Credit: Contributed Photo
Credit: Contributed Photo
Stops on the tour include:
- Blood Prison, 100 Reformatory Road in Mansfield
- Brimstone Haunt, 525 Brimstone Road in Wilmington
- Cincinnati Fear Fest, 1449 Greenbush Cobb Road in Williamsburg
- Dayton Scream Park, 4040 Wrightway Road in Dayton
- The Dent Schoolhouse, 5963 Harrison Ave. in Cincinnati
- The Final Resting Place, 988 Polk Road in Sabina
- Forsaken Forest, 5970 Indiana 121 in Richmond, Ind.
- Haunted Hoochie, 13861 Broad St. SW in Pataskala
- Land of Illusion, 8762 Thomas Road in Middletown
- Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall, 7700 Seward Ave. in Cincinnati
“This is really like a who’s who of haunted houses in southwest and central Ohio,” Massie said. “Blood Prison is the farthest one from our home base in Cincinnati.”
Last year, Ohio Valley Haunts awarded Blood Prison “Haunt of the Year.”
“They’re at the old Ohio State Reformatory,” Massie said. “It gives you the creeps just to look at it from the outside — much less going in to a haunted attraction that’s loaded with scares and scare actors."
How it works
Passports are $5 and can be purchased at any participating haunt. Many have the passports available as an add-on for online ticket sales.
Each time a person purchases a ticket at one of the participating haunts, they will receive a verification sticker.
Once they have visited all 10 haunts, participants can turn the booklet in at the last one where they will be asked for their contact information and what size hood they want.
Those that complete the tour will receive a Passport of Terror Tour hoodie at Ohio Valley Haunts’ awards banquet, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 9 at Forsaken Forest.
A way to unite haunted attractions throughout the region
The idea behind the Passport of Terror Tour came from a conversation with Jason Adams, co-owner of Forsaken Forest, at Ohio Valley Haunts’ awards banquet last year.
“He deserves a lot of the credit for getting me and Ohio Valley Haunts motivated to get behind this Passport of Terror and pull this together,” Massie said.
The goal of the passport was to get several haunted attractions to work together to attract more customers, as opposed to being in competition with each other.
“We’re all about the customers. We’re all about the haunts. We want everybody to work together,” Massie said. “We want everybody to go to as many as they can and have a great time doing it.”
Most haunted attractions participating in the tour were in attendance at last year’s banquet.
The early days of Ohio Valley Haunts
Ohio Valley Haunts started as a way for Massie to share the photos, stories and reviews he was doing of haunted houses in the region. They were previously being published in a local newspaper.
In the group’s heyday about 10 years ago, they were visiting more than 100 haunted attractions each season.
“It just exploded,” Massie said. “We started getting requests to leave our area. We’re based in Cincinnati, but we started getting requests to come to Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, Indiana (and) Kentucky.”
They even received a request to go to Great Britain.
“Over 100 in a little over a month’s time — it was very tiring and very time consuming," Massie said. “We were all haunted house enthusiasts. We used to buy our tickets and stand in line as a group and just enjoy the haunted houses every season. Basically, that’s where it stemmed from.”
Ohio Valley Haunts is expected to visit around 20 different sites this year featuring more than 40 attractions.
What makes a good haunt?
When they visit a haunt, they’re looking for good scares and surprises.
“How scary is it — that’s the one that’s weighted heaviest on our scale of rating haunted houses," Massie said.
They take length and cost into consideration, as well as the actors, costumes, quality of props, etc.
After the season, Ohio Valley Haunts will recognize the talent at those attractions through an awards banquet.
“They’re very dedicated, and they love what they do,” Massie said. “It’s just our way of recognizing them and giving them an actual physical award that they can display proudly and show their family and friends.”
The group visits anything from a modern haunt with large budgets to a homemade haunt that’s staffed by volunteers.
“Ohio has more haunted houses than any other state,” Massie said. “We’re well known for being the haunted house capital of the world.”
MORE DETAILS
Ohio Valley Haunts encourages those interested in participating in the tour to get an early start.
“We wanted to make this doable. We didn’t want to make it impossible,” Massie said. “This is the first opportunity and I think it’s important to get an early start start if you’re going to try to get through all 10 of these attractions.”
Passports will be available starting Friday, Sept. 5 at Land of Illusion.
For more information, visit ohiovalleyhaunts.com/passportofterror or the group’s Facebook page (@Ohiovalleyhaunts1).
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