Who's the weird old person hanging around the packs of high school kids at Portland-area haunted houses? The one who reeks of good coffee and cheap gin? Yeah, thatâs a Willamette Week writer out reviewing local haunts for Creeper Crawl 2012.
11503 Broadacres Road Northest, Hubbard, 830-0865
The scene: A haunt hosted at a family-owned pumpkin farm on a country road outside the little farm town of Hubbard. A musty storage barn is a âmanorâ with other scares set up in the woods around it.
Cost: $9 for one attraction, $20 for all three. âThe Manorâ is the best of the bunch, while âthe Darkâ is a total throwaway. Unless youâre making a long night of it, Iâd hit the Manor and move along.
The backstory: In the Manor, a little girl killed her parents, then herself and now returns to haunt their home. The âWicked Wood Forestâ is a wooded area next to the barn thatâs under attack by zombies who cannot walk through metal fencing and breath very loudly but do not yell. The Dark is âphobia-basedâ but the only phobia really indulged is coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. This farm, for some reason, has been totally overrun by creepy clowns, though theyâre a little less scary than your average group of Juggalos at a suburban MAX stop.
Biggest scare: Actually, it was an animatronic head that popped out at me as I admired black light-illuminated bubbles blowing through the zombie-invaded forest. Itâs a simple diversion scare, but it was well-placed as my eyes were still glued to the shiny, floating bubbles. Oh, and the floor of the dimly lit forest is scaryâwear sturdy shoes.
Blood spilled: There was very little gore in any of the three houses. Mostly, you stumble through blackness, occasionally passing through dangling black rags.
Lamest moment: Watching a high school girl read instructions from a script before the wooded haunt. The owner asked her to memorize it. Sorry, the girl answered, sheâs not good at memorizing things.
Grade: D. Portlanders shouldnât bother unless theyâre stopping by on a drive to Salem or nearby Butteville Manor.
WWeek 2015