JACKSON

JACKSON'S UNDERWORLD

1318 Wildwood Avenue, Jackson, MI 49202

(517) 936-5834 or www.jxunderworld.com 

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - THE SKY’S THE LIMIT!

This haunt is incredible, a MEGA HAUNT that took us longer to go through than any other this year! *

Besides being an incredible haunt, there’s a collection of Hollywood grade DISTORTION’S and an ALICE COOPER endorsement brought to life / death that helps entertain the queue line.

It used to be a department store, and before that a seat factory for the military. It’s ridiculously giant, so it’s limited only by the creator’s imagination!

And the creator here is the guy who put together the legendary HOMER MILL HAUNT that was a top Michigan haunt...until it burned down in an AMAZING BLAZE OF GORY GLORY!

(editor’s note: This reminds me of something mentioned when we went to a haunt at the Howell Opera Theater building long ago. They said one of the strangest things there was the fact that it hadn’t burned down yet! They named several old wooden buildings nearby that already burned down.)

Excellent sound and lighting throughout, and lots of wacky actors and wild makeup.

Isolation between scenes is superb, and can go from a whisper to a rock concert in a flash!

One of our favorite things here is a building linking SKY BRIDGE that takes you higher than we’ve ever been at any other haunt!

Other highlights for us were the GIANT JACK-IN-THE-BOX, a unique LIQUID SKY ROOM, the knife wielding blonde girl with pigtails, and some amazing aerobatics in the SWAMP ROOM.

They’ve added a new attraction too, created by the operator’s son. The entrance to PSYCHOVISION 3D is right next to the entrance of the main haunt. It’s a wild romp throughout, and also features an awesome soundtrack like its “big brother.”

In PSYCHOVISION 3D we especially liked the many and varied whimsical faces, a GIANT CHUCKY DOLL, and the totally silly blonde actress with 2 horns in her forehead.

There’s just no telling how much bigger this haunt could be in the future, as there’s still LOTS of space still unused!

* = 32 minutes for main haunt, 15 minutes for 3D

KOCHVILLE TWP.

WILD WOODS OF TERROR

7500 Venoy Road, Kochville Twp., MI

(989) 295-6900 or www.facebook.com/WildWoodsofTerror/

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - LOOKING GOOD IN THE HOOD

We’ve heard great things about this haunt!

But sadly, we had traffic delays and arrived just a little too late to go through.

RATS! We hope to check them out next year.

MAUMEE, OHIO

HAUNTED PLANET EXPERIENCE ASYLUM OF HORRORS

5100 Main Street, Maumee, OH 43537

(419) 360-5689 or www.hauntedx.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

Don’t be tricked, it’s not a real hospital. But the nurse you see first won’t tell you that.

In fact she’s a total whack job, offering to inject you with THE COOTIE SHOT or EBOLA and such. Her name will crack you up as you sound it out!

Great sound and lighting throughout.

We especially liked a group of 3 special windows near the beginning and the slow stutter strobe room.

The approach to the sound is different here, to great effect. Instead of loud gags popping off all over, the excellent soundtrack can be heard throughout the haunt. It permeates the area, but the balance is just right so the actors are clearly understood.

Clever lines and witty improv patter is wasted if you can’t hear it!

Excellent interaction and makeup. We especially liked one highly acrobatic actor, and the pig headed creature and the wicked clown dude.

This is the latest creation of a highly accomplished Ohio haunt operator who ran the HAUNTED PENITENTIARY in Mansfield, Ohio for many years.  We look forward to a bright future for them, and throngs of happy haunters yet to come for years!  

MAUMEE, OHIO

HOUSE OF DAMNATION

2901 Key Street, Maumee, OH 43537

(419) 902-4082 or www.facebook.com/RevelationsHauntedAttractions/

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - A GIANT IN THE MAKING

This is a 2 year old haunt that started as a backyard Halloween party in 1999. Eventually it became a 6,000 square foot display, with hundreds waiting on their driveway when the decision to go public with their love of haunting was made.

Now they have a massive 31,000 square foot building, using 8,400 of it in their first year and now 12,000 for 2017.

HIGH FLYING CRAZINESS

The staff here seem to have a love of heights. A super tall swamp creature with glowing red eyes works the crowd outside the haunt, and an ax wielding weirdo pops out from above the haunt structure taunting the queue line.

The swamp creature roams freely, and we saw it wrap itself around a girl coming out of the bathroom. GREAT STUFF!

Inside the haunt, the actors can be heard clearly so their clever lines aren’t wasted.

We really liked the old hag at the entrance (8,000 years old!), a cemetery scene with incandescent lighting and thunder, the organ music in a funeral home, an Egyptian Pharaoh creature with a dog head, and the girl with black hair and pigtails that bends over backyards like an insect!

Also features an EXCELLENT LIQUID SKY ROOM and BLACK HOLE.

This was our first time here, but certainly not our last!

