Washington DC Area Haunted Trail
Halloween is a great time of year. The autumn is at its brightest, the weather begins to cool, and there is lots of family fun to look forward to. As such, I have been to a few “haunted houses” this year. I have been on a haunted trail and went through a haunted corn maze, but nothing in the DC region compares to the Valley Mill Halloween celebration.
At the Valley Mill Summer Camp near Potomac, Maryland is a wonderful and cheap Halloween night that is both frightening and fun for the whole family. The park features several carnival-type arcade games in which participants can win spooky teeth, sweets, and plastic spiders by popping baloons with darts, shooting paintball guns and targeting accurately with a bow and arrow.
The main center also features a fortune teller, a family bonfire, and a giant screen for scary movies. During the family hours (before 9 PM) the movies are kid fare such as Nightmare Before Christmas, and later at night the movies switch over to Van Helsing and similar movies.
There is a wonderful concession stand area that features delicious hot dogs, candy, popcorn and delicious hot apple cider for great prices.
The best of all is the haunted trail. This candle lit trail winds through the dark woods and through spooky scenes and scary scenarios and it is full of frights and fun. The actors are marvelous and the special effects and lighting are outstanding.
At one point my group was going through a very long darkened tunnel full of fog and lit by a strobe light. Just a little over half-way through, we were chased out of the tunnel by a raving madman with a chainsaw! My friends were behind me and were screaming and pushing me forward. I could not see what was behind me at all, but I was laughing and running and the strobe effect produced a vivid image of the tunnel exit bouncing before my eyes. It was probably about this time that my friend “Carlos” lost his cellphone. He was screaming like a girl (or maybe that was me) and flailing in his efforts to escape the tunnel of terror.
After the trail was completed, everyone enjoyed the delicious cider and then went on a haunted hayride, which also comes with the price of admission. This was an enjoyable ride through the darkened forest, lit only by jack-o-lanterns. At several intervals along the path the hayriders encountered various monsters and scenes, and this also provided some good frights for the group.
The haunted trail probably shouldnt be for kids under 10. But everything else is great fun and is highly recommended.
