If you’re searching for the most intense local haunt in Central Florida, then you need to head to Plant City to face the terror of Sir Henry’s Haunted Trail. By far, of all the events that I have attended this season, Sir Henry is definitely the scariest out of all of them. From the scareactors wandering about the common areas and queues for the mazes (and yes, I do mean mazes) to the ones within the dark corridors and pathways of the trails, each and every one is uniquely terrifying. Sir Henry, with featured now perennial guest Ominous Decent (whom joined Sir Henry after Hurricane Irma destroyed its original home in Bartow, FL), is made up of three trails, a laser tag arena, and an escape room. Amping up the scare factor, small groups are admitted into the mazes, leaving plenty of space between you and the groups in front and behind. No scares are spoiled like in more conveyer belt type houses. In addition to the attractions, there are shows performed in the presence of the statue of Sir Henry. While resting between mazes and enjoying the food truck offerings, you will be entertained by a group reenacting the Thriller dance and the Lipstick Players performing Time Warp from Rocky Horror Picture Show. So much to do and see at Sir Henry. And with various ticketing options, this haunted attraction is the most scream for your buck. Oh yeah, be on the lookout for Vex. She is a wandering scareactor host who is always happy to answer your questions.

Returning for a second year to Sir Henry is Ominous Decent. New for this year is Twisted Souls, a maze that takes you through the ranch and slaughter house of a family that may just want to serve you up for dinner. Although there are returning set pieces from last year, this year’s maze is reimagined with new twists, turns, dead ends, and haunts. Of all the trails at Sir Henry this year, this is definitely the most frightening of them all. The attention to detail is incredible and nightmare inducing. Each and every trail at Sir Henry has a story posted out front for you to read the background of each and every trail. Although the signage is something that many guests may walk past, take your time to read it. Just like the preface of a book or trailer of a movie sets the tone for the experience, so does this narrative. The general theme of Twisted Souls is hillbilly horror. And within the livestock corals and humble abode of the family, you will encounter unspeakable terror and will wonder if you can escape with your very life.

After narrowly escaping the hillbillies of Twisted Souls,  my friends and I headed for The Carving. Again, there is a great story to read before you ender the terrifying field. From the entrance to the queue to the make itself, there is a noticeable attention to theming. The sinister jack-a-lanterns are incredibly creepy and truly set the tone for what you will encounter in the field. While my friends and I were waiting in the queue, none other then SIR HENRY himself came over to greet us. How many horror attractions have a consistent icon who wanders about, greeting guests? I cannot think of one. I love how Sir Henry walks around greeting his guests. This shows such an attention to the guest experience. Truly adds a personal touch. Instead of a ranch ran by cannibalistic hillbillies, this maze takes you through a field and village of deadly villagers that seek to carve up more than just pumpkins. With only some small candles and the stars to light the way, this is a dark maze. I love how it feels as though you are helpless in the middle of a forest. Because you are actually outside in a field and forest, speckled with foreboding cabins, this maze achieves an intense feeling that no amount of theming in a sound stage can fully replicate. You may even encounter low hanging shrubbery and even thorns. It’s a legit wilderness. Perfectly spaces out and paced, the haunts and scares are terrifyingly effective. Whereas this maze is not quite as scary as Twisted Souls, there are plenty of times that I was scared. And I do not scare easily.

Lastly, before experiencing the laser tag and escape room games, is Silent Walls. What is scarier than an orphanage with a sordid past? Answer, not much. With a serial killer on the loose, do you have what it takes to survive a maze through the house, grounds, and hospital with a murderous boogeyman running around? The entrance of this house is actually a house! You get to enter the orphanage through the front door and enter the dimly lit foyer. Every room is frightening and no amount of psyching yourself out or preparation will protect you from the boogeyman. The boogeyman may be any of the characters you encounter in the house, on the grounds, or in the hospital. Don’t trust anyone. The corridors are narrow and twisted. One wrong turn and you may wind up the next boogeyman victim. Like with the other mazes at Sir Henry, this one also boasts spectacular attention to production design and detail. Not all the scares are jump scares, and that is true of all the mazes at Sir Henry. Some of the frightening imagery is right there in front of you when you enter a room. The combination of jump scares and morbid characters gives this house an extremely strong presence. There is an atmosphere of dread and terror the whole time in the house. This level of fright exists from start to finish.

In addition to the three main attractions, there are two other offerings at Sir Henry this year. Laser Tag and an Escape Room. Both of them are included with the VIP ticket or available as a separate upsell. But you should opt for the VIP ticket since the VIP line access is included. Moore on that in the following paragraph. Providing guests with a break from the macabre, the laser tag setup is team v team in a small arena with cars and barricades. Plenty of places to protect yourself. It’s a lot of fun! I happened to be the highest scorer in my group despite dying 5 times haha. It’s a five minute game, and you will have a blast. Across the common area from laser tag is the escape room. Be prepared to wait for a while. Instead of loading the game with, say 6 people at a time, it’s loaded by party. So, it may take a while to get to your group especially if there are many groups of 3-4 people in front. Won’t talk about the room because that would give away the mystery. But it’s a lot of fun!

Sir Henry’s Haunted Trail has gotten so much right. In fact, their haunts beat out anything that I have experiences this year in terms of the level of scare and (non IP) production design. You DO NOT want to miss this season of Sir Henry. You will have a great time! Now, for some areas of improvement as this attraction continues to grow in popularity. The VIP queue needs to actually move faster. The problem with combining the VIP queue access with the ticket package that includes laser tag and the escape room is that most guest get that VIP combo package. So, the VIP line moved just as creepily slowly as the regular (standby) queue. Solution: Have the base ticket (3 trails), a combo ticket (three trails+laser tag+escape room), and make the VIP queue access a separately purchased premium offering. That way, you can add it to the base or combo ticket package. With it being a separate charge, fewer people will opt for it, therefore the VIP queue will actually more more quickly. I also suggest that Sir Henry add another food truck or two that gives guests different options. Lighting for the two shows in front of the statue needs to increase. And Sir Henry needs to work on how to communicate the actor changes with the hosts in the greeting positions so they don’t snd guests through while actors are changing (delaying the experience while IN the attraction). On the topic of hosts, the queues need to have a greeter at the entrance of the queue.

Although I still have a couple more local haunts to hit before calling it a season and switching gears to Thanksgiving and Christmas, this is on track to be my favorite experience this year. Most scare for the buck, definitely. If you live in Orlando or Tampa, you don’t want to miss this Halloween attraction!

Follow me on

The R.L. Terry ReelView (for films)

Twitter: RLTerry1

Instagram: RL_Terry

Checkout my book On the Convergence of Cinema and Theme Parks