Haunted houses may provide the perfect experience for those looking for something terrifying to do this Halloween season.
Horror lovers seek the thrill of the jump scare, revelling in frightening and grotesque scenes. It’s easy to remove yourself from a movie, but a haunted house puts you directly into the action.
With Halloween upon us, now is the perfect time to explore these frightening attractions. Not everyone has the time or the means to get to Halloween Haunt, so here are some of Niagara’s best haunted houses.
Clifton Hill
One of the most well-known Niagara Falls attractions also features a fair number of creepy attractions and rides.
At Clifton Hill, you can take up arms against clowns, zombies, ghosts or you can wander through decrepit and frightening haunted houses. House of Frankenstein is a haunted house that features a new element, The Frank’N Coaster: Canada’s only rooftop roller coaster. Dracula’s Haunted Castle offers three different levels of fear for its patrons, and the aptly titled Haunted House offers the “usual frights.”
One of the most interesting destinations at Clifton Hill is the Movieland Wax Museum, which features lifelike sculptures from popular culture. Near the end of the exhibit is the “House of Horrors,” a fun and spooky experience for horror lovers.
The $35 Clifton Hill Fun Pass only features a few of these attractions, but the street is worth checking out for a day’s worth of activities.
Ghost Walks: Niagara-on-the-Lake
Somewhat of an oddball on this list is the haunted tour of Niagara-on-the-Lake by Ghost Walks. Both informative and creepy, this cheap excursion — $16 per ticket — can teach you about the darker side of Canada’s oldest and most haunted town.
This is a Traditional Ghost Tour, meaning it doesn’t have costumed ghouls or shocking thrills, instead relying on “real history and ghosts” to turn your blood cold. As an outdoor tour, you won’t enter any of the following buildings, but you will hear about The Prince of Wales Hotel, Royal George Theatre, Apothecary, the infamous Olde Angel Inn and more. Moreover, you’ll be told the tale of North America’s oldest legend.
If you’re into haunted histories, this one is for you.
Nightmares Fear Factory
This one is not for the faint of heart. Located at the top of Clifton Hill, Nightmares Fear Factory is a haunted house boasting that over 185,000 people have chickened out and failed to complete it.
Home of the once industrious Cataract Coffin Factory, the legend goes that old proprietor Abraham Mortimer was crushed to death beneath his coffins after a scuffle with some young pranksters. Soon after his funeral, Mortimer’s coffin was found empty, and some say he still walks the halls looking to punish any trespassers.
This haunted house relies on a more psychological effect to achieve its scares, with one reviewer writing that “it plays on your psyche and creates an atmosphere of absolute dread and suspense.”
Tickets for those brave enough are $17.70 per person. Bring your friends or go alone, many say it doesn’t matter; you’ll still be terrified.
Queenston Heights Park
As a Brock-themed bonus, you can visit this monument site free of charge. This is not an attraction, but rather the home of the Brock Monument. Sir Isaac Brock was killed in the Battle of Queenston Heights and rests beneath the monument.
With so many having died at this location, it’s no wonder that some have claimed to see the spirits of dead soldiers, red-hued shadows in their headlights as they drive up the road at night — perhaps the ghost of Sir Isaac Brock himself.
Even without any supernatural activity, the monument and location are worth checking out if you’re interested in the namesake of our university and Niagara’s history.
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With ghosts and goblins abound, both historical and fantastical, there’s much to explore around the Niagara region if you want to get a bit more out of the Halloween season. There’s no better way to remind yourself that you’re alive than with a good scare, and there’s no better time to do so than when midterms are ending and exams are lurking around the corner.