Written by J.T. Koch / Spill Editor
Screams can faintly be heard throughout the hallways. Monsters sneak through the dark rooms. Ghouls hide around corners, waiting to leap out and scare their victims.
All of this is normal in the Nightmare on Edgewood haunted house. Edgewood is a high-intensity experience that manages to not only scare but entertain every year.
For 48 years, Nightmare on Edgewood has been terrifying those brave enough to visit. However, to the dismay of fans, Nightmare on Edgewood will be closing at the end of its 2025 season as stated on their website.
With an inability to buy their building, they chose to close after this year which marks the end of a tradition my friends and I had. Over the years, five of my friends and I would dress up as the Scooby Doo gang—plus a crossover character—and brave the horrors of Nightmare on Edgewood together.
Nightmare on Edgewood was made up of three consecutive attractions. It’s unlike normal haunted houses where you have to wait in line for each. Nightmare on Edgewood has the end of one house lead straight to the line starting the other, preventing you from getting bored before your next scare.
The way the separate houses are presented is very interesting. At the start of first house, you’re in the “Edgewood Cinema,” and, after meeting a few friendly employees, you are seated for a triple header being shown in theater one. The movies are titled “Unhinged,” “The Factory” and “Conley Farm.”
However, before the movie can start, you are met by an actor that informs you that you’re the main character of these horror films and drags you into the screen.
The first house, “Unhinged,” is a family home possessed by madness that led the inhabitants to go insane. This house wasn’t entirely as scary as some of the others, but some of the interactions with the actors were the most memorable. It has a great set design and really manages to show some of the basics to expect at Nightmare on Edgewood.
“The Factory” has an abandoned industrial vibe. Walking through clouds of smoke and random machines with blinking lights, you can find two main attractions: the doctors and the trash compactor.
The doctors are looking to perform a check-up no matter how unwilling you might be, grabbing you and throwing you into a chair or table to check on you. The trash compactor tests your claustrophobia and fears of sudden movements, slowly compressing the room smaller and smaller area. Just before you get crushed, the floor drops, saving you for the time being.
Lastly, we have my favorite, “Conley Farm,” the country attraction where Nightmare on Edgewood really shines. Here the actors are the most interactive and scary compared to anywhere else.
Talking too much could lead to being pinned to a trophy wall, locked in a pig pen, forced to be a horse, your hands almost getting chopped off with a saw and much more. The set design is once again amazing, and you really forget that you are inside of a warehouse. The farm comes to a dark and dirty end: we are buried alive. Forced into a dark room, we were buried in plastic balls that fully compacted us and trapped us. Shortly, they emptied the room and the Nightmare of Edgewood was over. It’s sad to see the nightmare go; it was by far my favorite haunted house.
