This past Friday some of us went out to visit some of the local haunts and we came across this one literally in the middle of nowhere in the small town of Locust Fork. We decided to check it out and rounded out our evening with a fun haunt.
The Deadman's Trail is what I call literally a back yard haunt, but this is a good thing! Robert and his friends and family have been doing this for a few years now and they do their best to keep the true meanings of Halloween and haunts by keeping it fun and a bit scary. You can find more about it at Deadman's Trail On a super busy night parking may be limited but available, and it's FREE. Again, free is good!
I'll be honest. This is one of those if you miss the sign you're not going to find it and if you blink you've passed it. So keep an eye out and get the directions off their web page. You can find this off HWY 79, or the cut through from HWY 75 to 79 in the Locust Fork area.
When we got there, we were a bit skeptical. But we quickly found out it was going to be interesting and fun after talking with some of the folks. Admission is only 5 dollars, so you definitely can't go wrong there!
This is an all outdoor haunt (something in which you don't see very often and I really do miss!), making it have several advantages mainly because it's easy to swap up the trail so people are always experiencing something new. Now on to the reviews and ratings.
Ratings: I use a 5 ★ rating system. 1★ being not too good, 5★ being great!
The Staff ★★★★★
We quickly found the staff as we walked up the driveway and talked with them for a while. They told me a little bit about the history of them making the haunt, and we got to watch a few folks go through as well. There wasn't much of a waiting line since we went on a Friday night during the local High School football games (again, this isn't a bad thing, but more of a suggestion on WHEN to go to avoid the crowds!) We met Robert, who not only runs and owns the trail, but works on it as an actor also! This is a family run event so all the actors/staff are volunteers.
The Trail ★★★★
Keeping in mind this is an all outdoors trail, so make sure you're dressed according to the weather, and for God's sakes don't be stupid and wear heels or flip flops or crocs. Why people want to do that I don't know...
The trail is somewhere between a quarter mile and half mile of twists and turns through the woods going through varying scenes and scary things. Keeping in mind this is a 'home grown' haunt so don't thinks it's got some super high dollar budget with expensive props. What you will find though is a trail that's pretty well put together on a shoestring budget with some good scares and fun along the way.
The Actors ★★★★
These are some good folks. They volunteer their time to come out and have some fun scaring people along they trail. They work well together, and they take advantage of the outdoor haunt to slip between scenes to continue scaring you as you walk through. Robert said they were short handed tonight but they worked good enough that I wouldn't have thought they were short handed. I like people that can work multiple areas and keep up a good pace. One guy told us how he popped out in one area, slipped behind us, changed masks, and was able to get ready in a completely different scene, and he got a good scare on one of our people at least twice! That's good work. They're in this for the right reasons. To have fun and delivering entertainment value to the crowds. Most of the actors I saw had masks or some kind of hoods over their faces, but they went well. The few that we did see that were using makeup did extremely well on their applications.
The Props ★★★★
All of this was made, I assume on sight, and it was great. They put a lot of time and effort in to making the areas and scenes and what props they have. Don't expect to see super flashy animatronics and a ton of strobes here, they went old school and it worked very well. I think there were a few strobes here and there so be careful if you have problems with flashing lights just in case. Also for those with disabilities, the trail isn't really bad, but unless you have an outdoor lighter weight wheel chair you may not be able to get through here. Sometimes the nature of the beast just doesn't allow handicapped access. All in all I'd say the layout and the props worked well for this style of haunt.
Overall
Robert and his band of ghouls and demons do a good show here. The price is very nice at 5 dollars a ticket. It's not super bloody gory type stuff so I'd say this would be a fun haunt for kids to go through and get a scare without being completely terrified out of their minds. That being said, the group before us had one kid that didn't want to go through so he waited outside the trail with the staff and mom. They are definitely happy to listen to any input be it positive or negative, and are looking to expand even more in the years to come, and I hope that works out well for them! Overall I'd say this is a strong ★★★★for value and entertainment. Job well done folks, keep up the fun and hard work!
ScurryFace approved.
I am a reviewer for ScuRRyFace Haunt Reviews. You can see more reviews on the ScurryFace Haunt Review Page!
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