PICTURES - York haunt's sold-out opening weekend with VIP guests
Charlotte Bellamy who plays Laurel Thomas in Emmerdale (Image: Provided)
A POPULAR York seasonal attraction has opened its doors for spooky season with a sold-out launch with VIP guests (plus our reporter from The Press).
Hallowscream, a haunted house attraction at York Maze, opened its doors on Friday night (October 9) on a sold out first weekend featuring special guests – including soap stars, influencers, and journalists (including Alice Kavanagh from the York Press).
The annual event, which is first and biggest Halloween scare event to open in Yorkshire, Hallowscream takes place for 17 nights in October to a crowd of up to 2,000 visitors.
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The haunt first had its start in the early 2000s when owner Tom Pearsey was checking over his fields on a dark autumn night to ensure that nobody was hiding amongst the corn – something he described as ‘terrifying’ and led him to developing the concept of a scare attraction on the site.
In this year's event, it seems he hoped to bring visitors back to that time with a new scare experience Corntagion, that combines a tractor ride, corn maze, and scare house in an attraction that is the first of its kind in the UK.
It begins with a trailer ride into the corn maze before guests are forced to continue on foot, pursued by zombies, through a field and into a decontamination unit.
A sneak peak at Corntagion (Image: Alice Kavanagh)
Tom Pearcy, owner of York Maze and creator of Hallowscream, said: "Each year we add something new to Hallowscream, this year joining the line-up is our sixth scare attraction and a UK first.
"Corntagion starts with a tractor trailer ride into the corn maze, however things soon start to go wrong and guests have to get off the trailer to navigate the rest of the corn maze on foot being chased by zombies.
"It ends with a decontamination clinic which has its own surprises inside. The combination of trailer ride, corn maze walk and scare house in one attraction is a UK first and has been getting fantastic feedback on our opening weekend."
An actor inside The Singularity (Image: Alice Kavanagh)
Corntagion joins five existing scare houses at the event: clown themed Corny's Cornevil; the sci-fi inspired The Singularity; cannibal themed The Flesh Pot; an ancient Egyptian themed house Necropolis; and the Americana inspired Redneck’s Revenge.
Having attended the event on Saturday, The Press were given access to Corntagion - which is located just outside the main scare zone and takes visitors down a dark path into a makeshift army base where nosy visitors ride along with the Yorkshire Regiment into an infected zone.
As a regular attendee and horror maze lover, I found this to be a more than welcome edition to the line-up and, knowing the story behind Hallowscream, I loved the integration of the maze into the annual event. A seamless edition if I say so myself.
Our reporter Alice with a group of scare actors (Image: Alice Kavanagh)
Whilst I would have liked the haunt itself to be a little more scary, I do understand this is personal preference and I thought having an open air ride was (literally) a breath of fresh air in the middle of the evening with a few good jumps.
I also enjoyed the corn maze, which could have been a little longer, and the decontamination zone that took you back to the horror of COVID times (truly scary!).
Outside of Corntagion, my favourite maze this year was Corny's Cornevil - the clown themed house which sees guests chased through illusion rooms, trapped inside hexagonal boxes with no visible exit in sight, and tormented by evil clowns.
One of the clowns outside Lucifer's Lounge (Image: Alice Kavanagh)
Both myself and my housemate Esther, who joined for the evening, also loved The Flesh Pot - an intense experience that takes visitors into a makeshift butcher's shop where people may find themselves offered a cut of long pig over the the more traditional meat options.
Beyond the mazes, there are live shows every 15 minutes on the main stage, a host of rotating scare actors between the houses, a haunted shop, and the VIP Lucifer’s Lounge where Blood Bag cocktails are served by the Devil himself.
The end of night show was a particular highlight this year, with more audience interaction and a few fun scares that brought a fantastic evening to a close in the perfect way.
Hallowscream icon Lil Dribble performing at York Maze (Image: Alice Kavanagh)
York Maze’s Hallowscream, in Elvington Lane, York, is running until Sunday, November 1, 2024. The event is open on select nights from 6.30pm–11pm, with last entry at 8pm, and is strictly 16+.
Tickets can be found here with prebooking recommended.