Haunted Overload in Lee, NH was a bucket-list spot for me til I finally had the opportunity to visit in 2019. In honor of their opening day 2020, this post is dedicated to them!
I'm originally from CT, yet in all the years I knew about Haunted Overload, I never had the chance to visit while I still lived on the east coast. When I moved to WA, I kicked myself for this, and vowed to one day return to experience it. Fortunately, my east-coast Halloween Squad are very encouraging/enabling of any and all day-trip accessible Halloween-related activities.
Last year, I had just graduated from college and planned an extended stay in CT, for a few weeks instead of the usual week or so. The Halloween Squad likes to plan out all of their late September/October events well in advance to make sure they get to do as many haunted houses and events as possible. There are ones they do every year (like Trail of Terror in Wallingford, CT), but they're always on the lookout for new places, too. Not that I had to twist any arms, but I requested that we go to Haunted Overload during my visit - none of them had been, either, and we all agreed to plan for it. We got our tickets well ahead of time, then all I had to do was wait with heavy anticipation for the day to arrive...
For me, the craziest thing about this place is that I'd seen it before - in dreams.
Well before I knew Haunted Overload existed, I'd had recurring, vivid dreams about a place that looked a lot like it, for years. In the dream, the situation would be similar. The setting began in a real-life place from my childhood, a dead-end street in our neighborhood that was on our usual route for trick-or-treating every year. Except, in the dreams, the street didn't end, it opened up to a "new" Halloween attraction with giant jack o'lanterns that I never quite got to see -- I'd arrive, then something would happen to interrupt, or I'd physically wake up before I got past the gates, and I never quite made it to see this Halloween Promised Land. Ever have dreams that it's Halloween night and you haven't even started on your costume/home haunt/etc., and know it's too late? That's how those dreams about Haunted Overload mad me feel. It's the kind of dream you wake up from feeling sad and incomplete, devastatingly unfulfilled.
So, when I finally got to see it in person last year, it felt...otherworldly. That's not even quite the right word, but I'm not quite sure how to describe the feelings in words -- literally a dream come true.
Needless to say, I felt a TON of anticipation leading up to our arrival. Days before, I wondered if the weather would be good. The day of, hoping we'd all be on time to meet up and get there. And of course, everything worked out perfectly. It was a perfect, gorgeous New England autumn day, and the long drive there was spent in great company, all of us chatting happily.
As we got into town, we had enough time to make a pit stop at a very nice-looking Dunkin Donuts.
And then we moved on to Haunted Overload. It was just a few miles further and was easy to find. We were directed on where to park, which wasn't too far from the entrance.
From the moment you arrive, it's a feast-- a full-on Roman orgy-- for the senses. There are more or less two parts to Haunted Overload: 1.) The standing in line part, where you're surrounded by astounding, custom-built sets the entire duration, a spooky twisting path through the woods; and 2.) the haunted-house proper, a faster-paced trek through more dark forest, full of haunt actors who are totally dedicated to stalking and scaring the shit out of you.
Part 1: Standing in line
This is the only area of the haunt where you're allowed to take pictures, but you will not be disappointed. Everything in Haunted Overload is custom-built, and the aesthetic is that of a haunted forest/countryside that has achieved its own sentience: Towering scarecrows looming over you, gaping-maw, hollow-tree tunnels that look like they're about to eat you alive (with enough scattered bones and remains to suggest that there have been many victims before you). It feels like you're being watched the whole time.
Did I mention it was a full moon that night? Well, it was.
Eventually, you come to a threshold, and pass through into a clearing. You turn to find that you've emerged near the mouth of a giant skull with pointy teeth, aglow with blacklight; and you're now surrounded by jack o'lanterns everywhere you turn.
If you look closely, you can see some people in this pic, for scale
That guy in the middle there cracks me up.
To be honest, I could have spent all night out there in that pumpkin field, and the ticket price would have been well worth it. I could live there. That setting, minus all but the people I'd want to be there, is my literal idea of what the ideal Heaven/afterlife would be like. The lighting, the spooky mist, the trees and candles, every little detail is absolute perfection.
And yet, the tour went on. Don't get me wrong, the rest of it was fantastic, too - but as is the case for most of the haunted attractions I've been to, I wish I didn't have to more or less rush through it. I would love to have taken my time, as we did during our wait in line, to fully take in every detail and savor it. The haunt actors were some of the best I've seen anywhere - truly into their roles. And the lighting throughout the haunt is masterfully done - most of it is quite dark, at times you quite literally feel like you might get lost in the woods out there.
At the very end of the haunt, as you emerge, there is a small stand where you can buy some Haunted Overload swag, which of course I did. I will treasure this experience for the rest of my life, even if I never get to return.
Thank you to the crew of Haunted Overload, who are true artists in every sense of the word.
It almost seems cheap to rate something like this, but if I were to do so, my rating is 10/10 jackos for this haunt.
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