The Halloween season has just past, and people have been flocking to the haunted houses in the area. There are several choices throughout the area, some as far as Pittsburgh, but the one that seems to draw the most attention every year is Ghost Lake at Conneaut Lake Park. With its 13 levels of fear, it is sure to be quite the experience for any thrill seeker.
I took the long drive down to the foreboding lake with a few buddies of mine, and the ride down was an adventure in itself. Anyway, once we arrived we were immediately greeted by a terrifying clown, an Easter Bunny drenched in blood, and a social media trendy man in a gas mask.
After being harassed with blow horns for several minutes, we bought our tickets and entered the disorienting tunnel that led to the attractions. Once we were thoroughly dizzied by the entrance, it took a creepy walk through a dark and seemingly abandoned amusement park before we arrived at the first attraction, Clown Town.
The wait in line for the first maze was most definitely the longest, and once we entered through the clowns gaping mouth, terror soon ensued. We were bombarded with clowns wielding horrific weapons such as chainsaws and chased quickly through the outdoor area. When the nightmare was over, we realized we still had 12 more to go. So we saddled up and went through the next two, which were slightly tamer (that’s not saying much), and then we arrived at the actual historic Hotel Conneaut.
When we entered the attraction, we took a walk as we climbed the staircase to the top, and once we arrived, we entered a world of darkness. It started off as only a little spooky, but then tempo quickly escalated the more time we spent. The hotel is considered to be an actual haunted location, which kept me on my toes the whole way through. We fought through to the end, climbed back down the stairs, and were given some coupons. We took our coupons, avoided some zombies, and headed over to the 6th level, the Last House on the Left.
I believe this was one of the scariest houses, not because of the actors inside, but because of the nature of the building. It was separated from all the others, and stood dilapidated amongst several nicer and newer houses. The screams of the victims and the roaring of chainsaws could be heard from the outside, which made us all very weary before we entered. The three story haunted house left no room untouched, making it one of the longer attractions as well. This was surely the only house that we were relieved to see it was over.
The next one I would consider to be the last good one, a 3-D Fun House of Fear. The wait was a little longer, but the line took place inside the attraction itself, standing amongst the freak show. The inside wasn’t too horrifying, but the 3-D effects made it worth mentioning. The tempo of terror slowed through the final houses. One was themed with vampires, another was filled with fog, and the rest were filled with other oddities. The final level was the Blue Streak roller coaster, renamed the Ghoster Coaster for the event. It was a classic wooden roller coaster, except with the added thrill of being in the dark. So as we stepped off the ride, our journey through Ghost Lake was complete.