By Evan Ruszczyk
It is October and with Halloween fast approaching, we are smack in the middle of what many people call Spooky Season. Lake Compounce makes the most of the season with its Phantom Fall Fest, open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, now through Oct. 30.
The Halloween decorations are out in full force and the fest offers a variety of Halloween activities on top of the normal park attractions. There will be a Kids Costume Contest on Oct. 23 at 3 p.m. For kids 12 and under, the kid with the most adorable costume will be awarded a 2023 Gold Season Pass. You can also go trick-or-treating in the park all day on Oct. 30.
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Phantom Fall Fest and share my experiences.
Let’s start with the park as a whole.
The first thing you’ll notice is the abundance of cobwebs, skeletons and fog machines. If you listen closely, you’ll also notice that the normally light and whimsical carousel music is replaced with a spooky soundtrack. Some of the lighting throughout the park has also been switched to reds, oranges and purples. One thing that might be of interest to “Stranger Things” fans is the food booth that was featured in the trailer for season three of the show. Right away guests are thrown into the Halloween mood.
In keeping with the Halloween mood, there are plenty of opportunities to get your scare on. There are four haunted houses in the park but before you even get in the houses there are few “scare zones.” These are areas of the park with scare actors and a few set pieces to engage with. Signs were placed at the edges of scare zones to warn guests that they were entering an area with scare actors.
The first scare zone I encountered was Monster Hunters.
Found in front of the entrance to Sawmill Plunge, the setting is a campsite in the woods. A tent can be found in the center of the zone with a bulletin board with a map and some missing person notices pinned to it. A nearby radio plays “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by The Charlie Daniels Band. But don’t get too distracted by the music, there are monsters lying in wait and where there are monsters, there are monster hunters.
Roaming the scare zone are a couple of monster hunters, armed and covered in blood, shouting warnings not to dawdle for too long, otherwise you might cross paths with a werewolf. You’ll find a sasquatch as well and if you’re particularly lucky, they will offer you a high five.
If you continue down the hill towards Boulder Dash, you will find the second scare zone, Witches Revenge. Set during the witch trials of the 18th century, bookshelves and shrines with a variety of occult objects and symbols can be found on either side of the walkway. Along the way you’ll find a witch with her latest victim tied to a nearby tree. Acknowledge that he is tied to the tree and you might find yourself being viciously mocked. The witch was more than happy to describe her plans for her victim as well.
Unfortunately, the third scare zone, MasqueRage, was not running during my visit. The actors in both scare zones I experienced were entertaining and engaging. Actors in both zones were open to posing for pictures as well. There was even an actor in the Monster Hunters scare zone take a selfie with some guests.
The scare zones aren’t the only places full of fright. There are also four haunted houses to go through, with plenty of opportunities to stoke fear in your heart. I went through all four houses and have devised a rating system of one to ten skeletons, because as we know, the more skeletons around, the scarier it gets, as well as providing some mostly spoiler free thoughts.
Let’s start with MediEvil, which as you might have guessed, is medieval themed. Guests are immediately brought before the Inquisitor in his chamber where he accuses someone in your group of witchcraft or some other heinous crime and designates that guest as the one to go first down the hall. The rest of the haunt is filled with jail cells with other prisoners, various pieces of torture equipment and even a plague doctor “treating” some patients. I particularly enjoyed the set design of this haunt as well as the interactions with the actors. Overall, MediEvil receives seven skeletons.
Next up is Root of All Evil, where you meet Dr. Belladonna Thornwoode and her various botanical creations. As such, you’ll find plenty of foliage, but beware of what might be lurking among the leaves. The prop and costume design in this haunt were excellent and really helped set the scenes and immerse guests in the theme of this haunt. You might come across a few familiar potted plants and if your name is Seymour these plants might even ask you to feed them. Some of the costumes even had me remarking out loud about how cool they are and one particular costume nearly stopped in my tracks with how great it was. This haunt is eight skeletons.
Next, we have Spirits of the Swamp, which takes us to the Bayou, where some sinister spirits are waiting for us.
Starting in what appears to be a rather twisted curio shop, you very quickly find yourself traveling through the not-so-great outdoors. Worshipers of these swamp spirits can be found deep in the Bayou and they don’t mess around. I’m not someone who scares easily but these scare actors got me good on more than a few occasions and even the ones that didn’t were still great characters. The theme in this haunt is also very good and particularly well designed. Spirits of the Swamp gets nine spooky skeletons.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, each of these haunts is better than the last, and that remains true with Alice in Wonderland. This haunt is an additional $5 dollar charge, tickets can be bought online or at the entrance of the haunt and it is well worth the money. If you couldn’t tell from the name, this is an Alice in Wonderland themed haunt and boy do they deliver on that theme.
First and foremost, this haunt offers two paths for you to take, the Rabbit Hole or Through The Looking Glass. Both paths offer equally great experiences, but I chose to go Through the Looking Glass Walking out of this haunt and I was at a loss for words.
The costumes were absolutely amazing. The set design was visually stunning with even the hallways grabbing your eyes with props and set pieces. Every actor and actress were better than the last, from the janitor warning you about Alice, Alice herself begging for help and even evoking a little sympathy to the Mad Hatter reprimanding you for being late to the tea party. Each part was played magnificently, and I cannot speak highly enough about Alice in Wonderland, so I am giving it a full ten skeletons, a veritable monster mash.
The Phantom Fall Fest at Lake Compounce is enjoyable and highly recommend for anyone looking to get their dose of fright during this Spooky Season.
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