It's Haunted House Season!

FolkHeart Press' Scary Picks!

If there is one haunt that you won’t want to miss, it will be our exclusive ‘crème of the crop’ list of the most haunted houses in America. From the famous Old Dent Schoolhouse, to haunted asylums and psychiatric hospitals, to even an abandoned meat packing plant knows as “Hell’s Half Acre”, these horror entrenched places are sure to frighten the Halloween right out of you.

For many, Halloween is a time to carve pumpkins, listen to the classic spooky stories and participate in some good old fashion costume dress-up and maybe, even trick or treating.

However, for the more extreme Halloween enthusiasts, it is a time to travel to the spookiest haunted house for a good scare or two. These are a few places that take ‘a good scare or two’ up about ten notches. Enter these top picks at your own risk.

First is a haunted house located in an Asylum in Denver. It is the longest running haunted house featuring two levels into Gordon Cottingham’s Hospital for the Mentally Insane. The Asylum is infested with spiders, rats, snakes, and has damp musty smells that will lingerie with you for days. Not only is it a prime location for the screams of tortured souls, but it creates all the visuals for a trip down hillbilly horror lane that you can only take if you dare.

Next is “Hell’s Half Acre", which is a 100-year abandoned meat packing plant in a section of Fort Worth. As they advertise, “the meat packing plant is back in use, but this time it’s being used for human flesh!” This high tech torture whole will feature 32 animations, 26 sets and an array of massive creatures on the roof. The haunted hearse ride around the building is awaiting you.

The third pick has been recognized as one of the top haunted attractions in the country, with award-winning scenic artists, set carpenters, lighting and sound technicians, special effects and more. The 13^th Gate is a 40,000 square foot haunted house that will take you through 13 frightening themed indoor/outdoor sets where the unpredictable is their specialty and your worst nightmares can come true.

Now if these three haven’t done enough to convince you that there are new levels of horror you have yet to experience, then this most unusual and ghost filled graveyard will be sure to suffice. Gettysburg, where the scene of the Civil War's bloodiest battle is still etched in many Americans minds is our final pick. The place where 51,000 Americans were killed or wounded from July 1 to July 3, 1863, and  also the location of the Hunterstown Battlefield, the Gettysburg Engine House and the National Soldier's Orphan Homestead. Tred carefully around this historical landmark, and at your own risk!

Happy Halloween and may the ghosts of folklore fame be with you!