In a world saturated with electronics, it’s easy to think that more is better. In the case of haunted attractions, electronically triggered lights, bursts of air and elaborate animatronics do add to the scares. However, evolving and adapting age-old scare tactics in conjunction with today’s technology is a cumbersome task.
Fremont’s Haunted Hydro is celebrating its 25th anniversary this Halloween season and it’s hardly showing any age. An attraction some people might call “classic,” Haunted Hydro relies on old-fashioned scare tactics while making sure to add something fresh each season.
While it may be difficult to imagine how the same space can be re-imagined season after season, owners Bob and Beth Turner draw annually on what seems to be endless creative imagination.
This year, Hydro guests are treated to a Hollywood theme. “A Night at The Os-Scares” begins with a short film just before guests are immersed in the dark space that is the Haunted Hydro.
There is little time to let your eyes adjust before being pushed along what seems like endless nooks, crannies and corridors, all inspired by film and television.
In addition to revamped rooms, Hydro guests also navigate the haunt in reverse this year, making old and familiar corners and rooms feel unusual and spooky once more.
So as not to spoil the final event that precedes your successful departure from the haunted concrete cage, let’s just say that if you choose to get out “alive,” you’re going to need to spend some time in a small, small box.
Featured too this year is “Crazy Bob’s Sanitarium and Psycho-Path.” The outdoor combination haunt and maze is quite good. While a well-constructed haunt can raise the hairs on your arms, the addition of natural wooded areas on the edge of a river create a very true-to-life, daunting knot in the stomach.
The horrifyingly mutilated dead that inhabit this part of the Haunted Hydro property know very well how to use the natural foliage and white noise to cover their approach and inevitable attack. There are some parts of the Sanitarium and Psycho-Path that are better than others, but overall it’s more than worth a walk, or run.
The Haunted Hydro is open weekends through Nov. 2 and visitors can experience both Haunted Hydro and Crazy Bob’s Sanitarium and Psycho-Path for $19.
For hours, directions and full ticket information visit thehauntedhydro.com.
