Best Haunted Houses to Get Your Halloween Scare On!

by the CCPA Fellows

Looking for the perfect way to spend Halloween week at the last second? No worries, Check out the top DFW Haunted Houses and Halloween theme parks running until the end of October. Then keep reading for the first-hand account of Screams by your fearless CCPA Fellows.

It’s the end of October and the last chance to celebrate Halloween. From boos to booze, these Haunted Attractions in DFW are bucket list visits.

Cutting Edge

First on our list is Cutting Edge. Located in Fort Worth, Texas, this haunted house is “Cited as one of the nation’s scariest, this elaborate experience.” A dark house filled with “terrifying live actors, amazing special effects, and incredible monsters.” If that wasn’t spooky enough, Cutting Edge was built upon a 100-year-old meat packing plant nicknamed “Hells Half Acre.” At Cutting Edge, it takes visitors a total of 55min to walk through. The house will close on November 5th; check their website for additional information.

Dark Hour

Next, Dark Hour. This house is located in Plano, Texas, and has been labeled “too intense for children.” This house has been featured on USA Today and the Dallas Observer; Dark Hour is a world-class haunted house. Open until Halloween Night; this house is bound to leave its visitors speechless. Even better? Dark Hour will re-open during Christmas for a haunting “wreck the halls.” For further information, be sure to check out their website.

Zombie Safari

Third, this unique attraction, known as Zombie Safari, leads visitors on a bus tour shooting live zombies. Only 20 minutes from downtown Dallas, visitors go on a zombie hunt to eliminate the spread of a deadly disease before it can destroy the human race. Additionally, this park is hosted at a full-service paintball facility and is jam-packed with plenty of other activities, games, food, and drinks! For additional information on ticket sales, prices, or dates, check their website.

Hangman’s House Of Horrors.

Fourth on our list is Hangman’s House of Horrors. Truly one of the most terrifying houses in all of DFW and is known as Fort Worth’s original haunted house. It is based on the legend of Hezekiah Jones, “The Hangman.” Including many more such as the Baker Hotel and Catfish Plantation. Be sure to check out these “legends” brought to life at Hangman’s. But beware, the house will close on October 30th. For further information and ticket pricing, be sure to check their website.

Screams: The Ultimate Halloween Experience

Screams is the ultimate Halloween theme park, a real-life version of Halloween Town and Edward Scissor-Hands wrapped into one. The park features a total of five different haunted houses, food and drinks around every corner, and even a few retail pop-ups- featuring some spooktacular hand-crafted items. Located in Waxahachie, Texas, Screams takes over the iconic Scarborough fairgrounds during October. And for one month, it is home to ghouls, zombies, witches, and many other scary characters only found during Halloween. These characters entertain the guest inside and outside the haunted houses.

Additionally, visitors can stroll down   Ghoul Boulevard, Party at Taboo Tavern, or participate in the popular Scaryoke! Screams knows how to give their guest a scary good time the whole time. Helanie Thompson, PR Coordinator and Screams enthusiast for over 15 years, says there is nothing else like this in the entire DFW area and that the park’s beauty is “it is so diverse and has something everyone will love and be entertained.”

SMU Fellows Take on Screams!

After hearing about Screams, it was only fitting to send our SMU CCPA Fellows to Waxahachie so they could enjoy this one-of-a-kind experience.

From the moment our Fellows arrived at the park, they could feel the terror in the air. Admittedly, they came into the night all cocky and thought Screams would be a breeze. However, within the first twenty seconds, they realized why this is Dallas’s #1 Halloween Horror Fest. To help our fellows prepare for our freight fest, Helanie Thompson, the head of Screams PR, was kind enough to spend time with us and share some Scream secrets. Thompson told us about many tricks to survive the night, can’t miss attractions, and more. She was incredibly excited for us to visit their newest attractions and hear our screams make waves throughout the park.

Our Fellows decided to start their night with Screams’ newest haunted house, Bootleggers Boyue.

Bootleggers Boyue

This year the new Bootleggers Boyue takes visitors through the depths of the Bouye but beware the Gutt family; because “a family that slays together stays together. Being Screams’ newest exhibit, we had high expectations, but honestly, we were praying it did not meet those because we were already frightened due to a one-eyed zombie aggressively chasing me across the park as we made our way to the line. Even before exploring the Boyue, the Fellows knew we had not realized what they were getting into.

Times Up… Maze

The second haunted attraction we went to was Times Up… Maze. The challenge; guests face here is to find their way out of this never-ending maze. If guests wish to make it back “here and now” to everything they know and love, they must escape this warp.

As we waited in line, statements like, “honestly, how hard could a maze be?” and “oh, we got this” were thrown around, but those wishful statements turned into cries for help after stepping into this nightmare.

Klowns in 3-D.

Next on our fellows’ list was Screams’ newly improved 3-D experience. If the idea of clowns scares you, then be warned. The recently upgraded Klownz In 3-D makes nightmares come true. It’s simple; guests try to survive a trip through the circus of madness while wearing 3-D glasses.

Let’s be honest; who likes clowns? If you said yes, I am positive your opinion will change after meeting these monsters face-to-face. No matter your view on clowns, you will be praying to God once you escape these beasts and finally take off those glasses. But don’t forget that the terror doesn’t stop once you leave the house. Monsters, demons, and other forms of the weird and petrifying run freely outside. Showing fear just eggs them on, so be cool.

TerraMythia Castle

Cursed…the witches of TerraMythia Castle, the fourth haunted house on our list,  is home to terrifying witches who feast on the cursed visitors as they desperately try to escape the haunted halls.

From the moment your Fellows stepped foot on the creaking wooden bridge, and for every breath we took through the halls full of mystical spells and unknowns, we were on edge with a never-knowing fear of when a witch will put an everlasting curse on us.

Zombie Wasteland… Apocalypse

Finally, Screams Zombie Wasteland… Apocalypse House is a fight to the finish. Survivors don’t want to become zombie food, and this house is filled with plenty of brain hungry zombies.

You know when everyone was obsessed with “The Walking Dead,” well, they were braver than us because there is nothing fun about zombies. As we entered the last house, our fellows felt mixed emotions, but the one emotion everyone felt was outright fear. In this wasteland, the zombies not only ran after you and howled in your face, but they never stopped coming.

Catch Your Breath, But Don’t Let Down Your Guard

Even with all the jumps, scares, screams, and cries, your Fellows had an unforgettable experience visiting Screams, and we would like to thank them for giving us a wonderful experience.

Don’t Miss Out, Ends Thie Weekend

Screams is open for its final weekend, October 28-29, and you do not want to miss out! Screamers note, to give everyone the best experience possible and avoid extended wait times for the exhibits, Screams requires visitors to prebuy their tickets on their website.

Screams will send shivers down your spine. Visitors are sure to have a  scary good time at Screams; because of the park’s unique ability to bring Halloween to life. It is more than just haunted houses; it truly is a terrifying “Halloween Town.”