Pennhurst Asylum

SHE SAID:
Disclaimer: I’m easily scared, I haven’t been in a real haunted house since middle school, I don’t watch scary movies, and I’m a screamer.

There had been a lot of news surrounding the brand new Pennhurst Asylum attraction in Spring City, so we had to check it out. Once we got there, I stopped and said, “Um, I don’t really do haunted houses.”

While waiting in line to get in, one of the characters came up behind me and was waiting nicely. I turned around to talk to Matt and began to scream. Not a small “Eep!” a full on scream.

The first three rooms are an interpretive display of Pennhurst State School and Hospital with artifacts and information. The night we were there, the attendant in these rooms was a former employee of Pennhurst.

Pennhurst closed in 1987 and has been an abandoned property since.

Once you enter the asylum, the rooms are set up like those of a state hospital – varying between patient rooms and doctor’s rooms.

Personally, I thought the characters playing the patients were the scariest. You cover two floors in the tour. When you head to the second floor, there is a girl standing at he bottom of the stairs looking very forlorn holding a rat.

Or, in one room, there are two patients – one is throwing himself back and forth against the room’s walls and on the other side of the room there is a man behind a cage. Once you walk into the room, the man in
the cage, comes out of the cage and blocks your way out of the room.

I screamed my head off – hid behind Matt scream “No, no! Please, stop!” and when I saw employees that were not characters, asked how far to the end and if there was a way out that wasn’t through the
tunnels. (Lucky for me, they escorted me out so they last couple of characters didn’t bother us.)

My knees were shaking, I was almost crying – I was terrified! And, even with me almost crying and asking the characters to stop, they stayed in character the entire time.

HE SAID:
For me, this was no different than any other haunted house tour I've ever been on.  People pop out at you from hidden corners trying to scare you and they do a great job of staying in character.  Maybe it's just me, but knowing that they are all actors just makes it un-scary to me and I laughed most of the time.  I know Leann was quite scared for most of it, but for me it was just a stroll through a house.

I think for people that like Haunted Houses, this is a great attraction, albeit a little pricey.  However, if you aren't into Haunted Houses, I don't think you'd find it too entertaining.