PINCKNEY

TERRORFIED FOREST & MANOR

245 Swarthout Road, Pinckney, MI 48169

(734) 878-3737 or www.terrorfied.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - MAGICAL TRANSFORMATION FOR LONG-TIME FAVE

THE MANOR has a whole new theme / feeling this year and we LOVED it!

First, a series of mirrors gives a distinct FUNHOUSE FEEL. Then, a most unique “rolling floor” combines rollers that are placed beneath the carpet. You make your way through by essentially propelling yourself by gripping the handrails.

Excellent acting and interaction, without which a haunt is lost.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to do the forest but we’ve always had a great time there in past years.

ROMULUS

REALM OF HAUNTED MINDS

Huron Turkey Farm

18910 Merriman Road, Romulus, MI 48174

Corner of Sibley, entrance on Sibley.

(734) 753-9187 or www.myspace.com/huronturkeyfarm

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - AAARGH - AHOY THERE MATEYS!

You can make your own fantasies here, as well as indulging in the ones they create for you.

Besides a primo walk thru haunt and the amazing ticket / food building, there’s a miniature city here that will knock your socks off! There’s buildings of all kinds, many big enough to enter like a schoolhouse complete with desks.

Like many cities of old, eventually the train came to town and you can actually get on board and become its conductor!

A more recent addition is a building with a slide exit into a FABULOUS GHOST SHIP. You get to be the captain, deciding who walks the plank and who lives!

And there’s animals all over, with special attention to lighting them all differently for accent. We loved the alpacas, so cute!

The mini city is great, but the walk thru haunt is the main attraction here exiting into a fun maze.

Fabulous props, lighting and sound throughout, and one trademark thing here we especially love is hands-down the MOST AMAZING FRANKENSTEIN we’ve seen at any haunt ever!

This haunt is totally unique onto itself. In fact, the only thing here we’ve seen at other haunts is THE BLACK HOLE, a spinning vortex tunnel that gives you the spins as you walk thru it.

All that is just fluff though, unless the acting is on too, and they’ve got that covered in spades. We really liked wacky ANNABELLE with her pigtails, and the ULTRA CREEPY BOTTOM DWELLER with amazing vocal abilities capable of producing multiple tones at once! HUH? You just have to experience this for yourself.

There’s daytime activities here too, perfect for school field trips...and lots of pumpkins and pretty lights to make this THE TURKEY FARM WITH THE BIG FUN DIFFERENCE!

SAGINAW

NIGHTSTALKERS

906 Lapeer Avenue, Saginaw, MI 48607

(989) 284-8378 or www.nshaunt.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - THEY’RE BAAACK!

For many moons this was a destination-trip haunt for us in Millington that never failed to blow us away! We were sad to see it go, but nothing lasts forever.

Except perhaps, the passion and drive of crazy people who create haunted attractions! It runs in their blood, so when an opportunity to resurrect this surfaced they jumped at the chance.

The new 5 story, 60,000 square feet building is perfect, and allows for future expansion big time as they’re currently using only 2 stories.

The entrance has a cave-like feeling, with a rich natural reverberation.

The queue line atmosphere is great, simulating a forest with lots of tall trees and lighting that flickers and flashes with the soundtrack. There’s a graveyard too, and lots of chamo netting for atmosphere. 

Excellent vocalizations and interaction with actors. We really liked the hunchback dude that follows real close, Mr. Saggy Bottom, and the devil girl.

Excellent sound and lighting throughout!

JN & CREW ARE BACK IN A BIG WAY BEFITTING THEIR REPUTATION!

TAYLOR

THE SCREAM MACHINE

23131 Ecorse Road, Taylor, MI 48180

(734) 309-0756 or www.TheScreamMachine.net

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - DOWNRIVER FAVE DELIVERS ANOTHER STRONG SHOW

This haunt has been a staple of our haunt diet since we started the HAUNTED HOUSE HOTLINE in 1999, even through several years of absence and changes of hands and locations...

Taylor once had a record SIX haunts in its’ city limits! We are SO GLAD Taylor still has A KILLER HAUNT with THE SCREAM MACHINE!

WESTLAND

HUSH HAUNTED ATTRACTION

34043 Ford Road, Westland, MI 48185

(734) 502-6026 or www.HushDetroit.com or www.facebook.com/hushdetroit

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - SECRET AGENDA GOES PUBLIC

This place is a secret little city, but hush... don’t tell anybody!

Actually, never mind. It’s too late. Word already got out and the masses have descended, eager to see if the stories are true.

The most well thought out haunts usually have a plot line or premise, which makes it more interesting and engaging. And so it is at HUSH...

The scenario is that HUSH FALLS is a small city, and the public has been offered free homes in exchange for working there. Happy, unsuspecting residents quickly fill the town.

It’s all peaches and cream until the hidden HUSH CORPORATION agenda raises its ugly head, and they erect a wall around the city to begin questionable-at-best human experiments.

After a short video welcoming you to the HUSH FALLS CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, the door flies open and a mass of fog pours out. LOVE IT!

