The Dent SchoolHouse in Cincinnati, Ohio a Must See

September 22nd, 2009

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After visiting the Chambers of Horror in Middletown we drove south to visit one of my favorite Haunted Houses, The Dent SchoolHouse. Yes, I am a total homer when it comes to this Haunt, but trust me, you don’t have to be from Cincinnati to like this Haunt.

When we got there, we were greeted by a very large banner pronouncing The Dent SchoolHouse as one of Haunted Attraction Magazine’s 25 Must See Haunts (so of course I took a pic). We quickly saw one of the owners, Chuck Stross and Josh Wells joined us soon after. The crowd was pretty good size particularly given High School Football games were still being played. Luckily when we exited, we were able to see Charlie roaming about the concession area and queue line and got to say hello to Bud Stross too. After talking for a bit, we walked on into the Haunt.

The opening scene is outdoors with a graveyard that is overgrown and creepy. An actor in a ghille suit jumped out and got my wife right off the bat. Next we walked into the old schoolhouse which really is an old schoolhouse so it has a great feel to it. The first room was the nurse’s office and from that moment on it was nothing but scare followed by screaming followed by hysterical laughter through the whole place. I have been through the Haunt a few times so I just watched as my wife triggered every scare and she screamed at every single one. The set decoration is really top notch and the lighting is enough to illuminate the detail without making it too bright. They have a couple different props and animatronics that aren’t as common as some others so it was nice to see some new things.

The scares included everything from lunging actors to drop panels to air cannons. What impressed me was the timing – they had the timing down almost perfect and it was only their second night!  The giant bunny was freaky as hell and a great addition too. I really like how they keep their theme throughout the Haunt but still provide a variety of scenes. They even have some carnival rooms thanks to the Dent PTO fundraiser – how’s that for tying it in!

Overall we had just an incredible time. The Haunt was chock-full of scares but the timing and pace combined with the acting was so well done that we had time to laugh in between and really enjoyed ourselves. The Dent SchoolHouse is a bit of a tradition in Cincinnati and is well known for putting on a great show and Josh, Chuck and Bud live up to that tradition this year with a first class show!