased loved ones have made phone calls from beyond the grave. However, there is at least one case where this legend is not legend, but a verified true story.

In September of 2008 a commuter train in California’s Fernando Valley collided with a freight train. This collision became famously known as the Chatsworth Crash and the Chatsworth Crash is notorious for more than just the injuries and deaths of numerous individuals, but also for some eerie phone calls a victim’s—Charles Peck— cell phone made hours after dying on impact from the wreck.  

It took responders 12 hours to locate his body—they ended up using the signals from Peck’s cell phone calls to locate his body. Peck had died on impact but for the first 11 hours after the crash Peck’s cell phone dialed out a total of 35 calls to friends, family, and other loved ones. If they picked up there was only static and if they called back they only received his voicemail.

What would you do if you received a phone call from a loved one after they had deceased? Some legends say there was more than static, but heard their loved ones actual voices screaming in agony as what sounded like flames roared behind them in the background. 

It happens every year, sometimes several times, but the timing is always different. It lurks on the calendar like any other day, but people everywhere look upon its approach with apprehension and fear. Friday the 13^th is a day of superstition, nerves, and even the most seemingly level-headed of people going to great extents to protect themselves from whatever bad luck and mayhem may be awaiting them when they step outside their homes. 

Perhaps there is a reason behind the worry, an instinctual caution that comes from generations of horrors and misfortunes that have occurred on that very date. Consider these unlucky events, and decide for yourself where you will be when the sun rises on June 13.

 -October 13, 1307 was the day the Knights of the Templar were raided, arrested, and imprisoned by officers of King Philip IV of France. More than 100 were martyred and countless others tortured.

– August 13, 1521 saw Conquistador Hernán Cortés, the man revered and feared as a vengeful god by the Aztecs, claim Tenochtitlán for himself.

-September 13, 1940 marked the day when the Germans took their WWII bombings to a new level when they hit their mark at Buckingham Palace.

-Each Friday the 13^th, the airlines are expected to lose an estimated $900 million due to travelers refusing to take their feet off the ground and rampantly cancelling or avoiding flights.

But… here at HauntedHouseRatings.com.. we welcome Friday the 13th and say “It’s scare the crap out of someone day!”  Have fun!

Step into an elevator in most tall buildings and you will notice something strange…the lack of a thirteenth floor. The numbers simply jump from 12 to 14, as though that middle number merely doesn’t exist. At the root of this creative numbering is a widespread cultural Triskaidekaphobia, or intense fear of the number 13.

This deeply superstitious fear, which is named literally for the Greek words for “3”, “10”, and “morbid fear”, is seen in many actions and choices, touching so many that it is often seen as more unusual to use the number than it is to actually use it. For those that suffer Triskaidekaphobia, it may be comforting to know that this fear is by no means a new phenomenon. References to unlucky instances and common fears associated with the number 13 go back centuries, with some of the earliest whisperings of the darkness lingering on the number tracing to the Vikings.

In Viking culture, it was believed that any time 13 people gathered together, one would see their death within the year. Ancient Persians believed that the number 13 was intrinsically linked to chaos and destruction, and would leave their homes on the thirteenth day of the year to avoid bringing hardships upon their families.

It was on the 13th day of October 1307 that orders were made to arrest the Knights Templar, and the Apollo 13 mission that was aborted due to an explosion in the oxygen tank. While all of these little details don’t necessarily confirm that the number 13 is inherently unlucky… it may be wise to step carefully from floor 12 to floor 14 and avoid that final doughnut in a baker’s dozen.

Beneath several cities across the world wind mysterious tunnels called catacombs. These tunnels are crafted to contain revered bones and are often popular tourist destinations. In the Ukraine, a city known as Odessa boasts their own tunnels, complex networks resulting from years of mining the stone beneath the city. These tunnels are confusing, often wandering deep into the pitch darkness where no one knows the twists and turns that await them, and have never been fully mapped.

