Johnny’s List of Quirky Boston Events: 10/24/05

I’ve visited a bunch of haunted houses now, and here is the scoop, each with a letter grade. See previous posts for details on each.

  • Asylum of Terror, A-
  • Factory of Terror, B-
  • Witch’s Woods, C
  • Hallowscream Park, C+
  • Barrett’s Haunted Mansion, A
  • Livingston Street Horror, A+
  • Castle of the Damned at Hammond Castle B
  • Foxboro Jaycees Haunted House B-? (haven’t visited)
  • Haunted Ghost Town @ Marshfield Fairgrounds, B? (haven’t visited)
  • Haunted Mansion @ Victorian Park, B+? (haven’t visited)

The Asylum of Terror and Factory of Terror are right next to each other so see them both in the same trip. The Factory ends with amazing fog effects and a spinning room. The Asylum has two spinning rooms, basically a spinning cylinder encircling a metal walkway. The kids playing monsters at the Factory of Terror just did not know how to act scary, and the layout is incredibly confusing, requiring arrows. The Factory of Terror has a haunted band playing pop music though which was cute.

Unfortunately, I really cannot recommend the Castle of the Damned at Hammond Castle. The 90 minute drive to Gloucester is wearing and is exacerbated by a need to park elsewhere and get picked up by shuttle bus. The castle itself is beautiful, and there is a metaphor for the experience, a story told when you first enter. But being taken through in a large group means that the people at the front of the group get scared by monsters and those at the back (like me) don’t. The castle was too brightly lit and the monsters didn’t get particularly close. Much of the tour is outside, so wear a warm coat.

Hallowscream Park is a huge display of pumpkins, mildly interesting but of no scare value of course. Of the park’s four haunted houses, two were good and two disappointing. The closest to Boston but also the most expensive, I think you would be OK to skip it.

None of the attractions is kid-friendly to anyone younger than say 12 years old, although I did see younger kids who must have been made of strong stuff go through sometimes, even at Barrett’s.