16512 Winding Creek Road, Plainfield, IL
year: 2013
Winding Creek Haunted Woods is one of the most unique home haunts we have ever visited. It combines a haunted trail (complete with walk by a real creek) and a haunted house into one enjoyable experience that is easily as good as a number of pay haunts we have been to.
The haunt begins with the trail portion, and visitors are led along the trail by a costumed guide who shows them the correct path to take. The entire patch is well lit with both creepy lighting and real tiki torches, both of which provide the trail with an excellent atmosphere. The overall feel is one of being lost in an 80's slasher flick and playing the part of some hapless campers who find themselves all alone in some scary woods. In fact, Winding Creek's lighting scheme is probably the best one we've seen on any haunted trail we've been on. The path is easy to follow, even if there was no guide, and all of the props, scenes, and actors can easily be seen (once they pop out at you, of course). Throughout the trail there are many props, both animated and static, as well as numerous live actors, many of whom do an excellent job a appearing to be fake. Many of the scenes involve some excellent distraction techniques, whereby visitors are drawn to either a prop or another actor that keeps their eyes off of the real scare, which usually comes from the side. It's a simple technique, but really quite effective, and one we've not seen employed in many other haunts. One favorite scene from the trail portion featured a zombie Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, standing in front of some corn stalks. As visitors passed, the Scarecrow appears, looking for some brains - it's a nice play on the actual scarecrow encounter from The Wizard of Oz, and it showcases some of the originality on display here. Also making a return showing was one of our favorite scenes from last year, which featured a partially submerged character lying on the bank of the creek that runs behind the trail. As visitors pass, this character awakens, moving backwards into the creek, holding a partial skeleton in its hands. This year the creature had a wolf's head, and looked fantastic. Again, its' one of the most creative things we've seen at any haunt. One final cool scene (amongst many) was an executioner standing near a guillotine. Again, he seemed as though he was fake, and the style of his mask enhanced that idea. Of course he was real, though, and as we passed, he stared at us and showed us the severed head he held in his hand - a nice character touch! |
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If the haunt consisted of the trail portion alone,
it would still be one of our favorites, but luckily for us and for
everyone else, there is an entire house portion to go through as well.At the entrance to the house, visitors are greeted by a mailbox that snaps at them, just waiting to tear their hands off should they come too close. At this point the guide leaves and visitors are on their own.
Inside the house there a numerous rooms, each one done up very well with cobwebs, eerie lighting, and various moving and non-moving props. Some of the rooms included a creepy child's bedroom, a crypt-like area, a hallway with laser light show, and even a room with a body suspended from the ceiling that comes down towards visitors as they pass by. There are numerous actors inside the haunt as well, ranging from odd little children (who play their parts very well) to a butcher who seems very into her work. There are several surprises along the way as well, with one of our favorites being the ghoul on a slab in the crypt room, who again looked just like a prop until we got too close!
Overall, Winding Creek gets high marks for creativity, ingenuity, and overall originality. The haunt does an excellent job at creating a spooky but fun atmosphere while at the same time generating some good old-fashioned startle type scares. All of the actors, whether they be little kids or adults, are clearly into their roles, which gives their performances that sincere edge that helps "sell" the acting. This is one haunt where the children are easily as entertaining as the adults. We were impressed by the variety of the haunted scenes, and we enjoyed anticipating what might be waiting for us around the next corner or turn.
Winding Creek is also family friendly, so you won't find any "in your face" intense psychological scares or evil looking actors here. It's something that both adults and children can enjoy and it invokes all that is fun and festive about the Halloween season. In short, it's outstanding, and it's nice to see such effort being put into something for people of all ages.
We'd highly recommend Winding Creek for anyone who likes to have some classic Halloween fun, or for people who may be too scared to go to professional haunted houses. Additionally, Winding Creek is free, so if you're unsure on whether or not to spend money on a haunt that may not be good, you have nothing to lose by going here. In fact, you'll probably enjoy it so much that you think you should have paid something for it. If that's the case, you can always make a donation to the charity that the owners have picked for the year.
If you are looking for family fun in a good atmosphere and can only make one haunt during the season, make it this one. It's well worth your time! -
Inside the house there a numerous rooms, each one done up very well with cobwebs, eerie lighting, and various moving and non-moving props. Some of the rooms included a creepy child's bedroom, a crypt-like area, a hallway with laser light show, and even a room with a body suspended from the ceiling that comes down towards visitors as they pass by. There are numerous actors inside the haunt as well, ranging from odd little children (who play their parts very well) to a butcher who seems very into her work. There are several surprises along the way as well, with one of our favorites being the ghoul on a slab in the crypt room, who again looked just like a prop until we got too close!
Overall, Winding Creek gets high marks for creativity, ingenuity, and overall originality. The haunt does an excellent job at creating a spooky but fun atmosphere while at the same time generating some good old-fashioned startle type scares. All of the actors, whether they be little kids or adults, are clearly into their roles, which gives their performances that sincere edge that helps "sell" the acting. This is one haunt where the children are easily as entertaining as the adults. We were impressed by the variety of the haunted scenes, and we enjoyed anticipating what might be waiting for us around the next corner or turn.
Winding Creek is also family friendly, so you won't find any "in your face" intense psychological scares or evil looking actors here. It's something that both adults and children can enjoy and it invokes all that is fun and festive about the Halloween season. In short, it's outstanding, and it's nice to see such effort being put into something for people of all ages.
We'd highly recommend Winding Creek for anyone who likes to have some classic Halloween fun, or for people who may be too scared to go to professional haunted houses. Additionally, Winding Creek is free, so if you're unsure on whether or not to spend money on a haunt that may not be good, you have nothing to lose by going here. In fact, you'll probably enjoy it so much that you think you should have paid something for it. If that's the case, you can always make a donation to the charity that the owners have picked for the year.
If you are looking for family fun in a good atmosphere and can only make one haunt during the season, make it this one. It's well worth your time! -