Curiouser and Curiouser: The Madness Returns to Hera's Nightmare
WESTMINSTER, MD — Here comes the Cursed Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail! After almost a full year of hearing about Maryland’s newest, award-winning haunted attraction, we were finally able to make a long-overdue trip out to the TownMall of Westminster, MD, to experience Hera's Nightmare for the very first time. This indoor haunt made its smashing debut in the Fall of 2024, but due to our packed haunt schedule we were unable to make it to the show during main season or any of its off-season events in December and February. We had only ever heard great things about Hera’s from our friends in the industry, and - spoiler alert - the haunt definitely lived up to the hype.
They say that location is everything. Hera’s Nightmare is located inside the TownMall of Westminster in Maryland, just off of route 140 and about 40 minutes from Baltimore (MD). Parking at the mall is free and the haunt entrance is best accessed from parking between the Belk Outlet and Boscov’s. Tickets can be purchased online or onsite, and there is a fast pass upgrade that can be purchased if you want to get through the queue lines faster. In addition to the three haunted attractions - which we’ll begin dissecting momentarily - Hera’s offers a fantastic horror-themed shop that is open year-round on Fridays and Saturdays. The Horror Shop is incredibly well-themed, comparable to a Halloween Horror Nights “Tribute Store” on a (slightly) smaller scale and features spooky merchandise from local artists and creators as well as Hera’s Nightmare branded clothing, stickers and accessories. Naturally, the scare mazes tend to draw bigger crowds than the little shop of horrors….but if you’re a local with a passion for the spooky and the scary, the shop is definitely worth a visit even if the haunt is closed for the season!
The midway, while small, was a great welcome wagon for the main event, as well. Since the TownMall of Westminster was also hosting a ‘peep show’ and a ‘meet the Easter bunny’ event on the same weekend as Hera’s event, both the photo ops and the roaming scare actors had to be a little more reserved than usual so as not to frighten any overlapping foot traffic away from the more family-friendly events. However, once inside the main attractions, all bets were off. Hera’s Nightmare offers three different scare mazes, each of which was temporarily themed around the seasonal (or rather, off-seasonal) event. Thanks to our friends Carlos Rivas, Becky Hawk and Brittany Nussear, we were offered a rare chance to go "behind the screams" and see how all three haunted attractions have been refreshed, revitalized and re-themed for “The Cursed Cottontail” event.
The first maze (normally “Hexen Hollow”) was operating under the moniker of “Down the Rabbit Hole” - and I am sure you can probably guess the theme. The team flawlessly executed the creepy “Alice in Wonderland” overlay, which featured huge hand-crafted flowers with human faces and playing cards and plenty of homages to the Red Queen. What really stole the show for this maze was the costumes, featuring recognizable characters such as the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb and - of course - Alice, each with a sinister twist that might remind diehards of the ‘Madness Returns’ video game interpretation. Naturally, the actors were also trained with fitting skit lines that really sold the theming and made guests feel that they had wandered through the looking glass.
Above: From left to right, fellow haunters and haunt reviewers Carlos (Hera’s Nightmare), Tim and Yolanda (Tim’s Insanity), John (Haunt Informer), Brittany (Hera’s Nightmare), Jared and Terri (HalloweenHaunts365), Pan, Rose and Craven (Laurel’s House of Horror), Todd (Haunt Review Crew) and Rachel (Laurel’s House of Horror) join us in a group photo on the midway at Hera’s Nightmare!
The second maze, known during prime season as “Containment”, is normally a laboratory struggling to quarantine a viral infestation. During the springtime event, however, the steel plating lined a different type of facility - “Chuckles and Truffles Candy Company”, which was deeply reminiscent of Willy Wonka’s famous candy factory, but with killer clowns instead of Oompa Loompas. The larger-than-life candies were the highlight of this attraction, made with up-cycled materials that convincingly came to life as hugely horrific treats. The rave-style lighting and music was made this attraction the “party zone” of the event and introduced us to a variety of ghouls and goblins who were all hyped up on a sugar rush.
The final walk-through attraction of the event overtook the maze normally known as “Reign of Darkness”; but for Easter, four great houses of blood-thirsty rabbits competed in a race for the highest body count in “The Hunt”. In its primal form, “Reign of Darkness” features a grab bag of iconic monsters - vampires, werewolves, witches and skull kings - with atmospheric theming eventually giving way to a dark maze where you’re likely to stumble into the fangs of the house champion. While this attraction was likely the least “Eastery” of the three, you’d be surprised how intimidating a handful of mutant rabbits can be when you’re squaring off in dark passageways with nothing but a camera and strength of character to defend yourself with. It was obvious this attraction already had great bones from the fall season, and the killer easter bunnies definitely sold the Easter theming for this event.
After almost a full year of hearing about how incredible Hera’s Nightmare was, actually getting to visit was a real treat - pun very much intended. Overall, we were absolutely thrilled with our first visit to what the Haunted Attractions Association has declared to be 2025’s Best First Year Haunt…and rightfully so. This team put on an incredible show with custom-made costumes, immersive sets and custom soundscapes that totally blew us away. We have already put their next seasonal event - Halfway to Halloween or “Summer Screams” - on our calendar, and we can’t wait to see how they shake things up a month from now. In the meantime, you can check out our vlog below to get an inside look at both the haunt itself and the ‘Cursed Cottontail’ event walkthrough from the perspective of two high-strung experience vloggers. Be sure to follow Hera’s Nightmare on social media so you don’t miss what is coming next from Maryland’s newest haunted attraction!
