HODGESVILLE – The Maniac Mountain Haunted House will start scaring guests for its first Halloween season ever starting Saturday, Sept. 26.
The Maniac Mountain Mansion located at 1659 Teter Rd. in the Hodgesville area of Upshur County will feature a hayride, corn field and haunted house – and it’s not for the faint of heart.
Co-owner Bobby Wagner said he and co-owners Adam and Josh Ringer have discussed making a haunted attraction for a while now.
“We’ve all been talking about doing this for like five, six, maybe seven years,” Wagner said. “I ran into them at the Strawberry Festival (in a previous year), and I asked them if they had a property or something for me to be able to do a haunted house. Over the years, we have looked at different spots, but we kept talking about wanting to do it here in Upshur County, so then they acquired this farm, came back and approached me, and we have been building it for about four months now.”
The three attractions are located on a 900-acre farm in Hodgesville, past Hodgesville Elementary School on the left.
“It’s really going to be aimed at an older crowd – particularly teenagers and older – and we’re considering doing an age limit,” Wagner said. “One of our plans for next year is to double or triple our corn, and we’re going to do a daytime maze which will be a super intricate maze.”
The corn maze will be eight acres long and the hayride will be over 1.5 miles long. The general admission fee is $25 for all three attractions, and there is a VIP admission for $45 for Halloween lovers who aren’t up for waiting in line.
“We’re pretty excited to be here and to bring this to our community, and, we’re looking to build, possibly, the biggest haunted house in the world,” Wagner said. “We have big plans and we thought we had plenty of time this year for some of our bigger ideas, but we hope to have more of them next year.”
People in attendance should expect to spend about an hour and 20 minutes making their way through all three attractions, Wager said.
“It’s a reclaimed coal mine, and the house was built in the 20s,” Wagner said. “In our hallway staircase that goes into our basement, I guess there was actually a murder. A lady had a lover and she thought she was going to get caught, so she said he broke in and she shot and killed him. Then, a few years later, the barns were no longer there, but her husband hanged himself.”
The Maniac Mountain Haunted House will be open from 7-10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday Sept. 26 to Oct. 24. During the last week, from Oct. 25 through Saturday, Oct. 31, Halloween, it will be open from 7-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 7 p.m. to midnight on Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31.
There will also be a Kids’ Day that will be low-scare for the haunted house, corn maze and hayride Oct. 17 with pumpkin painting and other games from noon until 5 p.m.
“Halloween has been my favorite holiday since I was a little kid, and the other guys like it as well, but I’m more like the Halloween freak,” Wagner said.
