Recently I went to Ghost Lake 13 Levels of Fear held in Conneaut Lake Park where you walk through a series of haunted houses consisting of 13 levels. I will be writing a review based on how scary the costumes were, contribution of staff, and the levels themselves. This is definitely a popular attraction around the Halloween season and many people in the area attend or have attended, so I’m interested to see if people agree with my statements. 

One thing that I was not impressed with was the amount of clown apparel that was worn. The reason why I have an issue with this is because clowns are cliche and looked like something you could buy from a local convenience store. The most creative costumes there came from the Blood Moon Meat Factory level where the staff dressed up as sort of  southern cannibalistic characters. Sadly I can’t remember much about other costumes that really blew me away or I thought were impressive or scary. I would give the costume a 2 out of 5 because of the lack of creativity of effort put into the characters. 

At the beginning of my time at the park there was an incident where a teen next to us collapsed and the staff didn’t really acknowledge it and instead of helping wanted us to hurry up and buy our ticket. If that wasn’t a big enough red flag, then this one might make you feel even more uncomfortable. Many of the staff there carry real weapons including crow bars, chainsaws, hatchets, etc. If it’s not clear enough to why this is a problem, then let’s just look at the fact that you take an inexperienced person wearing a mask and give a weapon near a crowd of people. Boundaries is another thing that the staff there struggle with due to the fact that they get in your personal space and sometimes even touch you. To be fair, you did pay to be scared, and it’s nice enough for them to even have this considering the situation with COVID. I would rate the staff 3 out of 5. 

Lastly, the most exciting topic of the review was how good the haunted houses/levels were. Honestly, I was surprised with some of the elements that they incorporated this year, including an entirely white room, a moving elevator simulation, and the structure of the houses themselves. I think the levels were good but one critique I would give would be to make each of the levels have more individuality because they are more similar than different. Another thing that they do that I think is cool to appreciate is you get to walk through the zoo, which is where the animals used to be, and that’s not really something you get to do every day. I would give the haunted houses overall a 4 out of 5. 

In the end I would give my experience as a whole a 3.5 out of 5. Some of my expectations for my 2021 experience weren’t met. But I understand that the way it turned out could be affected by COVID and lack of resources, and I usually end up going every year, so I appreciate it. Hopefully they continue to improve and get more creative every year.