Team Cleaverland Haunted House Reviews

03/15/2026

Back to Haunted Hills Estate! We were here a few years ago for their Valentine show. Really need to get out here during the regular season to do the trail. The 2 inside attractions that were open were very good. The house is an awesomely decorated classic haunted mansion style walkthrough. The other one had a clown/bigtop/side show theme with freaky 3d walls and art. The actors shined, lots of interactivity and many of them were leprechauns or other Celtic types. Tons of fun and plenty of laughs and screams. We got accosted by a leprechaun for eating all his lucky charms ...but they're so good! Fun midway as well with rollicking Irish tunes playing. We shall return sometime to partake of the trail

03/15/2026

It had been a few years but we made a return tonight for the St Batrick's Day event. Love the elaborate sets and the theatrical, lengthy riddle/puzzle solving scenes really let you soak in the details and atmosphere in a way you can't at most haunts. The theatricality, original characters, theming, and leisurely pacing are a refreshing change of pace from the usual haunt entertainment. And though the focus is not on scares, we definitely got more spooked than at our last visit. There were at least 3 or 4 good startles. The attention to Gaelic culture is appreciated and it looks like this year's storyline will be centered on lycanthropy. Good times!

03/12/2026

Check out the many attractions open for Friday the 13th & St Patrick's Day starting this weekend! And may the luck of the Irish be with ye as you try to dodge Jason's cleaver

🍀We continue to add haunts to the site that are open Friday the 13th / St. Patrick's Day weekend! Full list 👇🏼

https://www.thescarefactor.com/year-round-haunted-houses/

02/14/2026

Great theming and lots of R-rated characters at this year's adults-only Valentine's Day show on Friday the 13th. It is always a treat to visit this stone classic haunt and see cool new stuff sprinkled in with the things that have been there for years which we know and love and hope will always be there. Love you, HSHL!

02/13/2026

Ahh yeeeessss get out there tonight and have some frightful fun!

Happy Friday the 13th! There are haunts open TONIGHT!

Full List & More: https://www.thescarefactor.com/year-round-haunted-houses/

02/12/2026

Lots and lots of haunts open for Friday the 13th & Valentine's Day weekend. Support your local (or not so local) attraction!

Looking for haunts, but it's not Halloween yet? Many haunted house attractions are now opening their doors for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Fri. the 13th...

12/14/2025

Seasonal scares in a snowstorm! Columbus got pelted pretty good all day with the frosty flakes, but that did not dampen the holiday spirits of a legion of haunt-goers. Absolutely filled to bursting with festive decorations, music, and characters, and topped off with an awesome AV & fireworks in the driving snow. So well done!! Glad we braced the weather!

12/05/2025

Many holiday haunts are open all this month. Find one near you in The Scare Factor's off-season listings!

Looking for haunts, but it's not Halloween yet? Many haunted house attractions are now opening their doors for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Fri. the 13th...

11/26/2025

Finishing up the awards for 2025! Our actor shout-out for Gorgas Street Horror goes to Lauren Liehr as Dr. Bub. The doc displayed a winning, nonchalant bedside manner while speaking about quite insane things, like suggesting we play with jars of acid, proposing to do impromptu eye-ectomies on us, or wanting to bake a cake out of the brains of his most recent patient, brother-in-law Jerry, who was messily laid out on the table before us. Oh, Dr. Bub also had his sister (Jerry's wife) caged up nearby, throwing sis Jerry's foot to play with. Fun with the whole family! With the entire cast giving it their all, the bizarre dialogue and amusing interactions made Dr. Bub's scene a standout.

And, we give our 2025 Most Entertaining Ensemble Award to Gorgas Street Horror on behalf of TheScareFactor.com. The gangbusters cast here was super energetic and looking to engage with us. A clutch of cackling clowns hectored us under the big top. The relentless B. Wright tried to set a record for how many times one actor could repeatedly come at us. They invited us onto electric chairs and stuffed victims inside fridges. We heard some of the most bizarre dialogue ever, including the instant classic “Beware the curse of the intergalactic fallopian tubes!”

From our review: ‘This is an extremely actor-driven haunt. Good thing, then, that the cast showed up wired from the get-go to engage and interact. The acting troupe brimmed with dynamic energy this evening. The winning group of actors made the biggest contribution to immersion with their engagingly amusing or scarifying antics.’

The whole cast seemed committed to making their presence felt. As a result, we had a highly enjoyable time on our final review visit of the season …and that is cause for celebration!

