A Nightmare After Christmas at Laurel’s House of Horror!
For most, the holiday season brings an end to the spooky season…but for Laurel's House of Horror, there’s always a little bit of scary to go hand-in-hand with the merry. This home-grown haunt rang in the holiday season with a traditionally chilling twist, pulling together a spectacular holiday event inside despite - or perhaps as a compliment to - a dark and stormy night outside. Building on the success of previous events, Laurel welcomed its largest off-season audience yet with an all-new, custom-designed light show and some fresh, terrifying holiday-themed elements. Our visit to the haunt this year, which actually came on the December 28th showdate immediately after the Christmas holiday, also included our return to scare acting and the corresponding return of Twinkle Coldstone, Krampus’ least favorite and most rambunctious elf!
Upon arrival, we were immediately greeted by the impressive changes made to the maze, beginning with a completely revamped Preshow and an all-new Lighting Package in the lobby and the main queue (respectively). We were told that the secondary preshow - a show that runs uninterrupted for thirty minutes straight during the actual event - was custom-programmed and projection-mapped one minute at a time. The level of effort that the staff had dumped into this introductory experience was something to behold all on its own, and really set the bar for what was to come in the maze itself. The Scare Maze (Haunted House) is undeniably the main event at Laurel’s House of Horror, and although our first walkthrough was sans the scare actors who had yet to arrive, the sound loops, triggers, air canons and visual effects were more than enough to scare us out of our shoes more than once. The team at Laurel always does an amazing job decorating the haunt for the holidays, and it was staggering to think that tens of thousands of lights had been strung up in the span of a few short weeks between the haunt’s main season and the off-season event. That’s to say nothing of all the new animatronics, props and even full-on show scenes that had been added since our last visit.
Above: Jada (LHOH) and Tim pose for the not-so-subtly hidden Scare Cam in the haunted maze’s terrifying finale.
Escape Games, which operate year-round at Laurel’s House of Horror (scare maze or no scare maze) had been fully booked in advance for the night of our visit - so while we waited for the actors to arrive and the haunt prep to officially begin, we decided to take a quick stroll through the Gift Shop. The shop itself, which is always fully decorated for whatever season the haunt is celebrating, offers a variety of merchandise ranging from hoodies and t-shirts to holiday-themed earrings and ornaments. 2024 brought a significant number of all-new shirt and apparel designs to the haunt as it celebrated its tenth season in operation, so the team’s inventory is always expanding. That said, we noticed that the off-season merch, particularly the ‘Christmas Nightmare’ merchandise that we’d been looking for, was nearly sold out. The more niche an item is, the more popular it is likely to be among haunters…so if you see something that you like, we always recommend that you grab it while you can! Whether you’re looking for a memento of your visit or a gift for a fellow horror enthusiast, the shop offers plenty of unique options.
Once the actors began to arrive, the atmosphere shifted. The large, empty movie theatre housing the haunt quickly went from eerily silent to loud and energetic as more and more of the haunt staff arrived, began to dress for the occasion and set up shop in the makeup department. At this point, my job as camera op was done for the day and Katie took the reins to document his transformation from guest to “scarachter” with the assistance of the staff. Laurel’s House of Horror was delighted to host several guest artists and actors from Pennhurst Asylum, another haunt near Philadelphia, for the holiday event - and I had the distinct and serendipitous honor of being “monsterfied” by one Autumn Werner, a stunning artist and one such Pennhurst visitor. After the haunt’s obligatory “pump up”, which amounts to a miniature dance party for all of the actors ahead of their placement in scene, we all went to take our places and the doors of the haunt opened for business. Presales for the 2024 event exceeded the previous year’s ticket sales for the same event considerably, and that meant that we had to go extra hard on the scares and keep our energy up throughout the night!
Scare Acting is - in no uncertain terms - a tough gig. Like any acting job, you have to be committed to delivering an unwaveringly consistent performance over some long hours. Unlike any other acting job, though, you have some flexibility to change and develop your character over the course of those hours, finding new ways to scare and new hiding places to exploit. The staff at Laurel’s House of Horror treats their actors very well, making sure that everyone remains safe and hydrated and sending “breakers” through to make sure that everyone had a chance to step away from scene every once and awhile to catch their breath. Leadership also made sure to offer every actor a set of earplugs for use in-scene, as needed - after all, between the steaming and the subwoofers, this holiday event was anything but a Silent Night. There was an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) onsite who made regular passes through the maze to ensure safety for both guests and actors, and he was even kind enough to walk through with Katie on his heels so that she wouldn’t have to brave the maze on her own.
Above: The cast and crew at Laurel's House of Horror ring in the holiday season with the 2024 'Christmas Nightmare' event!
In the end, Laurel’s House of Horror’s 2024 ‘Christmas Nightmare’ event was a thrilling success. The combination of festive charm and spine-chilling scares created a unique experience that blended the magic of the holiday season with the terror of a haunted house, and when all was said and done, we safely scared the Dickens (ha) out of more than four hundred civilians! It was a great way to round out our year, and although we left the property exhausted, we are eager to return for another adventure in 2025. If you’re interested in visiting the haunt in the year ahead, be sure to book online using our promo code TIMANDKT to save $5 on your tickets! The formal haunt season begins in September of each year, and the haunt hosts Paranormal Tours, Escape Games and off-season Haunt Events year-round. Visit http://laurelhaunt.com for more information, and be sure to check out our vlog below for a glimpse into the chaos we unwrapped this year!