A wide variety of freaky creatures awaits in ordinary and not-so ordinary settings. There’s a store selling apples and bananas, a guy with a TV set for his head, a barroom brawl that defies gravity, an industrial control room with giant valves and water pipes, a liquid sky room, and even caves!

Excellent makeup and interaction throughout.

We really liked the up close zombie creature following us, the CHICKEN MAN who flew the coop, an actor with an OP-ART OUTFIT WITH A HYPNOTIC SPIRAL, the Beef eater guy, and the marionette girl with pigtails.

MUSIC TO SOOTHE THE BEAST

We clearly heard JAZZ MUSIC playing several times here, which we loved! In an age where just one NICKI MINAJ or CARDI B album outsells THE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES, LED ZEPPELIN and THE WHO combined, we salute HUSH for acknowledging what many consider to be the only original American art form!

There’s also HARD ROCK and assorted sound effects to round things out; sound is SO important at haunts and HUSH has it covered no problem.

This haunt has been packing them in big time, and we were anxious to capture some of the crowds energy with a DSLR Nikon camera...which we did.

One shot in particular was fabulous! A monster working the crowd WOWS a girl in line, and her reaction is PRICELESS.

***OH NO...HELP MR. WIZARD! Sadly, the memory card containing those pictures HAS FAILED but we’re hoping to get it restored.***

WYANDOTTE

WYANDOTTE JAYCEE’S KINDRED

3131 Biddle, Wyandotte, MI

(734) 284-3861 or www.facebook.com/WyandotteJaycees/

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - CITY HALL TAKEN OVER BY GOONS

This building is the former City Hall of Wyandotte! Talk about cooperation with local officials; we wish more cities were like this with haunts.

NOTHIN’ FANCY, STRICTLY FAMILY

“Kin Folk” can mean many things, but here those meanings get blurred and twisted by a twisted backwoods cannibalistic family. Pass the salt, and add some pepper pretty please. Thank you.

ANOTHER HIGH ENERGY JAYCEE’S EFFORT

YPSILANTI

KRAZY HILDA'S TRAIL OF TERRORS - PANAMA FARMS

10340 Ford Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48198

(734) 550-2001 or www.KrazyHildas.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

This primo outdoor haunt has their own unique signature that’s been WOWING THE CROWDS for many moons. Actually, parts of it are covered like at the start with the sensory depravation tubes...

Many of the props were handmade by the family matriarch, and are one-of-a-kind spooky artworks you can only see here.

The forest provides excellent hiding spots galore, used to great advantage for lots of FABULOUS GOTCHA MOMENTS!

ALL HANDS ON DECK

There’s some really big things here! Hey, it’s in a forest...so things are already massive.

We really liked the giant imposing presence you can only partially see on your left near the start, a not so friendly spider, and the mammoth doors you’ll need to open as you make your way through. It gives that HAND’S ON feel, and also cues the waiting monsters perfectly. This guarantees LOTS OF GREAT GOTCHA MOMENTS!

Excellent acting and makeup throughout. One favorite was the blacklight DOLLY ROOM with the strange girl on her swing.

But the absolute biggest thing here they save for last. It’s a GIANT FARMING MACHINE that will knock your socks off! Unless of course, the resident goons turn it on to grind you up and spit you out the spouts on this behemoth!

YPSILANTI

NIGHT TERRORS at WIARD'S ORCHARDS

5565 Merritt Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

(734) 390-9206 or www.HauntedHouseMichigan.com

ZIOPTIS SEZ 2017 - HISTORY SLAM DUNKS INTO THE FUTURE AT FARM FOR-THE-AGES

Wiard’s has been there for as long as most of us can remember. Hmmm...they must be doing something right! haha

There’s outdoor shows, a store that’s also a museum, multiple walk through haunts and a fabulous hayride for starters...

This is the place where shared experiences become lifelong memories for many happy haunters we’ve known through many moons...

A big regret of our visit here is that we just missed going out on the last hayride of the night, but we had a blast nonetheless.

THE ULTIMATE HAUNTED BARN was our first priority, as we missed it last year...and it did not disappoint us. Excellent monster interaction, cool sound effects, and we loved the transitions from sensory depravation to overload.

The MIND SHAFT has an authentic look and feel, starting in the queue line with authentic sound effects to set the atmosphere. All kinds of calamities can strike without warning in a mine, and so it is here. THE MIND SHAFT bombards you with visual feasts ranging from dark and sublime to a SPECTACULAR FLAT BEAM LIQUID SKY ROOM that’s both compelling and dazzling!

ALIEN CAGED CLOWNS was closed - our fault for getting there so late.

After all the haunting, we have a “Serving Suggestion” that will turn your mouth into a party, and your tummy into a snuggle session with a warm puppy.

HUH?

It’s super easy. Go into the store (on your left upon entering) and buy a box of those yummy donuts AND a jar of apple butter. Deep dip the donuts in the apple butter...there you go...you’re welcome! haha

AN ICONIC HAUNT AND ORCHARD ON TOP OF THEIR GAME