We’re finally in the month of October now, tis the season for all things spooky and scary! Halloween festivities are among us, including dressing up, parties, haunted hayrides, and haunted houses. If you live in or around the Ohio area, check out this list for the best haunted houses in the state. 

Carnival of Horrors

 If you love clowns (or plan to scare someone with clowns) you must check out the Carnival of Horrors. This carnival leads you on an exhilarating journey through a haunted house that features lots of different Hollywood-style effects and scares. It’s important that this carnival is extremely high intensity, and has been voted as one of Ohio’s number one attractions for the past several years. Check out the main attractions at this park: 

• The Trail of Terror: Check out one of the darkest corners of these haunted fairgrounds at the Trail of Terror. Travel on a dark trail with monsters that could be coming out to surprise you at any minute! You’ll also have to traverse through several abandoned barns. You must find a way to escape, without getting scared to death first!
• The Freakshow in 3D Terrorvision: This next attraction is Northeast Ohio's first and original fully three dimensional walk-through haunted house! This house uses state-of-the-art Chromadepth 3-D glasses that really bring the show to life. The floor, walls and ceiling become a living 3-D experience, that is guaranteed to knock you right out of those halloween socks! Once you have succeeded and are able to visit, you will pass through the 3D Vortex Funnel.
• The Insane Asylum: A little bit of a scarier take on the traditional view of an “insane asylum,” this last attraction is a winding and chaotic vortex of wrong turns, dead ends and terrifying “inmates” roaming around that are waiting for each and every single one of you. This maze will most likely have you very confused on how to escape! 

Spooky Ranch

Spooky Ranch has been open for over 30 years, as “Cleveland’s Premier Haunted Event.” Spooky Ranch offers you with 5 different haunted attractions, which include the Haunted Barn, Famous Haunted Hayride, Blood Slingers Saloon, Monster Visions in 3-D and Extreme Nightmares for a very reasonable price point. The Spooky Ranch is known to have some of the most technically advanced attractions in the entire state of Ohio! 

All attractions include:

• Hi-tech special effects and lighting
• Actors with speaking parts
• Scenes and facades so real, it’ll feel like you’re a part of a Hollywood production!

Even if you’re someone who’s afraid of getting too scared, you can still enjoy yourself at this attraction! Different packages are available that offer you with different levels of scream so to say, with the mild package 2 up to the extreme scare thriller in Extreme Package 1. Come to the Spooky Ranch for an entire night of entertainment, scares, tents, pumpkins, souvenirs and fun!

Fear Forest Haunted House and Hayride

You can never go wrong with a haunted hayride in the middle of nowhere! In Medina county you can journey along a one mile haunted hayride through the dark and deep woods of almost 60 acres. After that, you will enter another trail that’s a bit longer with a lot more to see. 

The next trail, Night Stalker’s Trail, is a quarter-mile long haunted walking trail that will take you far into the woods. Take a look at a variety of sets, scenes, and displays while you go through!  Finally, You will then enter the Mortuary Haunted House. This haunted house acts as a funeral home, but the caretaker has other plans for you!

Brimstone Haunt

Brimstone Kingdom, where Brimstone Haunted Hayride is named after, was once a beautiful extravagant place that was even told in fairytales. However, the kingdom was overturned and took a bit of a dark side. Now, monsters and other evil spirits haunt the abandoned area and have created complete chaos. 

Check out what all you can explore when you visit this attraction: 

• Forgotten Forest: The Forgotten Forest is an attraction at the Brimstone Haunted filled with complete mystery. Many people throughout the years have tried searching for answers to the unnatural events that have occurred within the forest, including people going missing and suspected evil spirits being the culprit. Only enter this forest if you dare! 
• Psychosis: Around every dark corner at this attraction, you will find disturbing and gruesome scenes of horror that will strip you away from reality. Prepare to get the yell scared out of you as wind through various maze-like paths trying to get your way out. 
• Zombie Assault: The zombie apocalypse is here at this attraction! The zombie infection has spread to every corner of the globe and the future seems bleak. There is a small refugee camp nearby that has managed to fight off the hoard and is heavily reinforced. Board our armored bus with a group of fellow survivors and a small assault team who will protect you in transit to the camp and see if you can survive the zombie assault.

Ohio State Reformatory 

The Ohio State Reformatory located in Mansfield is one of the most genuinely haunted and supernatural locations in all of America. It was originally designed in the late 1800s as a  reformatory for less violent criminals in Ohio. The name reformatory comes from the means to reform inmates rather than severely punishing them. Unfortunately, the reformatory didn’t hold its original function for very long, and the prison soon became very dangerous and violent places. Many suicides occurred here, and the warden’s wife was even murdered. You may have heard of this place through many paranormal hunting shows on television that have featured the location! 

