It was a dark and stormy night........

And it truly was a dark and stormy night the evening me and my buddy, Bones, took to the road and headed north, out of town and toward the small burg called Hartford.  While I was at the wheel, Bones acted as my navigator, helping me read off of the maps app on my phone.

As we flew up the freeway the skies grew darker and at one point Bones remarked, "Look over that way!" He pointed just northwest of the freeway.  "The clouds are super dark over there."

Sure enough, amongst the murky gray clouds that had already spread across the entire sky that day, there was a big blotch of pure black sky just looming and waiting to burst into a nasty rain storm.

"Great. That's just where we are headed." I replied with a tinge of displeasure in my voice.

After dealing with a particular tricky round-a-bout (I frackin' hate those things) we found ourselves driving right into the thick of the black clouded mass, toward downtown Hartford, Wisconsin.

The torrential downpour started just as we were entering the small township.  Visibility was slim to nil and we still had to find the cross street to our first destination.  I didn't have the map app zoomed in enough, but I wasn't concerned since there usually was a big, blinking, light-up sign helping direct us to our destination so no one would miss it, but this year it wasn't where it usually was and we ended up turning on the street before the one we were supposed to use.

This was less than beneficial, since the forefathers of the small town decided to design the roads in a manner making it quite difficult to make a right hand turn to where we needed to go.  The rain was falling harder and harder, pelting against the car windows so that it was still hard to see even though I had the wipers on the "super-friggin'-fast" mode.

After a u-turn, we found a small alleyway that miraculously led us right up to our first place of interest we wanted to visit tonight.  I parked, but we found ourselves trapped in the car for the time being as gallons upon gallons of rainwater throttled down against the ground from the dark skies above.

Now what possible places in this town known as Hartford were we so anxious to visit that we would traverse a nasty weather system while driving, you may ask?

For myself, being a fine connoisseur of Haunted Attractions, the answer is simple.  The town of Hartford is easily one of the big hot spots when it comes to a couple of the finest Haunts that haunt enthusiasts can visit during the October season.

Both Terror on Rural Street, as well as The Hartford JC's Haunted House, were always among my favorite visits during Halloween.  It had been a couple years since I last visited them and this time I brought my old chum, Bones, along since he has shown an interest in visiting haunts with me in recent years.

Our patience paid off as the rain slowed and then completely stopped in a short amount of time, allowing us to get out and visit the first haunt of the evening......


Terror On Rural Street - Upon entering the realm of Terror on Rural Street we were greeted with a fenced off graveyard with a sign overhead reading, "No Safehaven".  Once we got our tickets and our numbers were called we made our way past the graveyard to a facade of a dilapidated building.  We went through the doors and inside to find... another facade of another dilapidated building.  Double creep-tastic!  Since we had gotten there earlier in the evening, we were the only ones in the line and we went in shortly after the patented safety spiel had been read to us.

The door to the main haunt opened by itself ushering us into the world of dark madness.  The theme of this year's show seemed to fall into the category of old sanitarium where mad doctors made unnecessary experiments on the already dangerously troubled inmates.  During our journey we passed a couple of old souls trapped behind bars, pleading for their freedom as well as long forgotten corpses of patients past who would suddenly become reanimated and shake in their chains.

There were a couple of stand out rooms for me.  There was one room where a mad doctor had a poor patient strapped to a slab where a giant scythe-like pendulum sliced too and fro, slicing him in two through his stomach.  Of course the victim is very much alive and pleading for help that will never come.  The best thing is you may leave a little more moist from when you entered the room.  And it won't be your bodily functions you have to worry about.  Bruahahaha.

Then there is the the hallway where a spooky young girl lurks.  Not only do you have to avoid her you also have to keep your senses in check as the hallway appears to alter and bend.  This is a really cool effect!  There's also the room of many doors that you will easily get lost in.

As in years past, Terror on Rural Street keeps its top notch quality while delivering the scares!  Bones was pretty impressed also.

The Hartford JC's Haunted House  - Down the road from our last haunt is Fireman's Park.  To get there we had to drive up a dark, winding, heavily wooded road.  Once out of the wooded area we were in a parking lot of a nice and seemingly safe little park.

All feelings of that safety left us as the spooky farm house, looming in the park caught our attention.  We bought our tickets and waited in a musty old barn until they called out ticked numbers.  We then waited a little more in a tent just outside of the old farmhouse.  After a few visitors left their seats to travel into the unknown, it was finally our turn.  Bones had me take the lead, as he usually does.  If the creatures within the creepy wooded trail leading up the the entrance of the house was any indication of the creatures waiting for us on the inside, we were in for a treat.

The main highlight of this haunt was the combination of dramatics and interactivity that visitors will experience.  Many of the ghouls that dwell within have a bit of a story-line and dialog that we were entertained by.  In one my buddy, Bones, had to go on a ghoulish game show where he had to pick the right door for us to go through.  In another room a female spook was not so happy that I was intruding within her eerie little wooded area and then did not want me to leave.  She found a interesting way to block me from moving on into the next area, but I will not go into detail.  Suffice it to say her undead friend that was trying to shamble its way out of the wall wasn't much amused with me either.

If you are a lover of pirates and pirate lore, you'll love a good portion of this haunt as the conclusion of the haunt is dedicated to them.

I'd be remiss to also mention that the attention to detail of the scenery and sets was so intricate that I found myself trying to take in as much of it as I could while the scare-actors were up in my face putting on the scare.  It was pretty challenging.

This haunt has come such a long, long way from its inception that it competes with a lot of the bigger, more popular haunts around the Southeastern Wisconsin area.

After Bones and I had an evening of challenging the forces of the unknown, we treated ourselves to some BBQ ribs and a couple of tasty IPA's as a reward.  As always, a good time was had by all!

I'm hoping I may have a couple more haunt reviews here next week as well.  We'll see what we can do.  I do know that I'll be going on a local ghost tour that I had gone on before, but was sullied by a rain storm.  So I want to give it another shot.  So next weekend is looking to be another spooktacular one.  Knock on old coffin wood.


Now for another walk through a virtual haunted attraction from YouTube.  Many theme parks have gotten in the habit of taking advantage of the Halloween and Haunt season by redesigning their parks with a haunted motif.  Knottsberry Farms is no exception as they invoke all sorts of dastardly creatures to infiltrate their park.  Take a peek here.....

Video is from Theme Park Adventure

I'd like to leave you with these comforting thoughts.  That cackle you heard outside your home late at night was surely some sort of rare bird.  The scratching sound from under your bed that awakens you from your slumber?  I'm sure that's just some sort of cricket.  That cold spot in you home?  I wouldn't be surprised if you had some ventilation problems.  

Or perhaps I'm completely ass-backward wrong on all accounts and you better get an exorcist or ghost hunting crew over to your abode ASAP 'cause you're screwed!!!!

Until next time, stay vertical.

Zangz.