Review: Blood Manor Haunted House delivers gory thrills in New York City (Halloween 2013)

For a fresh take on one of NYC’s most popular haunted houses, we invited Kelly Lewis (New York City blogger and founder of Go! Girl Guides) to share her experience as a first-time visitor to Blood Manor. Read on for her chilling recap!

Performer at Blood Manor haunted house

A menacing ghoul at Blood Manor haunted house. (Photo: Kelly Lewis)

 

It’s 7 p.m. on a cool fall night and Jack the Butcher just asked me how I’d like to die tonight. I’m in a room full of bloodied bodies, ghosts, ghouls and demons—and I’m having the time of my life.

Blood Manor is arguably the most elaborate haunted mansion in New York City, and it opens to the public once again on October 4, 2013.

The Manor

Blood Manor is essentially a maze of 10+ rooms that excel in the art of creepy décor: maggots squirming on tables, “bodies” hanging from meat-hooks, chainsaws blaring in the distance—to put it simply, it’s majestically terrifying.

I entered the maze in a group of four along with my best friend and two strangers, and we were all nervous about what was to come. One person in the group who had visited Blood Manor the year before shrugged it off by saying, “don’t worry, we’ll just be laughing our way through.”

Ten minutes later, we were all holding hands and screaming.

The maze is a string of rooms with different themes: there’s an operation room, where a mad scientist is cutting open his latest victim, a freezer room that looks like something straight out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a neon room full of clowns—oh, and a zombie stripper room.

Ghouls, Monsters & Mad Men

The best part about Blood Manor is the actors, who spend hours getting into costume and play their characters to a T. The performers are trained not to touch you, but that doesn’t mean they won’t get close—ghouls of all sorts pop out from around every corner, yelling in your ear, cackling loudly and speaking in tongues.

The Bottom Line

If you’re a sissy like me, you’ll be screaming a lot more than laughing, but if you can compose yourself for a few minutes to look around, you’ll revel in the talent of the actors and the painstaking attention to detail exhibited at Blood Manor. It’s worth a visit, especially if you want a fun group experience and aren’t ready for the hardcore thrills of competitors Blackout (where you have to walk through alone) and Nightmare (which focuses exclusively on serial killers).

Details:

What: Blood Manor Haunted House
When: Oct. 4- Nov. 2, 2013
Where: 163 Varick Street, Manhattan
Tickets: $30 plus $3.50 fee online; $35 at the door. “R.I.P Express” tickets ensure a fast-pass through the lines for $45 plus $3.50 fee. To purchase, visit BloodManor.com or call 212-290-2825
Blood Manor Promo Code: EN163 (enter for $5 off e-tickets)
Follow Blood Manor on Twitter at @BloodManor.

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About the Writer

Kelly Lewis is the founder of Go! Girl Guides, a series of travel guidebooks made for and by women. Follow her on Twitter at @GoGirlGuides.

About Guest Writer

This guest post was written by a Downtown Traveler contributor. If you are interested in writing for us, visit the "contacts" page.