HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Answer: Very, very scary.

As Halloween approaches this weekend, one of the best ways to spend the end of spooky season is a night at The Haunted Farm. Located in rural Hendersonville, The Haunted Farm features one of the most immersive experiences I’ve ever had at a haunted attraction.

The Haunted Farm will conclude its 2025 season with three more nights of terror, Thursday, Oct. 30 through Saturday, Nov. 1, 624 Townsend Road.

Find tickets and the full schedule at www.nchauntedfarm.com/haunted-house-schedule.

Tips and tricks

Before braving The Haunted Farm, come prepared. Here are a few suggestions to ensure you have the best experience possible:

• Buy tickets early – The Haunted Farm is a popular attraction. Make sure to secure your tickets early and online at www.nchauntedfarm.fearticket.com.
• Bring cash – Parking costs $5 in cash at The Haunted Farm. If heading to the haunt with a group, carpool and keep your fiver handy.
• Consider the fast pass – While buying a fast pass ticket isn’t necessary, there are very long lines for general admission. Avoid the crowd and get in quicker.
• Arrive before dark – Due to the number of people who come to the attraction, arriving early is a good idea. Lines get long fast and admission begins at dark. Showing up as the sun sets is a good call to avoid the rush.
• Prepare to be scared – While The Haunted Farm is open to all ages and all kinds of horror fans, it is a very scary attraction and there are no refunds. I am an adult horror fanatic and was scared out of my wits. Know yourself and your group before entering.

Additionally, there are several physically demanding portions of The Haunted Farm experience. A few sections require crouching, stair-climbing and coordination in dark, cramped spaces. There are fog and smoke machines which may agitate sensitive lungs. There are bright, flashing lights in numerous rooms. Be prepared.

Read our preview story about The Haunted Farm here.

Freaky, frightening fun

A couple of Octobers ago, I worked at a haunted attraction as a scare performer. Our haunted house experience, which lasted about 10 minutes total, was the real deal. We had elaborate creature costumes. There was a great makeup crew well-educated in the art of gore. We had different kinds of scares in different types of rooms, a variety of frightening decorations and even a shaking, moaning animatronic. While we weren’t the biggest haunted attraction around, I figured we must be among the very best.

The Haunted Farm blows everything we accomplished at my former gig completely out of the water. From scale to scares, the Hendersonville haunted attraction is an incredible feat of Halloween escapism.

On a very basic level, the farm is impressive in its length. The whole experience lasts around 45 minutes once you’ve made it through the gates, and that’s with a constant stream of screams, to boot. The scare workers have their pacing down to a science. There was rarely a moment when my party and I were left waiting to enter our next chamber of trepidation.

The Haunted Farm is breathtaking in its complexity. There are over 40 performers roaming the rooms, each dressed in an elaborate costume and accentuating makeup and most dedicated to scaring the ever-loving bejeezus out of you. The best part, however, is the sheer variety of the sets.

If you are among the rarified few who do not find clowns frightening, maybe the trippy, Day-Glo painted Big Top Psycho Circus won’t be the thing that sends you off screaming. Instead, the very dark, claustrophobic coal mine might get you. Or perhaps a simulated sewer, complete with running water and metal grates, will be the thing that sets your teeth on edge. If not any of those, what about a lunatic dentist, cannibalistic butchers or realistic, writhing snakes? Even after that collection of creeps, there are over a dozen more rooms to enter, each with their own demons and dolorous decorum.

The farm is astonishing in its physical breadth. Every room feels like you’ve stumbled onto the set of a horror movie, from top to bottom: The Haunted Farm will have you climbing stairs, descending into depths and squeezing through spaces as you navigate to the exit.

If you are looking for a haunted attraction to actually scare you, The Haunted Farm is an exhilarating, fully-realized 10/10.