Leading Lambs to the Slaughter at Red Vein
ASHLAND, VA – Red Vein Haunted House, an independent haunt located on Hanover Vegetable Farm, has been a growing force in Virginia’s haunt scene for nine years. Despite frequently passing through the area, we had never been able to experience Red Vein firsthand until owner and creative architect Ryan Sligh invited us out to help them kick off their 2024 operating season. Having heard nothing but praise from fellow haunters and scare actors, we were eager to see if it lived up to the hype. Spoiler alert: it did!
Even in broad daylight, entering the property does a great deal to set the tone. Set back into the woods and cornfields of Hanover Vegetable Farm, the actual haunt structures are impossible to see from the dirt roads of the Ashland farmlands. Parking on property is plentiful, in part because the haunt operates on a timeslot basis and ticketed guests are asked to arrive inside a window closer to their entry time in order to avoid creating unnecessary congestion. Upon exiting your vehicle, you will immediately encounter food trucks, a creator marketplace and maybe even a roaming scare actor or two. When it’s your time to face the horrors in the forest and the fields beyond, you can make your way to the trail entrance to have your ticket scanned and your party organized before making the long, harrowing walk down to the haunted attraction itself. After making a stop or two at the photo ops posted along the way, you’ll join the attraction queue and be treated to an immersive, actor-driven preshow and safety briefing as you await dispatch into the maze.
Red Vein’s haunted attraction isn’t a quick walkthrough—it’s a full-fledged haunted experience which may last as long as 30 minutes, depending on your pace. With four interconnected attractions expertly woven together, the journey is seamlessly designed as a single, immersive story. The number of actors is impressive as well, with as many as 70 performers bringing the haunt to life each night. For those looking to maximize their visit, Red Vein also offers VIP tickets that allow guests to bypass the general admission line. These passes also grant access to exclusive photo ops and additional interactive elements within the haunt. Given the attraction’s growing popularity, VIP tickets are a valuable option on busy nights. Guests, whom are branded “lambs” being led to the slaughter,
While some haunted attractions completely reinvent themselves each season, Red Vein takes a different approach. They retain core elements from past years while layering new storylines, characters, and scares on top, adding to the return value of the attractions feel fresh without erasing the haunt’s identity. This year’s overarching theme was “The Void”, an eerily ambiguous, science-fiction-inspired concept that blended cosmic horror with the attraction’s signature red-cloaked figures (I dubbed them “triangle lords”) and “all-seeing eye”, both of which are staples at Red Vein which returning visitors will continue to recognize year over year. During our daytime tour, it was easy to see that the shell of the first attraction was composed of tractor trailers that had been bound together…but after nightfall, you’d have thought that you’d found your way into a secret government facility - so convincing was the lighting and the scene dressing.
Above: The cornstalks at Red Vein haunted house in Ashland, VA serve a double purpose of creating a barrier and hiding the terrifying scare actors within.
Having never been to Red Vein prior to their 9th season, we’ve no frame of reference for what the haunt might have looked like before the cultists, hillbillies and circus freaks dedicated their lives to the intoxicating spirals of the Void, but on the night we visited, the team had clearly gone above and beyond to blend the overarching theme with each individual leg of the experience, whilst simultaneously keeping those chapters separate and distinct from one another. We started strong with “Gateway Industries”, an eerie orientation that quickly sets the tone. As guests, we were quickly introduced to the attraction’s dystopian, corporate horror theme, complete with unsettling employees and ominous branding. Body horror is the name of the game here…and if the lab rats and corporate technicians don’t get you, the escaping aliens are sure to!
After surviving the industrial complex and a brief encounter with conspiracy theorists aboard the VIP bus, we were quickly plunged into “The Corn”, where folklore-inspired creatures lurk in the shadows. Leveraging a combination of hand-crafted sets and props, strategically-placed actors and the natural barriers formed by the rows upon rows of corn, the team at Red Vein has managed to make the transition from one leg to the other nearly indistinguishable. One moment we were working our way through a collapsing lab experiment, and the next we were facing off with mutant pumpkins, cannibalistic rednecks and oversized rabbits with a lust for blood. The set design in this area is especially striking, featuring massive monstrosities, grotesque farmyard horror, and even an alien visitor or two - to say nothing of how terrifying it was to have actors rustling around in the dark of the cornstalks behind us.
After being given a final chase by a group of chainsaw enthusiasts, the haunt then transitions into “The Forest”, where a careful mix of eerie isolation and well-placed actor interactions keeps the tension high. Here, Red Vein masterfully uses sound design, lighting effects, and environmental storytelling to create a sense of unease even - and perhaps especially - when no actor is immediately in sight. After making your way through a maze of tarps and tenting and escaping the clutches of the sideshow and carnival acts hidden in the trees, you’ll find your way to the center of a cult who appear to be swept up in a ritual of some sort. This is by far the widest, most open stretch of the haunt, but don’t think for a second that it’s any less terrifying just because its slightly less claustrophobic. Not every cultist is an actor, but there are more actors in this scene than will initially be spotted - and good luck outrunning them all! Our exit through the woods also took us through a dimensional gate and a twisted church with an inhuman priest before finally spilling us back out onto the walkway towards the final leg.
Above: The Red Vein haunted house experience begins with a stroll through the troubled labs and industrial complex at Gateway Industries, home to a number of agitated aliens!
The final section, “The House”, is a multi-level labyrinth filled with grotesque imagery, creative animatronics, and disorienting effects. After making our way through the cemetery on the front lawn into the house itself, we found everything from deranged, mutated bed & breakfast guests to sinister schoolteachers to…you guessed it, a few more alien invaders! It seems that the closer you get to the void, the more likely you are to find visitors from another galaxy drawn to its energy. As we moved from the basement of the attraction through the vortex (rotating tunnel) beneath it, we found ourselves at the edge of time and space inside the Void itself. It was here that we had our final face-off with the “triangle lords”, including their demented leader and the massive creatures that served as guardians of their unholy secrets. The combined use of tactical lighting, massive sets, oversized props, actors and ‘actor-matronic’ puppets really made this an award-worth finale that we won’t soon forget. Safe to say that visitors to the worlds beyond the Void will leave on an astronomically (ha) high note. And, of course, we had to snap a few more photos and explore the gift shop on the way out - after all, it’s not every day that you survive an adventure to another dimension!
So, was it worth the visit? In our humble opinion - absolutely! Red Vein exceeded our expectations with its intricate world-building, professional-caliber sets, and passionate cast. The haunt’s ability to evolve its themes each year while maintaining a consistent, immersive experience is a major strength. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a returning guest, Red Vein has plenty of frights to offer. For haunt enthusiasts looking for a well-paced, narrative-driven experience with top-tier production value, Red Vein is a must-visit. Tickets, including VIP options and tickets for the adjacent business of Red Vein Escape Games, can be purchased in advance at Red Vein’s Official Website and will be made available for the property’s upcoming tenth season later this year. If you’re in the Ashland area or anywhere within driving distance of Hanover Vegetable Farm, we highly recommend making the trip—just be prepared for anything, because just about anything is possible! In the meantime, you can check out our vlog below to get a glimpse into what our inter-dimensional experience entailed.