Known as the Odessa Catacombs, these tunnels were not created to inter bodies, but that has not stopped them from claiming their own bones. Tours of the abandoned mines are not approved by the city, but every year extreme tourists enter the darkness and begin to roam the coiling corridors. Every so often, one of them goes missing. The bodies discovered in the catacombs are often mummified, preserved by the dry, merciless air of the tunnels that claimed them. Those that fall victim to the tunnels may lie for years before being found, and the remains of soldiers, smugglers, and those hiding from the Nazis are still found, huddled in their final resting place, waiting for the next curve of the tunnels to be discovered.

The men of the railway saw the steam locomotive as their hope for the future. Their work was hot, grueling, and dangerous, but it gave them the income they so desperately wanted. 1925 Richmond, Virginia was a city still reeling from the Civil War, and clawing its way into a new identity further characterized by industrialization. Winding under the city, particularly under an area called Church Hill, was the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway tunnel that had been in place since the 1870s. The tunnel was notoriously dangerous, but in October, after 20 years of disuse, a crew pushed through.

In moments the tunnel crumbled around them. Men scrambled for their lives, running through the darkness and dragging their bodies under and over the locomotive toward the sliver of light they could still see. Efforts were made to rescue men trapped inside. 2 bodies were removed, but 2 men listed in the crew were left inside. Rumors swirl that there were potentially many more that went unaccounted for because the Irish were rarely mentioned by name in work crew records.

Rescue efforts caused the tunnel to crumble further, and soon it was considered unsafe to continue. The tunnel, with the train and the bodies still inside, was sealed and abandoned. The wrath of those left to work in the tunnel for eternity has not gone unnoticed over the years. Many have reported hearing the sound of a train late into the night, or the scratching of men trying to escape the sealed tunnel. Houses have been lost to portions of the tunnel collapsing further. Whether it was only two men that found their final resting place on the train where they worked, or dozens, the city of Richmond has great reverence for the souls that seem to have never stopped working toward the future.

The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago was one of the most incredible tourist draws of the time. People flocked to experience the food, displays, and demonstrations. All around the fairgrounds hotels and inns were filled to overflowing with those seeking the frivolity and fun that awaited them at the fair. One of these hotels, however, allowed few guests to check out.

It was in this hotel, less than two miles from the fairgrounds, that an unassuming-looking man named H.H. Holmes plied his trade. Known as the “Murder Castle”, this three-story hotel was as horrific as it was disturbingly beautiful. In the tangled web of windowless rooms, doors that led nowhere, airless vaults, and soundproof chambers.

Within this elaborate labyrinth of terror as many as 200 victims, mostly women, were tortured and killed. Some were left to suffocate in the vaults, others were gassed in their rooms, and still others fell to the stretching rack. Bodies were dropped through secret chutes into the basement. Here they became the playthings of the monstrous innkeeper. Some were cremated in the enormous furnaces or dissolved in pits of acid or lime. Others were stripped of their skin and relieved of their inner organs. The resulting skeleton models were then sold to medical programs for classroom demonstrations.

All the while H.H. thrived on the insurance proceeds from several female employees he hired with the requirement that they take out life insurance policies with their employer as the sole beneficiary. After the Fair closed, H.H. went on to commit several more murders, including three children that eventually sealed his fate with the discovery of their remains. In May of 1896, less than 3 years after his gruesome spree, Holmes was hanged for his crime, dangling from the rope for nearly 20 minutes before being proclaimed dead.

The cold fog creeps around your legs as you walk down an ancient street, a stone fence looming ahead of you. The darkness around you is so intense you feel as though you could scoop it into your hands and carry it with you – though that is the last thing you want to do as it presses in on you. As you walk you are aware of the sound of your footsteps. Suddenly, another sound joins your steps.

It is the sound of hooves, galloping in the near distance. They are coming closer, but you can see nothing beyond you but the fog. A moment later you realize you are beyond the fence and have stepped into a cemetery. Many of the aging stones around you were etched nearly two centuries ago and just as a familiar name comes into view, a black horse and a mysterious cloaked rider rushes past. A moment later, the sound of the hooves is gone.

