Thursday, October 16, 2014

[Haunt Review] Pennhurst Asylum - A True Journey into Madness


Okay, this one has been our list for years now. Even before it opened I had wanted to get into the place just to see it. The fact that there's now a haunt in this amazing location is just icing on the cake and let me tell ya, the atmosphere is all here. Nothing like a crumbling mental institution/state school to really get ya in the mood, you can't manufacture the vibe you get.

While there's a lot of controversy around haunts like this, Pennhurst is handling it in one of the best ways possible and I have to applaud them for doing such. This isn't a small undertaking, not even remotely, and what they've done? Holy crap, it's amazing. How much did we like it? Well, we bought stuff from 'em, that's how much.
  • Date Visited: 10/11/14
  • Review Team: +Carrie H.C.  +Filip Muncan and +Kitsune Hazard 
  • Rating: Extremely Good
  • Recommendation: If you're even close to Philly, you need to get out here to see this place, it's that good.
  • Likes: Is everything an option? Love the museum as part of the "Ghost Hunt" that they have and the actors, really, they sell this place along with the atmosphere.
  • Dislikes: Would like to see more from certain areas, specifically The Tunnel Terror, it felt a little disjointed in some places from the rest of what's going on and some actors just weren't there. Yes, that's nitpicking, but it's what I do!
  • Pro-Tip: If it looks like it's going to be busy, VIP is the only thing that's going to help you,the lines can get insanely long. Also, definitely check out the Ghost Hunt portion, the history in the museum is worth it alone!
  • *Warning: The actors will touch you, corner you and generally mess about. Nothing too insane, but they will touch you. There are also steps and other hazards to deal with, this is basically a stabilized ruin after all.
Disclaimer: We were invited out to check out Pennhurst Asylum this year and given complimentary passes as part of that. This, as always, has no influence over our views or opinions of any attraction that we visit. 

Formality over with, let's dive into the madness!
After parking off site and then getting bussed in by one of the most entertaining and scary bus drivers in the world (Love ya Miss T!), you come face to face with the immense scale of what you're about to encounter. Dropped off right near the administration building, you find yourself quickly right in the heart of the lower campus of the former Pennhurst State School and Hospital.

What lies beyond this? Some of your worst nightmares come true.

After a pretty intensive security check, you're let loose onto the grounds and to make your way to the first attraction in a series of 3 or 4, depending on your ticket. It's easy to meander a bit and get lost in the feeling of the place some, but it's the perfect set up. There's just no way you can't get caught up in it and I really have to hand it to the crew here for doing a helluva job with the buildings and grounds.

Surrounded by these old buildings, with a million stories to tell, you get tossed into a realm of insanity and terror that's just lurking about in every corner. The first place we headed to start off our night? The Asylum itself.

After a short little pre-show with some fire breathing and other such, we were led up the stairs into the first room. Here, we were given the rules and lay of the land before being ushered into a waiting room...with a nun. Nuns are scary folks, at least this one was but also pretty amusing too.

What laid beyond this? Chaos, we were split up into even smaller groups and sent into the bowls of madness, and it was everywhere.

To be honest, all of us were just happy to be inside of this amazing building and were looking at everything, which the creatures and lunatics definitely used to their advantage. The scares came from all over and they were not afraid to get into your face about it either. You're on their turf and the quicker you realize that, the better. It's a wicked little playground that definitely has a feel like no other place out there. Sure, some areas lack details, but when you have a building like this? It's all detail!


It's a twisting hell that covers two entire floors of the building and you'll run into all manner of crazy. Maniacal doctors, evil dentists and deranged candy stripers along with patients galore await you and they're all wanting one thing...for you to stay with them, forever. Through twisting corridors, empty (or not so empty) patient rooms, operating rooms and more, we found ourselves face to face with all kinds of weirdness and we loved every minute of it.

There really wasn't anything that we could say we wanted more of, except for, well, more of it and a longer experience here. Nothing stood out to us as being bad or off, they were on it and weren't pulling any punches which was great to see!

Once we made it out, we found ourselves out the back of the building and quickly made our way back around to the front, this time though? We were going down into the bowels of the place and into the Dungeon of Lost Souls. It's here in a winding and confusing maze of old cells, operating rooms and even the odd little experiment or two that even more weirdness hits you and it comes right as you enter their domain.

Again, the actors and sets were amazing, everything was dead on and they weren't going to give you an inch if they could help it. Around every corner, even under a few, there was a great mix of pretty much everything you'd expect from the setting and a few things you definitely won't see coming!

Back outside, we found ourselves around another line and then face to face with more stairs that led down. This time it was for The Tunnel Terror. Inside one of the old walkways that patients used to use to get around, we came up against some truly bizarre and weird stuff. Weird swamp monsters? Check! Ancient crypts? Yep, them too! There's a few other things down there, but I won't spoil the surprise too much. 

This area was fun, but it wasn't without it's faults and things just seemed to be a little disjointed and while I get they want to vary things up from the other two attractions, maybe sticking with the theme of the place here is the best way to go. I dunno, just felt a little out of place with some of the scenes going on. Still enjoyable, just a little head scratching to me is all and always, your mileage will vary on that one.

Once we had escaped, we found ourselves circling back around to the Ghost Hunt portion of the night. There are no scares here, no actors, just history and seeing one of the buildings in it's current state of being.

The museum is staffed by two incredibly lovely ladies that were former employees when the hospital was open and have a huge wealth of knowledge about the property. This really should be a stop everyone makes as it really illustrates just what happened and how life was really like for those who called Pennhurst home.

In addition to that, there are a ton of artifacts, former patient belongings and photographs that are on display for folks to view as well. It's definitely one of the coolest things any haunt does and I really do applaud the folks at Pennhurst for doing this to share the history of the location. After this, we took the time to wander the halls of the Mayflower building to see what else was left about. During this portion of the night you are allowed to take pictures and freely look about as you see fit in the two floors that they have open for such.

Pennhurst is one of those rare gems out there, after four years of operation they're still hitting it strong and nothing is really "half assed" in the place. There's some truly great actors, sets and crew that put in a ton of time and effort to make this easily one of the very best haunts that I've ever had the privilege to visit.

There's only a few things that hold this back from being a truly "Excellent" haunt in our ratings, but I have no doubt that in the future they'll get there without too much effort.

For more information on; tickets, dates, hours and directions, check out the official Pennhurst Asylum website for that and more!

Be sure to follow along with all the madness with us all throughout Haunt Season and during Haunt Tour 2014 on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr and even Facebook for all the latest!

No comments:

Post a Comment