REVIEW
With screams in the far distance and ghoulish pirates and witches preying on the unsuspecting waiting lines, one would expect a truly chilling experience. However, the annually held haunted house at the Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow was lackluster to say the very least.
The atmosphere did not fail to live up to festive hype the holiday brings every year, with several food stands and a small music stage arranged near the waiting area. The food vendors did offer a selection of generic food, but with questionably exorbitant prices one would have better luck with food establishments they could find on Main Street instead.
The haunted house itself, however, was aggressively average. Tentatively, much of the tour relied heavily on jump scares. Whilst there were those moments that did get you, the nature of the haunted house—walking in a group—had its negatives. Because much of the fear factor came from jump scares, as one could imagine, those in the front of the group were at the brunt of the scare whilst those in the rear did not get the full effect.
Although some parts of the haunted experience may have seemed bleak, with the significance the Legend of Sleepy Hollow holds in Halloween culture one should definitely find the time to go when it comes around next year.