The name on the stone before you is Washington Irving. You are standing in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown, New York, the final resting place of the brilliant mind who penned the ghost story for which this cemetery was renamed. Though the tale itself was set in the tiny cemetery nearby, many who visit this burial ground speak of a black horse with a headless rider, the sound of disembodied hooves, and quiet whispers that surround them as they walk the pathways. For many, this is only confirmation that the tale that made this sleepy little village famous was actually based on the experiences of its author.

Fear Overload…A Night at the Abusement Park

Happy Halloween! Today is the day when we come together to celebrate all things creepy and terrifying. Wrapping up our list is a haunt that offers a unique premise, horrifying effects, and enough torment to give you nightmares until the haunting season returns next year.

Words like “high shock” and “extreme” always draw us in when it comes to describing a haunt. Fear Overload promises to be California promises to be the most horrifying experience you can have in the state, offering two unique haunted houses in one terrifying scream park. In a year when many of the haunts seem to have fallen into the same theme patterns, Fear Overload set itself apart with two brand new experiences. Venture into the unseen darkness of California to find your way through the twisting, blood-curdling labyrinths of the Abusement Park and Ward 9.

A day in a theme park should create beautiful memories. These memories were shattered for the Baker family when their young daughter Sally was discovered hanged in the bathroom of the Baylor Amusement Park. Her death marked a curse that befell the park. Days passed, each bringing another employee found dangling. Brace yourself for the least happy place on earth and pray you get through the labyrinth before the rope finds its way to you. If you can get out of the Abusement Park, you will find yourself creeping past the government barriers of Ward 9. This asylum was set aside for only the most heinous and twisted of the criminally insane. These psychopaths were cast into the darkness of Ward 9 and left the wallow. In 1989 a violent earthquake hit San Leandro. The electricity short circuited and the rows of cells were suddenly unlocked. Criminals who had been in isolation for years spewed out and infected the building. Right before the security cameras cut off they caught footage of a woman, her face concealed by her long black hair, hacking one of the doctors to pieces. Explore the halls of the lost asylum…but don’t let her look you in the face.

This victims’ choice for scariest haunt in California elevates the art of the haunted house through truly innovative thinking and a stand-alone approach. Both haunted houses have hints of the classic and trendy in their theming but separate themselves by pushing the boundaries of both creativity and terror. Exceptional sets, dedicated actors, and consistent scares make this one of the best haunts out there.

Atrox Factory…Enter the Cage

With a name like Atrox Factory we had high hopes for this haunted house. After all, the name of the haunt itself means “horror factory”. As a 50,000 square foot haunt, it is also a tremendous amount of space to fill—which means that much more opportunity for terror and twisted creativity. This Alabama horror landmark is the offspring of the “Slain House” haunt from a few years back. Transforming the massive space into Atrox Factory was a major feat, especially considering how small the original haunt was, but they more than stepped up to the challenge.

When you first enter Atrox you are ushered into the Arena. This area features a gift shop, concession areas, horror movies, and even meet and greets with big names in the horror industry. Don’t forget to go up to the token booth to buy your dismembered body part that will claim your spot in line. This means you aren’t standing around in the line waiting. When it is your turn, you are called upon to “enter the cage”. If you are brave enough, enter the chain link cage that holds you before your turn in the haunt. You and 99 other victims file into the queue at a time. Don’t feel comfort in numbers, however. As soon as you step inside the haunt you are swallowed by the size and at the mercy of the creatures and monsters that wait inside.

Find your strength and enter the study where the horrors that await you will be revealed—but not so much that you are truly prepared for the torment. When the secret door opens, you are thrown inside a world of nightmares that begin with the catacombs and do not end until you have finally escaped. You leave behind walls dripping with blood, the maniacal laughter of hidden clowns, and a maze where the walls move and you are never completely sure where you are. Classic scenes of horror and real paranormal activity, claustrophobia tunnels, and the mind-warping tricks will remain in your mind long after you try to close your eyes to sleep.

This massive haunted house is something you must experience to truly comprehend. The monsters and physical challenges of the haunt combined with the Hollywood-quality sets create an unforgettable experience. Many people may worry that the tremendous size and complexity of the haunt could mean confusion and chaos. The incredible organization and structure of the haunt, however, make it a smooth and brilliantly terrifying experience.