This reformatory opens doors for:

• Private tours
• Group tours
• Guided tours
• Paranormal hunting clubs
• Paranormal experimentation
• Paranormal hunting classes

If you are looking to experience some real ghost action, then this is the place for you! Strange sights, sounds, feelings of rage and despair, and sensations that’ll leave you shaking. 

Camp Deadwood

Located on the grounds of an abandoned haunted camp is where you’ll find this next attraction, Camp Deadwood. Visitors will arrive at the gate of the camp and give a group name and phone number. You will then be directed to the parking lot where you can find food trucks, carnival games, and face painting. Don’t expect this innocent fun to last for long however, when the bus comes and gets you! Basically you will be transported to the middle of nowhere, and your groups will have to navigate the way through a haunted camp which can take upwards of an hour to complete. That is, if your group can complete it!

Wells Township Haunted House

Constructed in 1836, this haunted house that resides in Wells Township is thought of as being the storage location for the bodies of soldiers killed during the Civil War. Over the past century, those who have spent time on the property have claimed to hear strange noises and voices while in the house. This is the perfect location for paranormal experts to come and explore, with the opportunity to be spooked by some restless souls. Workers on this property attest to hearing strange noises and voices while in the building. 

To this day, paranormal experts deem this as a “very active building,” fraught with restless souls, and now you can come tour it for yourself - if you dare. With over 10,000 square feet to explore, you may just join the ranks of those who have experienced the true paranormal activity of this place.

Highway 50 Fright Field

Highway 50 Fright Field is a haunted trail and woods located on a real haunted farm, near an Indian archaeological site. The farm dates all the way back from the 1830s! Prepare for some real frights at this haunted trail, that will bring mayhem to your entire party.Live haunts throughout will bring mayhem to all.

Visits at this attraction:

• Haunted Trail & Woods
• the Operation Termination Zombie Paintball Gallery
• the NEW Corn Cob Cannon
• Visit the gift shop & museum!

Chippewa Lake Slaughterhouse

The Chippewa Lake Slaughterhouse is one of the most realistic horror experiences in the entire state of Ohio. This is a haunted attraction with professional actors and Hollywood level technology. In 1948, the slaughterhouse originally opened its doors as “Karver Meats.” After almost 40 years, the factory shut down and the Karver family had disappeared! It’s been rumored that there have been some mutated creatures that have been haunting the factory for some time now, so if you’re interested in finding out more you must go visit! Learn about all of the darkest secrets that once took place at the factory and more this Halloween season. 

Haunted Hoochie by Dead Acres

Haunted Hoochie by Dead Acres is one of the most unique haunted house attractions you’ll come by in the state of Ohio. As you approach this attraction, you’ll feel the intense heat of the flames shooting out from the top of the entrance into the sky, which might make you question if it’s really safe to enter!

Prepare yourself to journey through: 

• Rickety log cabins
• Musty caverns
• Monster-infested swamps
• Underground cellars

Face monsters and demented sights are some of what you’ll come across, all created with precise attention to detail. It should also be noted that this attraction is an extreme haunt, and is primarily for those of 18 years or older. 

The Haunted Cave at Lewisburg

The Haunted Cave at Lewisburg is the only real underground mine that exists as a Halloween attraction in the region. The entire cave is almost 100 feet beneath Lewisburg, Ohio, and home to many ghosts, ghouls, creatures that exist ONLY underground. And be prepared to have to find your way out of the different chambers within the cave. 

The Dent Schoolhouse

The popular Dent Schoolhouse, located in Cincinnati, is one of Cincinnati’s most popular Halloween attractions. People can't wait for up to several hours at a time to be bombarded with all different sorts of ghosts and ghouls! The Dent Schoolhouse has also been named one of the scariest haunted houses in the nation by different news outlets including “Oprah Magazine,” USA TODAY, and BuzzFeed. 

So, how did this schoolhouse come to be and why is it now a haunted attraction? The large yet mysterious red brick building at 5963 Harrison Ave was once known as the Dent Public School. Locals from around the area say that the school was closed, because dozens of children kept going missing! This all occurred between the years of 1942 to 1955.  

Ghosts tours are offered every single Wednesday in October. Tours have to be reserved online, and it’s important to note that group size is limited. Paranormal groups can also do investigations at this attraction if they wish, where you can contact them through a contact page.  The general admission, fast pass admission, and front of the line pass give you entry to both The Dent Schoolhouse and Queen City Slaughter Yard.

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Which attractions peak your interest most? Let us know in the comments!