Witches, pumpkins and black cats decorate the front lawns of Westport homes throughout the month of October. It is officially spooky season. While many high schoolers no longer enjoy going out on the town (that being for trick or treating), they can spend their Halloween night at Legends of Fear, located in Shelton, Connecticut.
Just a brief 25 minute drive from downtown Westport, attendees are sure to be spooked. With a multitude of scaring opportunities, there is truly something for everyone. Say goodbye to the traditional haunted house, and instead, open the doors for goblins, witches and scarecrows in every direction.
Legends of Fear is well known for its haunted hayride, celebrating over 28 years of success. With clowns and chainsaws echoing throughout the dark forest, a chill is certain to crawl up your spine. However, nothing is quite as scary as walking in the middle of a forest when it’s pitch black outside as an insane asylum patient jumps out at you.
This can all be found on “the hallow trail,” which features the Melon Head Revenge Trail, a look into the Haunted Hemlock Manor, Pine Hills Perish, The Dark Harvest and finally, the Funhouse of Fear. Upon entering this 30-minute journey, visitors walk along a dark wooden trail, turning their backs every few seconds to make sure some haunted nun isn’t trying to grab their ankles.
One of the first stops on this live nightmare was the dollhouse, which is sure to leave guests with an empty bladder or beads of sweat dripping down their face. After having a 5-foot-5 woman portraying a doll chase me around a small enclosure, it was safe to say that I was petrified. The facility was decorated with old-looking dolls that looked like they were straight out of the movie “Annabelle,” as well as broken cribs, wooden walls and empty dollhouses. And of course, no haunted doll room is complete without some scary doll music that makes it sound like a 1 foot tall piece of plastic or porcelain is about to kill your entire family.
(Katherine Phelps ’25)
After having quite the fright in that petrifying space, it was time to enter the killer clown room. Upon opening the door to this room, a 6 foot man in a killer clown outfit scared the living daylights out of me. As you can imagine, he enjoyed the petrified look on my face and my scream that could shatter glass.
After this lovely encounter with a killer clown, I still felt spooked. However, that seemed to dwindle when I reached the middle of the trail with my friends. While I was certainly scared of the fake corpse and the old haunted nurses yelling at me to “not wake their precious,” nothing could out-do the dolls or clowns.
However, the Legends of Fear employees must have heard my inner thoughts, and for that reason, a man with a chainsaw chased after me for a solid five minutes, trying to chop off my ankles.
As I left the trail wheezing, narrowly escaping the teenage boy with a chainsaw, I realized how amazing and bone-chilling this haunted trail really was. I had attended other haunted houses in the past, but this one truly left me scared.
After sweating as much as an Olympic athlete, guests are able to refuel themselves with beverages like lemonade, hot chocolate and apple cider. They also have yummy treats like popcorn, apple cider donuts and ice cream.
If you are looking for a night of fear and are sick and tired of watching the same scary movies year after year, then look no further. Legends of Fear is sure to make you scream (or cry, sweat or wheeze).
