Reaper’s Revenge Haunted Hayride & Attractions listened to its audience, so the apocalypse goes harder this year in Scott Twp.
At Gravestone Manor in Plains Twp., United Way of Wyoming Valley volunteers are celebrating their 25th unique show with a greatest hits collection set in a nightmare.
Both venues are open for the season and are two of the largest haunted attractions in the area.
The Reaper’s Revenge Haunted Hayride & Attractions has ramped up some scares. (The Reaper’s Revenge Haunted Hayride & Attractions)
At Reaper’s Revenge, audience feedback sparked changes in Sector 13, one of five areas of the 65-acre attraction.
Sector 13 is set in the aftermath of a bio-nuclear attack in the eastern half of the United States. It’s a maze that the few who have survived the attack of cannibalistic mutants attempt to solve, in order to escape to a relatively normal territory.
“Sector 13 this year has gone back to its roots, let’s just put it that way,” said Reaper’s Revenge spokesperson Amy Black. “It’s a lot more intense. It’s gone back to its original intensity.”
Now there is more interplay, with actors speaking to customers and feeding off their reactions.
Tickets include all five attractions. In addition to Sector 13, there is a haunted hayride, the Lost Carnival, a fictional shuttered lightbulb factory called Pitch Black and an attraction called Delirium.
The Lost Carnival is Black’s favorite because of how real the rides, circus tents and other elements look. The rides are props, but convincing, she said.
“The Ferris wheel moves and it sings a little haunting song as it’s moving,” she said. “It’s pretty cool.
“Once you walk in there you feel that you have stumbled into the woods and found this crazy lost carnival in the middle of nowhere,” Black said.
On a scary scale of one to 10, Reaper’s Revenge is an eight, said marketing director Tyler Nordquist.
The daytime children’s attractions, Lil’ Grim’s Hayride and a maze with 3D glasses, return for a second year on Saturdays and Sundays in October.
“It is all of the spectacle of the night show without the intense interaction with the actors,” Black said. “There is no jump scaring. We have storytellers on the wagons.”
In season, there are around 260 people working at the attraction, including about 185 actors.
Reaper’s Revenge runs Friday through Sunday until Nov. 2. Gates open at 6 p.m. and close between 9:30 and 10:30, based on the night.
Tickets start at $59 most days, but go up to $69 on the Saturdays of Oct. 11, 18 and 25.
Ticket sales at the door are cash only. They are sold online at reapersrevenge.com/tickets, which includes a color-coded chart of busy times.
The address is 460 Green Grove Road, Scott Twp.
Black expects about 22,500 visits for the season.
Gravestone Manor
At Trion Industries in Plains Twp., the facade of an old house is hidden inside donated warehouse space. The volunteers take pride in redesigning more than a dozen rooms inside each year for a new show.
This is the 25th show and is being celebrated with a greatest hits compilation called “Dead Sleep.”
Guests follow a narrator named Ripley through a nightmare that echoes rooms from past shows. That includes an exorcism, a seance and an old funeral parlor.
“The way we like to put it, you are going to see a play,” said project coordinator Rob Padden. “Except, you are on stage with the actors.”
On a scary scale of one to 10, Gravestone Manor is a six, Padden said.
Some people who then worked at Sallie Mae — a financial services company specializing in student loans — started Gravestone Manor in the office’s Hanover Twp. cafeteria in 1998. Three years it went dark — one when they were searching for a new home and two because of the pandemic.
After it landed at Trion Industries in 2006, Padden realized it had a permanent audience.
“Me and a grandfather clock are the only things that have been in all 25 shows,” Padden said.
For most of that time, he’s been joined by Rodrick Markham, the lead carpenter and effects designer.
Gravestone Manor has raised more than half a million dollars for the United Way of Wyoming Valley and hopes to donate around $25,000 this year, with an all-volunteer workforce of around 60 people. Padden’s email signature tagline is “A good scare for a good cause.”
“Gravestone Manor has become such a beloved Halloween tradition in our community, and it’s all because of the incredible volunteers who make it happen,” Sara Peperno, president and CEO of the United Way, said in an email. “To think that a haunted house has raised such a tremendous amount of money for United Way of Wyoming Valley to help children and families is just amazing! We are so grateful for their creativity, hard work, and generosity. And for proving that even a good scare can make a real difference!”
Gravestone Manor is open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through Oct. 26.
Hours are 7 until 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 7 until 9:30 p.m. on Sundays. Anyone in line at 10 p.m. can enter, and tours continue until all guests have exited.
Tickets are $12 and sold only at the door.
Other attractions
Other haunted attractions in the area include Circle of Screams in Dickson City; Horror Hall in West Nanticoke; Hellstead Manor in Great Bend Twp.; Massacre Mansion in Greenfield Twp.; Hell’s Nightmares in Dallas Twp., and the Pardeesville Haunted Trail in Hazle Twp.