Friday, October 29, 2010

A Guide to NYC Haunted Houses

Happy early Halloween! As everybody gets ready for Halloween on Sunday, if live in NYC (or are visiting) and you're in the mood to get your scare on this weekend, this is your guide for all the haunted houses in NYC.

I've reviewed 5 haunted houses and there were a couple I didn't get a chance to go to. But this is an all inclusive guide to give you options. Depending on your level of fear, you can pick from the list below. They all have their slight differences on getting you jumpy and frightened, but all, on some level will lead to a fun, good time.

In alphabetical order.....


1.) After Dark at Madame Tussauds (full review here)

Basic Premise: Located in Times Square, this is a tourist friendly haunted house that turns the famous wax museum into a terrifying haunted house attraction.

the jaded viewer says: "After Dark at Madame Tussauds pushes all the right buttons in scare-o-logy. An interactive blend of 4D William Castle Percepto accompanied by your standard walk through haunted house makes it doubley fun for all. Think Blair Witch meets Night at the Museum. It's a high quality production that echoes an attraction found at Universal Studios."

Where: 234 West 42nd St, between 7th & 8th Ave,

2.) Blood Manor (full review here)

Basic Premise: NYC's #1 haunted house attraction. It's got the rooms and the performers to get you jumping out of your socks.

the jaded viewer says: "It's like a freaky world into the macabre and what makes Halloween such a horrificly fun holiday.Before you dress up in your costume, see the professionals dress up in theirs."

Where: 542 West 27th Street

3.) Fear on 21st (no review, official site)

Basic Premise: An interactive guided tour through the bowels of a run down decrepit asylum for the criminally insane, about to be shut down.

the jaded viewer says: Not Reviewed.

Where: 12 West 21st Between 5th and 6th

4.) Hotel Savoy (no review, official site)

Basic Premise: "With its overlapping of Joseph Roth's novel, reality, and contemporary history, HOTEL SAVOY opens up a world between dream and reality in the history-laden and often unseen spaces of 1014 5th Avenue.

Visitors become guests in the empty hotel and encounter past employees: an elevator operator, a young maid, the hotel barber, the concierge, and a barmaid. These gatekeepers lead us into remote corners of the building, into unreal hotel rooms and real salons still haunted by spirits of past occupants.

Against the background of this surreal through-station for German exiles, visitors are faced with questions about their own heritage in these restless and unanchored times. Guests play the lead role in their brief stay at the Hotel Savoy."

the jaded viewer says: Not Reviewed.

Where:1014 5th Avenue

5.) Nightmare: Superstitions (full review here)

Basic Premise: One of the most unique haunted houses the city has to offer. This year's version has participants breaking superstitions while dealing with the consequences in an insane asylum.

the jaded viewer says: "Nightmare: Superstitions is an interactive experience full of pure, unrelenting dementia. You will come away feeling like you have racked up a million years of bad luck, but had fun doing it."

Where: 623 Broadway at Houston (enter on Mercer Street)

6.) Steampunk Haunted House (full review here)

Basic Premise: Performance art meets steampunk in this free roam haunted house where viewers see the inhabitants of a playhouse theater up close and personal.

the jaded viewer says: "Steampunk Haunted House is a walk through mesmerizing steampunk art with a ballet of neo-noir Agatha Christie surrealism. This is not your tweens or teens haunted house. It's up close and personal performance art set to breathtaking steampunk backdrops."

Where: 466 Grand Street, at the corner of Pitt Street, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

7.) Trapped Purgatory (no review, official site)

Basic Premise: Green House Solutions, by the government has been officially quarantined and no admittance is allowed. There has been a chemical spill containing a highly hazardous toxin which caused various diseases and mutations. Some of these mutations have caused paranormal behavior for its victims; so take precaution and do not come close into close contact with this building.

the jaded viewer says: Not Reviewed.

Where: Green Side Up Nursery at 5050 Hylan Blvd, Staten Island, NY'

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If you have any questions or comments about these haunted houses, you can tweet me a message @jadedviewer or leave a comment on my Facebook page.

Have fun and stay safe! Happy Halloween!

2 comments:

  1. Great guide. I'm going to go to the Steampunk Haunted house this weekend, but I'll try and check out some of these others as well. This is actually my first time in NY (staying in an apartment from MetroFlats.com) and it's everything I imagined and more.

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  2. Steampunk was different but cool. If anybody goes to Fear on 21 Street, Hotel Savoy or Trapped Purgatory...leave a comment here about what it was like!!!

    More info for others the better!

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