pennhurst asylum

My husband had a blast, I was scared to death. The place is scary in the daylight, no need to add haunts!

This review is only for the Ghost Hunt.Having grown up watching shows like Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, and Destination Truth, I was super excited to see that the haunted attraction at Pennhurst offered a "ghost hunt" where you would be "given a flashlight" to "explore" the building at night and they even encouraged you to "not forget your camera so you can take pictures." I don't care for haunted attractions but this ghost hunt sounded just like what real paranormal investigators do and it was at Pennhurst Asylum, one of the most haunted places in America, so I immediately put the ghost hunt in my itinerary.My boyfriend and I visited the night before Halloween. We had a hard time finding the place with the address given on the website (pennhurstasylum dot com) and only found it via a single electronic sign on the main road. We followed it through some narrow dirt roads and finally came to a grassy area where we were instructed where to park. Once out of the car, we grabbed our gear - his backpack and our digital cameras. We passed by a few workers who directed us through a half mile walk to the asylum. Only until we reached a worker at the ticket line section did he inform we weren't allowed to bring bags and cameras. Yes, no cameras. Why the heck did the the description for the ghost hunt tell us to bring our cameras??? Talk about false advertisement!We were later told you can only bring your PHONE cameras and flashlights to the ghost hunt and nothing else. They also lied about how we "would be given flashlights". Upon arriving at the Mayflower building, instead of providing us with flashlights the workers were surprised we didn't bring our own flashlights. It was becoming clear that this attraction was unorganized and misleading.To make it worse, you don't actually get to explore the building. Because rooms are chained off from public access! So, you are paying $21 to walk the HALLS of the 1st and 2nd floors of the Mayflower building with your crappy phone camera and God help you if you really thought you would be given flashlights like they said they would in their website's description of the ghost hunt. Overall, this is definitely the most unorganized and deceptive event I have ever been to. The only positives are: -that the grounds were creepy - Pennhurst Asylum really is a scary place to be in at night, especially when you're alone (with hundreds of people, not so much).-the workers were friendlyAnd the negatives:-website description of the ghost hunt does not accurately depict what it really is-no FAQs on the website-site is impossible to get to via GPS-no control of how many people can be in the ghost hunt building at one time. or if there was, there were too many people inside for it to be scary.-security personnel don't check too closely for weapons/electronics. they only scanned my right arm and upper torso. several people were able to sneak in small digital cameras.-some workers were not informed/knowledgeable about the event; the ones I talked to couldn't answer my questions regarding what we can/can't bring definitivelyI would NOT recommend this to anyone looking to participate in an actual ghost hunt. So disappointing.

My friend and I decided to drive up to Pennhurst Asylum for Halloween. We arrived about 7:30 pm and parked in the back lot. Anticipating large crowds we bought Vip passes for $78 that gave us access to all 4 attractions. I found the actors to be enthusiastic and a lot of fun. The grounds and buildings were amazing. The whole place is amazing and I am glad to see someone is trying to preserve a piece of our history. Unfortunately I did not find the haunts to be scary. It's a shame that with a location so perfect the attractions fall short. I would suggest going elsewhere if you are trying to be scared. I think the educational tours would be something far more interesting to checkout..

This haunted attraction is one of many I attended the 2014 Halloween season. This haunt is roughly four hours from home and we bought the four way VIP tickets at $78 each that gave us line-jumping capabilities. We arrive Halloween evening at seven. We had a MAJOR complaint that no physical address was listed by the website or in Google making GPSing the attraction impossible to easily find.We loved the property which is beautifully scary on its own. Having arrived around 7pm Halloween evening we were parked at a nearby grass field. After a short walk with convenient portapotties along the way, we were directed to the VIP ticket line where we had to turn in our internet print outs for paper tickets. There were no lines to speak of so we could have paid regular admission. We visited the Asylum, the Tunnels, the Ghost Hunt and the Dungeon. We liked the tunnels best but all the haunted were well-decorated with experienced actors. There were plenty of startle-scares. There was a heavy use of strobes, fog and sound effects. I went in alone through the Asylum but with my companion through the other places. I found there to be good back-story, plenty of helpful guides, but perhaps a little too many people going through conga-line style to be truly scary.All in all this place has great potential but I've been to scarier, cheaper attractions locally.

