😱👻🧡 Our Visit to Milltown Haunt 🧡👻😱
Date: 10/5/2024
Location: Lovettsville, Virginia
WOW, Milltown Haunt has taken the haunt industry by storm and has quickly become one of Virginia’s premier haunted attraction destinations! In just year one, Milltown Haunt has already far exceeded expectations and truly delivered an impressive and unforgettable experience! We didn’t know what to expect with our visit to MIlltown Haunt and what we got truly blew us away. These guys are definitely deserving of the Infamous “Hidden Gem” title that we rarely hand out.
Located on a dark and desolate property deep in the woods of Lovettsville, Virginia is the state's newest haunted attraction, Milltown Haunt. The dark and windy roads seemingly lead you to the middle of nowhere, the perfect location for a terrifying attraction! As you pull into the parking lot you’re immediately drawn to the unassuming external appearance of Milltown Haunt. We took notice of two 12’ skeletons lit with multi-color spotlights, several firepits, axe throwing, & 2 decent sized buildings. We’ll be honest, our expectations weren’t very high based on the external appearance. Once the gang was all onsite we headed forth towards the ticket booth.
Milltown Haunt offers two standard ticketing options, general admission at $30 per person OR RIP/skip the line admission at $40 per person. Something unique we took notice of at the ticket booth was an upgrade option where for $10 more you can go through the haunt an unlimited amount of times! That’ll certainly ensure you receive a full evening's worth of spooky fun! After snagging tickets you’ll be funneled through a small area featuring several great photo-ops. You’ll also pass by their small but well stocked merchandise booth! We were immediately drawn to the varying color options available for their shirts & hoodies… orange, purple, green, gray, black, & blue! FINALLY, haunt merch that’s NOT black!! We certainly stocked up on this great merch after our experience.
We had the pleasure of chatting briefly with one of the owners of Milltown Haunt prior to our experience. Sarah gave us a brief overview of the attraction, their backstory, and their community involvement. It was great to hear that they donate 10% of their ticket sales to support The Arc of Loudoun! We love to see haunts being involved in their local community. We also learned that the owners don’t have a deep history in haunting and it was mostly their daughter’s history of scare acting that helped spark interest in creating their own haunted attraction. Knowing this beforehand certainly made our experience even more impressive!
Perusing the midway we took notice of several local food trucks serving up various options ranging from ice cream to tacos. We also noticed a small bar setup selling beverages from One Family Brewing. An axe throwing pit serves as a good warmup to get the blood flowing prior to your haunt experience. But most notable in the midway were the several roaming characters! We were pleasantly surprised by the Hollywood quality costuming & makeup, which certainly gave us high hopes for the attraction itself. Not to mention the roaming spooks were some of the strongest actors we’ve encountered thus far in our 2024 spooky season travels. We have to give much love to “Hazard” and “Ditzy” as both were fully immersed in their character and delivered phenomenal engagements with our crew. There’s truly no words to describe how incredibly awesome Ditzy was, seriously the best of the best that you’ll ever encounter at a haunt! After snagging some pictures of the midway and interacting with the roaming spooks, we made our way to the queue line.
Milltown Haunt is a solid 15 minute adventure that is not for the faint of heart. Be prepared to endure non-stop horror on this unrelenting and spine-tingling journey! The attraction itself is housed in two decently sized buildings and also features a small outdoor section. Within seconds of entering the attraction we knew we were in for a special treat. The Gatekeeper was a rather interactive fellow who reviewed Granny's rules. We were forewarned that Granny would have a close eye on us at all times and before we knew it, Granny came violently thrashing towards us! We proceeded forth into a living room scene where a committed character played patty-cake with a doll. She voiced not a singular word but her presence succeeded at being a distraction for the actual hair-raising startle that came our way. As we continued forth we were quickly disoriented with slanted floors and another scene featuring soft & squishy floors. It’s small touches like these that truly help to disorient and further immerse patrons into the haunt. Grandma’s sewing room was visually stunning, as various slabs of skin were being stitched together. An outdoor section featured Darla the Scarecrow, stalking us from above. A few clever surprise startles were incorporated into this outdoor portion, ensuring the adrenaline rush carries all the way through. A funeral scene felt far too realistic as a gal was a blubbering mess over the death of her husband. But the coolest part was the legit musician playing on the organ, there was no pre-recorded audio in this scene! A mad scientist proudly showed off his newest test subject, sadly for us this patient had a terrible restraint system & we hardly made it out unscathed. A densely fogged swamp had creatures lurking within it, popping up out of nowhere to deliver a quick startle. As we entered a creepy voodoo-esque scene we were nearly eaten alive by a giant hissing snake! By far one of the most unique scenes we’ve EVER encountered featured Piper the Goat (yes! A real, live goat!) who was made to look like she was eating a decaying body! A small but effective blackout maze delivered a bone-chilling startle to one member as we certainly weren’t the only ones lurking in the darkness! A trippy panel maze had us spinning in circles trying to find our way out. It didn’t help that we could hear overhead the voices of nearby clowns fooling around & convincing us to go the wrong way. As we entered the circus we were greeted by several carnies, luring us in to play their games. One of these carnies cut us off-guard with their mobile game stand that came barreling towards us delivering quite an effective scare! Our adventure concluded with a trippy stroll through the Vortex tunnel which dumped us in the hands of a relentless chainsaw wielding maniac who sent us fleeing back to the midway!
As our gang congregated back in the midway we all immediately RAVED about our experience. We each had several memorable moments we were dying to share. One thing was for certain, we were BLOWN AWAY by the Milltown Haunt experience. So much so that we had to venture through a 2nd time to ensure we truly took in all that this small but overly impressive haunt had to offer! The scenic design was elegantly crafted with keen attention to detail. Strong usage of audio and visual effects were utilized to help further immerse the audience into the experience. The Milltown Haunt cast was easily one of the strongest we’ve encountered thus far this spooky season. From start to finish each character encountered was just as strong as the next! They were energized, relentless, creepy, engaging… truly fully immersed into whatever character they were portraying. From the roaming spooks “Ditzy” and “Hazard” to “Petunia” to the creepy voodoo lady to the organ player, we were thoroughly impressed with the cast's innate ability to provide engaging interactions. Truly an all around Chef’s Kiss performance!!
Before venturing off towards our 2nd haunt stop of the evening we had the chance to connect with Sarah (owner) once more. It was truly a pleasure to inform Sarah of how impressed we were with our experience. During our conversation we learned about Milltown Haunt’s upcoming “Gore and Garland” Christmas themed haunt! That’s right, if you’re looking for a little spooky fun after haunt season concludes, be sure to check out Milltown Haunt on Friday 12/13 or Saturday 12/14. We also learned about Milltown Haunt’s intentions to hopefully add a 2nd attraction in a future spooky season to come. If an additional attraction here is anything like the current, then Milltown Haunt is quickly on their way to becoming a force to be reckoned with! Don’t let the newness of Milltown Haunt’s existence fool you… these guys are serving up a haunt experience that far exceeds even some veteran haunted attractions! If Milltown Haunt isn’t on your radar, it should be NOW! We sense a very bright future ahead for Milltown Haunt and one thing for certain, you’ve found yourselves some life-long visitors & avid fans in the Fright Review Squad!
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