10/08/2026
Thank you so much for the great review! 🙏 🙌
TS & SP for OVH 2026 Mt Healthy Haunted Hall REVIEW:
RECAP: Willing victims gather outside the graveyard, (im)patiently waiting for their turn to enter Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall. This year’s presentation is themed, “36 Years of 5-Star Fears!!” The haunt wastes no time reminding you that this is a Halloween tradition built to scare. Bloody Mary greets visitors at the door, then sends them into the waiting arms of Mr. Bones, who directs the path up a spooky staircase to check in at the haunted hotel, where checking in is easy, but checking out is another story. Enjoy your “slay!”
Near the top of the stairs, an unhinged attendant anxiously screams, “Push the RED button to go up to your room!” Immediately upon his command, an adjacent elevator door slides open and guests are whisked away among strange noises, vibrations, and shakes that leave you wondering if you're actually going to make it to your destination—or if this is where your hotel stay will come to an abrupt end! Emerging from the unreliable transport dumps into the sounds of screams serving as an effective reminder that you're not the first to discover what this hotel might have in store for you! Hallways lead past uncertain doors identifying rooms 666, 1408, 00013, and 13, none of which inspire confidence in your accommodations. The journey continues through the Honeymoon Suite, complete with a heart-shaped hot tub, but this honeymoon clearly isn’t going as planned, evidenced by a distraught woman shouting, “He cheated on me!” before adding, “He made me do it!” Whatever happened on THEIR wedding night definitely wasn't happily ever after!
From there, you're swept into a ballroom, where dancing and spinning skeletons create a macabre celebration. Other memorable encounters include vintage characters like a cymbal-playing monkey that adds an unexpected bit of creepy fun to the experience, and a kitchen run-in with a chef armed with a saw ready to make sure your stay gets considerably more terrifying. Continuance guides the course through a movie theater, and a room filled with crawling insects along with a few additional surprises courtesy of Bug Boy, and the infamous shower scene straight out of Psycho that witnesses a bathroom covered in blood due to the presence of Norman Bates himself! Escape leads outdoors for some casino games before navigation crosses ramps and bridges for a teeter-totter-like jolt creating a surprisingly fun, and slightly unnerving moment for those not expecting the ground beneath them to move. An electrical room encounter gives rise a wrench-carrying assailant delivering a great scare and plenty of personality. Next, the route climbs through a spinning vortex before bending through a washing machine area of laundered clothes and “sheets," in advance of an overgrown, chain-link fence entrapment where things really become threatening when a chainsaw-revving maniac goes on the assault sending you scrambling toward the challenging grand finale - the much anticipated Dan M. Maze! Complete darkness awaits as you enter the entanglement, where your sense of direction disappears almost immediately. With no light to guide you and only one way out! You've made it through the hotel. You've escaped the chainsaw. You've survived everything the haunt has thrown at you so far. Now try finding your way out of the darkness. Once you finally manage to discover the exit, there's a chance to catch your breath and grab a picture to remember the night. But don't get too comfortable - the haunt has one last scare heading your way from a roaming, stilted scarecrow setting his sights on you, and even giving chase from behind before you can officially call it a night at The Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall!
ANALYSIS: Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is celebrating its 36th year of “5-Star Fears,” and there's a reason this haunt has remained a staple of the Halloween season for so long. This year's “Going Old Skool” theme is a pretty fitting description of what makes this place so special. This isn't a haunt built around massive animatronics or over-the-top, million-dollar set pieces. Instead, it embraces the old-school, handcrafted style of haunting that has been part of its identity for decades.
The entire haunt is torn down at the end of every season and completely rebuilt, with the crew putting everything back together in roughly three weeks. That's an incredible amount of work in a very short amount of time, and you can see that creativity throughout as it leans into its time-honored, old-school charm, homemade creativity, memorable characters, and the tradition of completely changing things up from year to year.
The acting was good throughout, with top honors going to the elevator attendant, the unhinged hotel attendant, Norman Bates, Bug Boy, and the wrench-wielding assailant. With 21 actors and a 15+ minute experience, there's plenty packed into the journey. The hotel portion gives you a fun mix of horror references, creepy characters, physical effects, and unexpected scenes before sending you outside into a completely different environment. The ramps, bridges, teeter-totter incline, new chainsaw sequence, and blackout maze keep the second half moving and provide a nice variety from what you experienced inside.
For us, Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is about more than just the scares. From the days preceding OVH and waiting in line with family and friends to coming back as adults and reliving all those treasured, childhood, Halloween memories, this has always been one of our favorite stops each season, and there really is something here for everyone, and something very special about returning year after year to see what they've created next. It's the tradition; the creativity; the characters; the nostalgia all rolled into one!
Admission costs just $12 with a canned good donation, and only $7 on “Soupy” Sundays when donating 2 cans of soup! Their annual, non-scary, lights on, Trick-or-Treat night for kids takes place on Oct 25th from 6-6:45 PM. Proceeds benefit the Madonna Council Knights of Columbus, youth groups, and other local charities. The Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is a proud member of the Ohio Valley Haunts Passport of Terror Tour!
Mt. Healthy Haunted Hall is a proud member of the OVH Passport of Terror Tour
OVH FINAL RATING: 8.25
LOCATION & ADMISSION INFO:
7700 Seward Ave/Mt. Healthy, OH 45231
Oct 2 - 31; Fri & Sat 8 - 11 PM & Sundays 7 - 9 PM
$15 ($3 discount w/canned good donation); $20 Fast Pass (no discount)
$7 Soupy Sundays (must donate 2 cans of soup to receive discount)
Annual, non-scary Lights Up event Sunday, Oct 25th 6 - 6:45 PM
