This blog is based on the 2022 event at Fort Amherst. Therefore, some elements of the event may differ for this year's event.
The main courtyard even feaured a minature fair around the freaky Circo Mortis
As Halloween sets upon us horror fans can delight in the many horrifyingly good activities which come with this spooky season. We often see horror film marathons at cinemas, themed escape rooms, and of course the iconic horror experiences, which aren’t for the faint of heart.
So as an avid follower of all things scary my friends and I decided to venture to Fort Amherst’s Halloween Horrors event. The ominous settings of the Fort definitely added to the sense of apprehension felt around the entrance, but we continued on through.
Once we had been given our wristbands we were told that there were 3 attractions. The First was Dead-End, a zombie apocalypse themed walk where the infected run rampant. The next was the aptly named Circo Mortis, a circus of horrors, which as you can imagine is full of killer clowns, maniacs and other monsters which prey on the fearful. The last attraction was the longest and main attraction, the infamous Gates of Hell, a horror experience which is like no other.
Once we entered the Fort grounds, we decided to break the trend and headed up to the perilous Gates of Hell. However, just as we arrived we were greeted by a man clad in hillbilly attire wielding a chainsaw chasing unsuspecting victims across the courtyard. The costumes are incredibly well made and looked like a cross between Leather face and Beta from The Walking Dead.
Following on from this we entered the queue and was unknowingly followed by a friend of the hillbilly’s, who seemed to be holding a urostomy bag (a bag for his urine) which he insisted I hold. With some hesitation I obliged where he then seemed to open the bag and squirt the liquid on the people waiting in front of us, a rather frightful but funny experience.
One of the actors dressed as a Scarecrow
The Gates of Hell guarded by demonic nuns
Impressively the Gates of Hell takes place in the tunnels themselves which definitely adds to the fear factor. We were invited in and greeted by a host of different ghoul like undead people. With one of the standouts being the bell boy who gave us the safety briefing.
We were taken through a series of terrifying rooms where the lights would darken before we were barraged by actors dressed in different outfits who would grab us. I couldn’t help but laugh in response and was highly enjoying myself. Others were far more terrified, in one room two girls were screaming in horror at the devil like creature which was stalking them.
The sets and costumes are extremely well designed, with all different styles of horror you could think of. Without giving too much detail and risk spoiling the fun, there were at least 5 different themes throughout the Gates of Hell. It was definitely a blast and by far the longest of the 3 mazes.
After experiencing the horrors in the Gates of Hell we decided to head down to the Dead-End maze. If you are a fan of The Walking Dead or any other zombie style horror films you will thoroughly enjoy this. Queuing in a quarantine style line we were escorted through by a guard and a doctor who gave us our briefing and made sure we hadn’t entered the ranks of the undead.
Random explosions sporadically occurred in the background causing panic amongst us, followed by of course laughter. Once we were in the zombies didn’t hold back, chasing and pursuing as many of us as they could. They even crawled across the floor grabbing at our legs which had us all in a panic.
The Hillybilly killer is back and guarding the entrance to Dead-End
Lastly, we headed up to the Circo Mortis. As one of my friends has a phobia of clowns I could tell they were nervous. We did take the plunge and entered this circus of evil and was quite shocked. It involved us crawling through a tunnel and going through what can only be described as an extremely tight space. It was definitely much more close quarters, and led to some extreme jumps which again I couldn’t help but laugh in terror.
Overall, it was a really fun experience. The costumes are incredible and the sets are well made, especially the Gates of Hell which lasted for at least 45 minutes. It is a good laugh and can equally be completely terrifying for some, so it’s definitely worth checking out. They even have a sky ride which looks over the whole Fort and a ton of other activities.
It runs until the 29 October and you can get your tickets here.