11/25/2025

Just a few more awards to hand out! Team Cleaverland gives the 2025 Most Suspenseful Haunt Award to Chippewa Lake Slaughterhouse on behalf of TheScareFactor.com and in conjunction with Team Zombillies Haunt Reviews. This sinister slaughterhouse attraction has mastered the art of sustaining a creeping sense of dread throughout its lengthy walkthrough. Waiting for the shoe to drop has never been so deliciously delivered to us. It's equal parts shadowy lighting, realistic set dressing in an actual former slaughterhouse, the grimy and gory setting, perfectly timed actor assaults – many of the is-it-a-prop? variety – and expertly maintained immersion, that all come together to generate nerve-shredding tension.

From our co-review with Team Zombillies: ‘The Chippewa Lake Slaughterhouse offers a terrifying experience set inside an authentic slaughterhouse. The immersion here was nearly unmatched. The Slaughterhouse delivered a brand of fear that felt raw and unique; something we haven’t quite seen other haunts tap into yet. It was a slow, suspensful burn that kept us questioning whether we were actually supposed to be there. Some scenes were so eerily quiet and calm that the silence itself became the scare. The unnerving humans-as-livestock lead-up, the unsettling old building, the uncanny realism, the nerve-jangling creepiness, the disturbing costumes – it all adds up to an experience to make you feel very much like you are walking through your own starring role in an awful backwoods horror movie.’

We re-visited the Slaughterhouse the weekend after Halloween for their blackout event. With the lighting turned way down and even more super-creepy quietude, we found all the qualities just mentioned more magnified. Our nerves were on high alert. It was seriously scary and we highly recommend it!!

11/23/2025

Team Cleaverland gives our 2025 Wildest Walkthrough Award to Haunted Hoochie on behalf of TheScareFactor.com. One of our favorite haunts ever delivered an absolutely bonkers experience this year. It's always nuts, but this season's edition took the crazy cake, smashed it in our faces, and stomped on the crumbs. If you've never been here, you owe it to yourself to see what the insanity is all about: the extreme touch tactics, hard-R content, and gloriously rough edges. There's a reason why the Hoochie has a rabid following.

Words cannot hope to fully explain the experience, but here are some choice cuts from our co-review with Team Zombillies Haunt Reviews: ‘The Hoochie is downright unhinged, unfiltered, and utterly shocking. No one delivers brutal horror quite like them, and this year they’ve raised the stakes again. From the moment we stepped inside, we were assaulted with over-the-top scenes, relentless scares, and a level of shock value that only this Ohio legend can bring. This was perhaps the most raucous we’ve ever seen the cast. Stumbling in a daze from one horror to the next was like being trapped in a psychedelic nightmare. The whirlwind of disorienting settings and breakneck-paced transitions set us up for maximum confusion and anxiety. The actors, and there were bunches of them, appeared seriously demented. It seemed that every single cast member had sworn a solemn oath and took it as their personal mission to make us regret entering their domain. They created utter chaos! Hats off to a truly deranged posse of ornery cusses. If this actorly assault on good taste, good sense, and goodwill sounds like your idea of a good time, get on down to the Hoochie and experience it yourself, because no description can stand in for the real thing.’

11/23/2025

Time for 2025 awards! Our actor shout-out for The Scream Machine goes to Syd as High Priestess Deianira. Certainly one of the best actors we saw all year – the character was petulant, imperious, condescending, and very funny, with the air and attitude of a powerful entity slumming it with us lowly humans. Deianira led us in chants over a misty cauldron, cracked wise when we didn't follow orders precisely, and did bits of hilarious improv. This delightful performance delivered on many levels.

And, we give our 2025 Most Theatrical Cast Award to The Scream Machine on behalf of TheScareFactor.com. This cast had character…and characters! They showed off their acting chops at the outside entrance, inside in the queue, and throughout the attraction. High Priestess Deianira, Madame Clarise, Rattman, and the zombie master headed a troupe that all made a huge impression with dramatic, larger than life performances.

From our review: ‘The splendid cast here did a delightful job. Featured players really sank their teeth into theatrical presentations of their characters: playing with accents, delivering exposition, going big, but embodying a thought-out approach resulting in fleshed-out characterizations. These major roles comprised the most impressive of our visit and gave us extended entertaining interactions. The large ensemble also comprised those with less face time, and they made their mark when it came time for their turn in the spotlight.‘ This great cast really amped up our enjoyment of The Scream Machine.

The Scream Machine's holiday show is coming up on December 12 & 13.