Atrox Factory Haunted House, Leeds, AL

October 23rd, 2009

(0 votes)

 Loading ...

The next part of my trip had me driving through Alabama in the middle of the week and lucky for me Atrox Factory Haunted House is open on Wednesday nights so I headed that way to see a haunt that I had heard a lot about.

Atrox Factory Haunted House is in older, one level industrial space with plenty of parking across the street. I got there early (about 30 mins before open) and there was already a line forming to get inside for the show. A line 30 mins before the show starts on a Wednesday? Clearly this haunt has a great reputation in the area.

We waited outside behind a chain link fence until the show opened up and then walked past what look like ticket booths – I later learned that these booths are used for those nights when Atrox has a cover charge just to get into the main area. That may sound a little odd, but Atrox brings in a lot of celebrities for autograph signings so when it does, it sometimes charges a cover charge to see the celebrity and then guests pay separately for haunt tickets. There were no celebrities here tonight so the crowd went directly to the ticket booths inside.

Inside the building is an indoor midway where guests can buy tickets, glow apparel, collectibles, refreshments or sit down and watch a movie on the large projector screen. There was plenty of space tonight but I am sure this place gets crowded on the weekends. Ticketing is done differently at Atrox. Instead of tickets, you actually get a token (a poker chip) with the Atrox logo on one side and a word on the other side. Mine side “Guts”. At this point, I met up with the owner, Paul Johnson who explained to me that my group was “Guts” and when that was called, I could head to the haunt entrance. What this lets me do is wander around the midway having fun without having to stand in line the whole time. When the staff makes an announcement calling groups, the movie is interrupted and you can clearly hear and see which group is supposed to report to the entrance. Now the group is not just 6 to 8 people that you may go in with. Its many more people than that so you stand in line for a little bit when you get there, but its much less than you normally would.

I was busy talking to Paul and getting a tour behind the scenes so I actually missed my group and ended up going in with another set. And don’t think they didn’t notice. When i turned in my token, the woman immediately said, “So you had the Guts token we were missing.” So they obviously keep close track of them. I got in line with a couple young ladies and waited for our turn to go in.

The Haunt itself was very good. Paul puts an emphasis on scaring people so there are plenty of dark spaces, a good mix of props and animations and the actors touch too. The scenes were well done and the actors timing was spot on. The path took you up ramps at times where you would look down into a scene to get a different perspective. The group I was with had plenty of scares and we all had a great time.

I enjoyed myself at Atrox and left with a new appreciation for what could be done with this type of building. I was also glad I got to meet Paul and to talk to him so much to get his take on haunting and the industry. If you are ever in the area, do yourself a favor and check out Atrox. Paul, thank you for your time and I hope you have a great season.