Scream Acres Haunted House and Hayride, Bishopville, SC

October 20th, 2009

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I had time left on my schedule Friday night so I wanted to hit another haunt before I called it a night. After talking to other customers in line at a couple of the haunts, I headed out to Scream Acres Haunted House and Hayride. It was quite a drive out there, but was well worth the trip.

My trip to Scream Acres Haunted House and Hayride was one of those fortunate events. After speaking to some folks in line at other haunted houses in the area, they encouraged me to head out towards Camden to visit Scream Acres. The only directions they could give me were to head towards Florence, SC. Feeling lucky, I put Florence, SC into my GPS and started driving. I looked up Scream Acres on my phone and only found an article about them that said they were at Hwy 30 in Bishopville and said to just follow the signs. It was going to take me about 40 minutes to get there so I knew if I couldn’t find it, I would be wasting a lot of time, but like I said, I was feeling lucky.

I found Bishopville and came across a sign directing me to Scream Acres. Several narrow roads and a few more signs along the way and I found myself in their parking lot. I was greeted by one of the owners, Patti and warmed up next to the bonfire while her husband, Bobby came around and met me. I showed up unannounced so I explained what I was doing and Bobby couldn’t have been more welcoming. The property used to be farm land but then years ago, the government provided incentives to plant trees and now the property contains acres and acres of the tallest and straightest trees I have seen since Sequoia National Forest.

I got there later in the evening so the teens were coming in from the football game and from the Bishopville Cotton Festival so there was a decent crowd forming and Patti was kind enough to take me to the front of the line. Scream Acres features an indoor haunted house along with a hayride. Visitors first go through the house and then take a ride on the hay wagon. The haunted house was fun and scary with a lot of energy. The hayride however, is the main event. I got onto the wagon and we started down the path.

It is a beautiful piece of property with these tress planted in perfect rows which was stunning to me. It is perfect hayride land with the overhanging branches keeping things dark, but still enough breaks in the foliage to see the stras in certain spots. The hayride has several scenes on it where the wagon stops and then the wagon is attacked by the actors. Unfortunately, their big flame effect had malfunctioned that afternoon and the programming wasn’t working just right so I missed their new addition but I can’t wait to see their videos of it working since it sounds spectacular. I wish I could have gotten more pics but it was very dark and I needed the flash but didn’t want to destroy the actors’ night vision so I only took some when there was a strobe light.

The haunted house and the hayride both were very fun and very scary. The groups I was with both had fantastic times and so did I. I liked the place even more when I spoke to Bobby afterward and he explained how much of the help and support he gets is from volunteers in the community. In the past, they have donated money to help local families who were going through tough times or to help young children who had been struck with some type of illness. Its a great story that isn’t uncommon among charity haunts and is a tale I always enjoy hearing. The efforts of charity haunts across the country are strong positive part of the haunt industry and its people like Bobby and Patti that make you glad to be part of this industry.

I am very happy I was able to find this event and to meet Bobby and Patti. You put on a fun show that does a lot of good for the local community. Keep up the great work and have a great season.