In the American South, things are done a little bit different—a little bit bigger, a little bit more detailed, and a little more intense. This is true of the Southern haunted houses, of which there are hundreds to choose from. They take the form of everything from Satan’s demons trapped on Earth to deranged mass murders haunting the places where they committed their most heinous crimes. When choosing which haunted house to visit, beware of werewolves, evil clowns, live snakes, the Grim Reaper, and—worst of all—karaoke. Here are the ten haunted houses in the south that we’re just dying to get into.
10 Nashville, Tennessee: Nashville Nightmare
In this polite and musical city hides a terrifying attraction with six separate haunted houses and that’s just with the normal admission. In addition to the haunted houses you can add on escape games, zombie carnival games, axe throwing, and more.
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The six main haunted houses include the Reformatory, where you’ll witness the exorcism of Victoria Grace, and hope that the restless spirits that possessed her won’t get you next. If that demons don’t get you, you can move on to Sector 615. Here, you can see the results of the meteor that crashed to earth. The government tried to cover it up, but Trixion is a mutant creature that cannot be contained. He takes on many forms as he tries to devour every living thing in his path. Will you survive?
9 North Little Rock, Arkansas: The Reaper Haunted House
Every year in North Little Rock, a terrifying haunted house comes to life, or, rather, comes back for the dead. The Grim Reaper is here to gather more souls for the collection, and the result is one of the top-rated haunted houses in all of Arkansas. The 15,000 square feet of horror include more than 30 scenes of blood, gore, and mayhem that are sure to send you screaming from each room. It’s so intense you might just end up begging to get out…or begging for your life.
Doors open at 7 pm each night the attraction is open, and they don’t close until the “last person runs screaming out of them.” Are you ready to be terrified yet?
8 Terrell, Texas: Thrillvania Haunted House Park
Under a shroud of darkness rests Thrillvania, a fifty-acre plot of land with three different haunted houses for guests to brave. The first is the World Famous Verdun Manor, where legend says that a werewolf named Baron Michael Verdun built a grotesque house where he conducted experiments on kidnapped humans. He turned them into human-animal hybrids that still wander the crumbling mansion, desperate to be freed of their bonds.
If you make it out of the Manor alive, you can try your luck with Lady Cassandra’s House of Clowns, who seem to have a dastardly run of the place. Sam Hain’s Trail of Torment is based on the story of a man who visited Baron Verdun to help with his experiments only to be bitten by one of Cassandra’s clown and go mad. Now he conducts his own demented experiments—proceed to his lair with caution.
7 New Orleans, Louisiana: The Mortuary
Think you’re brave enough to go to a haunted attraction in a real haunted house? Since it first opened over ten years ago, The Mortuary has been featured on several ghost hunting shows, including Ghost Hunters, and has been featured as one of America’s Scariest Attractions.
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The Mortuary is surrounded by uneasy souls resting in the Cities of the Dead. Enter to see if you can survive your encounter with the dangerous and terrifying mortician, Ravencroft. This year’s theme is The Cult of 13: After death, the souls of 13 deranged mass murderers were tied to The Mortuary instead of passing into the afterlife. They are doomed to reenact their crimes for all eternity—so witness the Black Abbot poison his flock, an Embalmer continue to murder his victims over and over again, and the Dark Vixen seduced people just to murder them.
6 Waxahachie, Texas: Screams Halloween Theme Park
Outside of any of the major cities of Texas, Waxahachie is the perfect place to host enormous festivals the likes of Screams. This enormous Halloween experience is the perfect place to while a way an entire day screaming yourself hoarse.
Check out the 5 haunted houses on the grounds, including PT Harmum’s Carnival of Chaos, full of dangerous clowns and freaks, The Cursed Witches of Terra Mythica Castle, and Captain Barbarosa’s Blood Harbor full of cursed pirates and an evil force. When you can’t take another fright, head over to Scary-Oke for a different kind of fear. There’s also a food court and a bar where you can recover your senses before your next round of frights.
5 Greensboro, North Carolina: Woods of Terror
Deep in the woods outside of Greensboro, a well-meaning priest used his religious powers to tie hundreds of restless souls, malicious spirits, and terrifying demons to one single plot of land. The land was passed down through the generations until now, when his grandson first learned the tricks of the religious trade then turned the land into a theme park.
Venture into the Woods of Terror to see where the tormented souls endure purgatory. The Nightstalkers might come out to harvest your soul, or the Horror Movie Classics section might bring all the scariest moments you’ve seen on the silver screen to life. There’s more to check out too: Industrial Nightmare, Arachnophobia, Blackbeard’s Revenge, and several other spooky and haunting attractions.
4 Stone Mountain, Georgia: Netherworld Haunted House
After being in operation for over 20 years, it’s only natural that Netherworld Haunted House has been voted America’s Best by several different publications. It’s a multi-story phenomenon that contains several cutting edge stories going on at once.
This year’s horrifying haunts include Night Of the Gorgon, where you’ll witness people fighting the nightmarish creations of an apocalyptic cult. Using a cursed mirror they’ve created warriors of darkness who seem absolutely unstoppable. If you manage to survive these mythologically based nightmares, you can risk Cold-Blooded, an adventure into the bowels of a research facility that weaponized an alien-prehistoric crossbreed. It’s sure to terrify anyone.
3 Denton, Texas: The Parker House
One of the most atmospheric haunted houses in Texas, if not the United States, is The Parker House. The story behind Parker House is of an innocent family mortuary derailed by the daughter’s callous treatment of dead bodies, then her eventual turn toward murder to keep the family business going. It’s not true, but the attraction The Mortuary sure makes it feel like it is.
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The Parker Plantation is so deeply soaked in evil that it can never be cleansed. The souls of those tortured wander the grounds, and a bloodthirsty family of cannibals wait in the woods to make you feel welcome. Escape them in Ratliff’s Sanitarium, where the mentally ill were tortured for years and now wait for their turn to torture someone else.
2 Kansas City, Missouri: The Edge of Hell
This year marks the 45th anniversary of The Edge of Hell, making it one of the longest-running horror attractions in the United States. It is five-stories of fright—you’ll descend from 666 feet above sea level to get from heaven to hell in this nightmare. The attractions include The Beast, a medieval time warp where visitors just might lose their way amidst all the threats of voodoo, werewolves, phantoms and the Beast that resides inside of all of us.
If the normal Halloween frights aren’t enough, you can book yourself into one of The Edge of Hell’s escape rooms, where the pressure to escape from terrifying beasts and ghosts is on.
1 Baton Rouge, Louisiana: The 13th Gate
Known for extreme ultra-realism, The 13th Gate is sure to blur the line between horror and reality to scare anyone into doubting whether they’ll ever be safe again. Guests will have to crawl through a crematory oven as well as get lost in a dark underground tunnel. Not terrifying enough? What about the real snake pit that you’ll have to cross on a rickety bridge just ready to break at any second?
Anyone brave enough to enter will journey through 13 realms where they’ll be forced to confront their worst fears, as well as fears they never even knew they had. No wonder it’s widely considered to be one of the top haunted houses in the country.