Fort Amherst Halloween Horrors 2021 [Halloween Haunt Review]

So, this Halloween, I decided to visit a Halloween Haunt. Fort Amherst is fairly local to me, and it is notorious for being haunted. As such, the staff do regular ghost tours, as well as ones focussing on the historical significance of the fort. It also runs Halloween Horrors every year, which is a full tour of the tunnels with actors there to scare you. This year, they were running three different versions: a kid’s tour, a teens tour, and an adult’s tour. As you would imagine, the higher the age group, the more extreme it is. So, I went for the adult’s tour. As a preview, here’s the official trailer:

Now, I got to the event twenty minutes early, just like the site requested. With the adult tours, you don’t book specific slots though, so you do need to do a bit of queuing before it’s your turn. We were sent into the tour in groups of thirty, with a single guide to lead the way. As it turned out, I knew the guide. I also knew one of the actors. Neither gives you any form of advantage.

I came alone, so didn’t know anyone in the group I was placed with. For what it’s worth, that doesn’t stop you from having fun. We were all there for the same thing, after all, and that was to be scared. The tour did a good job of that. It’s worth noting that o the adult’s tour, you are not allowed to touch the actors, but they are allowed to touch you. This is not as bad as it sounds, nobody crossed the line, and the actors did appear to listen if something was a little too much for someone. That’s a good balance, I feel.

As we went through the tunnels, we were basically placed into a bunch of set pieces. I won’t go into detail about everything that happened because it may well be that some of the scenes are used again next year, and I wouldn’t want to spoil that. I will say though that the volunteers did a great job in terms of presentation. Some of the makeup work was excellent in the setting, and there were a few great masks too.

The actual performances were accompanied by some great use of lighting and audio too. The combination of erratic strobe lighting and loud music made it easy to get disoriented in certain rooms, and created a gloriously freaky effect with how the actors were moving. One of my favourite moments was a single tunnel that had been packed out by what I think was two bouncy castle floors, or something similar. The way the walls billowed as you walked through made it all really claustrophobic. By the end of it, my heart was actually pounding.

So, did I enjoy the experience? Honestly? I loved it! This was extreme enough to be scary, but it didn’t cross the line into inappropriate. Everyone knew what they were getting into, everyone came to have fun, and the volunteers made sure we were suitably creeped out. As to my own personal experiences, a zombie stole my hairband, I was locked in a coffin twice by two separate vampires, I had a chainsaw shoved between my legs, and a hillbilly lady gave me a golden shower when she poured her bedpan of yellow liquid over me. After all that, I was glad for the opportunity to grab a drink and a burger afterward.

Here’s a big thank you to the team who put the event on, and I give this a hearty recommendation if you’re in the area next year! in the meantime, here’s a music video of the team having some fun after the event ended: