Embracing the Dark Side at Lincoln Mill Haunted House
Lincoln Mill Haunted House is a relatively young haunt in Manayunk, a gentrified neighborhood which hugs the Schuylkill River banks in Philadelphia, PA. The attraction, painstakingly crafted by owners Brian Corcodilos and Jared Bilsak, features a (roughly) fifteen-minute haunted maze filled to the brim with immersive sets, interactive triggers and - of course - dozens of scare actors who have been simply dying to meet their esteemed guests. For two years now, the establishment has operated seasonally as a beloved addition to the Pennsylvania haunt lineup with an original story building on the real-world events of Hurricane Ida and the flooding of the Schuylkill into the streets of Manayunk; but when this year’s “Halfway to Halloween” event weekend saw overlap with the popular “Star Wars Day” celebrations, the team saw an opportunity to do something unique.
“Star Wars is all about the clash between good and evil - where the dark force is constantly trying to spread his influence,” said Jared, “I always saw our main villain, Victor Kane, as the ‘Darth Vader’ of the Lincoln Mill story”. Given the narrative parallels between the space opera created by George Lucas and the original story woven by Jared and Brian, the idea for a one-of-a-kind, Star Wars-inspired haunt experience came to fruition. On May the Fourth of 2024, Lincoln Mill Haunted House introduced what might well have been the very first ‘May the Fourth Corrupt You’ event in industry history; a haunted house experience wherein creature makeup, skit lines, sets and story had all been tailored to channel the dark side of Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ universe. Despite a dark and stormy night in Philadelphia, this event proved overwhelmingly popular for locals and long-distance commuters alike, and may well go on to be repeated in years to come.
Having never been to Lincoln Mill before, this event marked our very first exposure to the foundational elements of the haunt itself, and we were blown away by the depth of immersion and the commitment to theming within the attraction. After arriving and seeking out a parking spot - possibly one of the scariest experiences of all, given the crowds and the lack of spots available - we made our way down to the main entrance, which was impossible to miss thanks to the team’s robust branding. Lincoln Mill’s location right on the river bank makes for a beautifully scenic view from the queue line, and it shares its venue with a number of other businesses - most of them having been closed for the day and/or the weekend before the pulse-pounding haunted house begins to spool up the scares. As we approached, we saw banners featuring the house icons hanging proudly outside the security line, which only served to amp up the prospective attendees in that line.
““Star Wars is all about the clash between good and evil, where the dark force is constantly trying to spread his influence. I always saw our main villain, Victor Kane, as the ‘Darth Vader’ of the Lincoln Mill story.””
Once we were through security, it was onto the property’s midway and it was then just a matter of biding our time interacting with the roaming scare actors until we felt ready to take on the maze. And there was no shortage of interaction, either, as those scare actors approached to give us a fight with wildly intricate Sith and First Order makeup, carefully-crafted Dark Side references and even a “chain saber”! There was also a beverage tent serving locally-sourced beer and other alcoholic drinks for an added cost. After downing a vodka soda, we made our way into the attraction’s queue line and prepared ourselves for what was to come. We purchased VIP admission tickets for this particular event, a tier which allows you to not only bypass the standard queue but also run the entire attraction twice. Since scare actors are performers who thrive on realtime, spur-of-the-moment reactions and improvisation, going through any haunted attraction for a second time means getting completely different interactions and potentially a completely different experience; well worth the added cost of the upgrade.
Above: We got ‘corrupted’ during Lincoln Mill Haunted House’s ‘May the Fourth Corrupt You’ event!
VIP customers and standard admission customers were neatly ratio’d in order to keep both lines moving, and when it was our turn, our door manager reminded us of the attraction’s safety rules and set us loose in the maze. The haunted attraction itself is entirely indoors; so once past the threshold, we were finally out of the rain. As for the experience itself, the best adjective would have to be “wow”! In keeping with the foundational theme of the haunted house, we were introduced to the Mill through an unexpected “drop” down an elevator shaft and turned loose into the undiscovered tunnels beneath the mill shortly thereafter. For this particular event, most of the lighting was ultraviolet, which served to accent the ‘May the Fourth’ overlay of the attraction. Lasers, fog and strobes were also used sporadically throughout the attraction. Actors were carefully positioned so as to catch us off guard rounding dark corners, and would sometimes follow us from one room into the next, scaring us a second time if and/or when we lost track of them in the darkness and spraying us with silly string to ‘corrupt’ us. Each set was larger than life and built to impress and intimidate, with some sets featuring giant milling structures and others featuring real, flowing water! Needless to say, we were blown away.
Upon exiting the attraction, we were met with chainsaws and “chain sabers” which pushed us back to the midway for debriefing and additional mill merchandise. We spent at least another hour being tormented by the roaming Sith, chatting it up with staff members and nursing our brews from the beverage tent before inevitably purchasing several t-shirts and a magnet from the ‘Mill Merch’ tent. As the crowds began to lessen, we made our way back into the VIP line for one last run at the haunted maze. The beauty of a haunted attraction like Lincoln Mill is that you’ll never have the same experience twice! As we concluded our day out at our first-ever Lincoln Mill Haunted House event, we couldn’t help but gush about the extraordinary use of space and the incredibly immersive sets and set pieces inside the maze. For a haunt that is still in its infancy, the team behind Lincoln Mill has done an incredible job of building a mythos, creating characters and supporting those characters with a world-class maze that keeps you guessing all the way through. We can’t wait to return during the haunt’s main season to see what Brian, Jared and the Lincoln Mill staffers have cooked up for 2024! In the meantime, you can get a taste of the terror through our experience vlog below…thanks to Brian and Jared for allowing us to capture some of this amazing event to share with you!
The Lincoln Mill Haunted House ‘May the Fourth Corrupt You’ event is expected to return in 2025. Tickets for the 2024 main season at Lincoln Mill (4100 Main St.) will be made available this Fall, with pricing to be announced at a later date. Visitors can also look for news of food trucks, local breweries and more to be announced in coming months. For information, visit lincolnmillhaunt.com.