First off, we got our tickets online in August so we got VIP tickets (admission to all 4 attractions) for $20 off the regular price of each ticket. It was well worth the advance planning because we did not stand in ANY lines even though we went the weekend before Halloween. We parked in the designated lot about a mile from the attraction, stood in a short line to get on the bus and were there within 15 minutes of parking and getting on the bus, drive included. My husband and I took my 14 year old niece who loves the scary stuff here for her birthday present and she had a blast. We got there right at dusk so it was just getting dark and it looked ominous...I actually think the parts NOT done up for the haunted attraction are scarier. The actors here are fantastic, very in character and seem to enjoy what they do. Beware, they will touch you, brush against you, stroke your hair and get in your face a little but we found it funny and just part of the experience. It just may not be for everyone in that regard. Each attraction had it's own appeal, all the rooms were well done, there are strobe lights and some fog and it's hard to see in some of it, but not dangerous in that regard. Just follow the person in front of you. We all felt thhe best attraction was the tunnel of terror. Parts of it get very tight and enclosed, which lends to the fear factor. I'd like to see Pennhurst outside the haunted attraction. It's an intriguing place with a sad, unfortunate history, sorry to say. I suggest you try it out. And yes, I've also been to Eastern State Penitentiary and while it was fun, it was not scary like Pennhurst, at least to me!

Pennhurst Asylum seemed like a perfect place for a haunted attraction but the buildings themselves are scarier than the actual theatrics they are trying to pull off. The wait to get into the attraction is ridiculous and depending on the night can be 5+ hours long. I did not even wait in the entire line but instead got into an argument with security and they took me to the front of the line cause refunding my money was going to be too complicated. The attraction itself was not scary a lot of strobe lights and fog thats pretty much all I remember.....and being cold. Then again I have not been to a good haunted house attraction in years. Overall I do not recommend Pennhurst. I would however suggest Eastern State Penitentiary which has a lot more history and is defiantly more scary.

The PennHurst Asylum is fantastic!. I have attended a LOT of Halloween attractions, and most have been completely horrible, boring, stupid, and a waste of money. This attraction however is the best one around!!! The grounds themselves are massive and independently eerie. The skilled actors mingle in and out of the lines scaring all in their path. The parking is free, and the price is well worth it for the combo attractions. I will definitely go again next year.

A group of 6 of us went to the Pennhurst Haunted House on a Thursday at the start of their season. We were able to park in a grass field and it was about a 5 minute walk to get to the ticket booth. Apparently if you go on a busier day later in the season, you have to park further out and take a shuttle bus into the property. There were clean porta-potties conveniently located just outside of the parking lot, ticket booth, and inside the grounds. The tickets are $47 per person to go to all four attractions. The asylum, dungeon, and tunnels (tunnels being the best of the three) incorporate sets with live actors. The fourth attraction, the ghost hunt, is an abandon building that you walk through in the dark. Overall the haunted houses were really fun, the actors are really into character and seemed to thoroughly enjoy what they were doing. They tend to target you if you are an easy scare. It was pretty funny watching 10-13 year old boys scream and hide behind their parents. If you do not like being touched, this place is not for you. The actors will poke, rub, cough, grab, scream in your face, and do anything they can to annoy you. My only complain was the endless lines. We went on a Thursday in September and there was not a huge crowd, yet we stood in line for over 2 hours just to get to the asylum. At one point the line didn't move for nearly an hour. Having to stand in line in the freezing cold inhaling other people's second hand smoke was not fun. I can not imagine what the lines would be like going on a busy day on Friday or Saturday closer to Halloween.If you love haunted houses, I really recommend Pennhurst's. I've been to the Black Out haunted house in Manhattan and this one is just as unique. Just make sure you bring a warm sweater and something to entertain yourself with in the long lines.