Crawford School of Terror - 2023

😱👻 Our Visit to Crawford School of Terror 😈🖤

Date: 9/22/2023

Location: Connellsville, PA

The creepy external appearance of Crawford School of Terror is only a small glimpse of the insanity that lies within the schoolhouse walls. The decrepit appearing two story schoolhouse creates an ominous atmosphere, instantly provoking a rush of anxiety. The old abandoned schoolhouse was once utilized as an elementary school and of course has documented accounts of paranormal activity - SPOOKY! FRS members, Chandler & Colleen, were stoked to be visiting these folks & were eager to see what’s changed at Crawford since FRS’ last visit in 2021!

Crawford School of Terror features three different themed areas to allow for a solid 15-20 minute spooky fun adventure! Your spine-chilling journey commences on the 2nd floor where you’ll experience “Classic Crawford”. As you continue forth you’ll descend to the 1st floor for “Hide & Seek” and your journey ultimately concludes with a hair-raising venture through “The Fallen”, housed in the eerie depths of the schoolhouse basement.

Crawford School of Terror relies heavily on their cast & crew to bring the attractions to life! And sure enough, these characters were full of life, featuring engaging skits & witty improv! You won’t find a plethora of animatronics along your journey, but you will find countless handcrafted scenes full of detail & creepy elegance. Sprinkle in eerie audio, some startling special effects and boom, you have yourself a nerve-wracking adventure!

There was quite a few changes & enhancements since our last visit back in 2021. We’ll highlight some of our favorite changes, scenes & character engagements below!

- The midway received a much needed facelift & is much livelier than ever before! Now featuring multiple food options (Coffee, Ice Cream, & other scrumptious snacks), small merchandise stand, axe throwing, escape game challenge, & roaming spooks! Plenty to keep haunt goers entertained while waiting their turn.

- Picture walking into complete darkness with Tiny Tim’s ‘Tip Toe Through The Tulips’ eerily playing overhead. Yeah, it was FREAKY! As suspense built, air cannons & quick actor-driven startle scares were cleverly placed to deliver several blood-curdling startles! This was one nerve-wracking game of “Hide & Seek”!

- We arrived at the nurses office & were accused of “faking illness”. It was later deemed we had a bad case of tonsillitis! This nurse was comical yet disturbing with her well executed engagement!

- Desks & chairs were haphazardly & quite bizarrely stacked from floor to ceiling to create a maze like pathway! And boy was the student in this classroom unruly! YIKES!

- The locker room featured a cleverly hidden prom Queen whom spared no shortage of humor during our interaction. It’s safe to say this character has a daunting secret!

- A science lab possessed an unethical scientist with a smorgasbord of “friends”. She was rather elated to show off her human eating centipede, Lorenzo!

- A rather animated & passionate janitor gave us all sorts of hell for tracking mud & vomit across his “clean” floors. If you have time to lean, you have time to clean seemed to be this fellows motto!

- “The Fallen” in the dark depths of the schoolhouse basement truly feels nothing like a basement. You instantly feel immersed into the creepy outdoors as you stumble upon an aesthetically pleasing yet ominous cabin. From that point forth chaos ensues! Be prepared to dodge the swift moving creatures in the swamp & the crypt keeper who’s looking to add teeth to her ever growing collection!

We would encourage you to gather your "classmates" for a field trip to Crawford School of Terror, no matter how long it's been since you last saw the inside of a classroom. The young actors here are professionally trained and are more skillful than many seasoned veterans of the haunt industry. Not one person broke character during our visit. Not to mention, these spooks possessed high-quality & graphic costuming and makeup that flawlessly tied with the overall theming.

Overall, Crawford School of Terror possesses an old-school style haunt vibe with a modern haunt twist. Minimal animatronics will be encountered, as they rely heavily on their scream team to bring the haunt to life - to which they did just that! Audio and visual special effects were elegantly and effectively utilized to make for an immersive and stunning quest. It's hard to believe this haunt is only in its 8th year of operation, as they’ve quickly mastered the craft of providing an unnerving and blood-curdling experience! If it’s not already, be sure to add Crawford School of Terror to your fall festivities!