One thing I’ve never done in my life is go on a Halloween or haunted house walk. Why? Because I’m a huge scaredy cat that’s frightened of everything. Seriously, shadows scare me, the wind scares me… pretty much everything! But for some reason, when I got the invite to go along to Scream Factory at Kirkleatham, Redcar, I just couldn’t say no. I wanted to push myself and step into the unknown! (Just as a heads up, my photos aren’t exactly the best things in the world because it was so bloomin’ dark, so be kind!)
Let me tell you a little bit about the history of Scream Factory before I tell you all of the spooky things that happened at the preview night. It’s proud to hold the title of the North East’s largest Halloween attraction and is now in it’s sixth year! Thousands of people from across the country head up to Yorkshire to experience the thrills of the event, and this year, they have a walk option for the daredevils in the crowds. There’s the Twilight Tour, which is designed for younger guests and guests that want a more gentle experience, the Extreme Tour, which is a stomach-churning trail of fear through several sets, or there’s the Isolated Tour, where you embark on the Extreme Tour completely alone. People of all ages can come along to witness, the sights and scares, and to enjoy the architecture, sets, live actors and features of the Scream Factory. If you’re into all things scary or are just feeling brave like I was, then you should definitely check it out. It’s not one to be missed!
I was psyching myself up all day for the event and I even bought J and I matching tops with skeleton hands on to make myself feel less nervous. That definitely didn’t stop me from getting butterflies in my stomach when we pulled up to Kirkleatham Museum. We parked up and headed round to the back of the museum, into the Bellamy Pavillion, where the start of the Scream Factory is held. We were greeted with spooky punch and cupcakes, as well as two clowns that terrified the clowns whilst we waited to begin. There were screams before we’d even began the walk! Each of us was given a number and this corresponded to a group – only 10 people can go through the tour at once, so this was a great way of making sure everyone got through safely.
We were led outside to the beginning of the tour, which started at Tate’s Motel (the Tate family own Scream Factory). Being a bit of an Alfred Hitchcock fan, this tickled me quite a bit! We headed into the motel room and the scares began. Now, I won’t spoil all the fun for you by telling you what’s in every single set – partly because I can’t remember and partly because you’ll have to go see for yourselves – but just know that it was jumpy on another level! I was on high alert every time we walked into a new space, and every time, I still managed to get spooked. I will say though that one of my favourite bits was walking between two sets and a load of zombies came after us. There was also one part that wasn’t totally finished yet, so we didn’t get the chance to see it, but if I’m honest, I’m glad. After Katy, the lovely lady behind the marketing of the Scream Factory, told us what was inside, I’m certain I wouldn’t have been able to handle it!
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One thing that I was really surprised about was the sheer size of the tour. I honestly thought it was going to be fairly small, even though I knew that it was the biggest scare attraction in the North East, but I was completely wrong. Every time I thought that we were in the last set, we entered another one, yet it didn’t feel like we were walking for a long time. In fact, the whole event went by in a blink! I was also massively impressed with the layout of each set. Each one had its own theme, like the Scream Factory cinema you can see above, where each room had a horror film inspired look. It seems like a lot of thought and care has gone into crafting each room and maze to make them ridiculously scary and almost never-ending! I was told that they start preparing the tour months in advance and I’m not surprised! So much work has gone into it and it was definitely all worth it.
Once we’d been on the tour and I’d made myself hoarse from screaming (a man that was in our group told me that all the way round the walk, the only thing he could hear was me screaming – oops), we headed back into the pavilion with one last escape from a chainsaw-wielding man. We were given a scrumptious hot sandwich of our choice – I had the pork and stuffing which was insanely good – and a cup of hot chocolate… the perfect way to end a chilly night at a horror event! We all chatted about how much of a good time we’d had and our favourite parts of the tour. I’d have to say that one of my favourite and most memorable bits was when one of the cast couldn’t stop laughing at how well she’d scared me. Once she started laughing, I started and then the whole group did! We also got the chance to go take some photos of a clown in the spinning tunnel, but as you can see, they didn’t turn out too well. It almost looks as if the clown has turned into a ghost!
We headed home that night with conflicting feelings – fuzzy warmth from the gorgeous food provided and chills from all the scaring. Despite this, the pair of us had a brilliant time at Scream Factory and we both said we’d quite happily go again. In fact, J even said that he would do the Isolated Tour! Is he crazy?!
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Take a look at the Scream Factory website for more details, dates and booking info. It’s well worth a look, even if you are a ‘fraidy cat like me. I survived and fully enjoyed myself! In amongst all of the screaming, there was a heck of a lot of laughing too, so it’d be a great thing to do with your friends or work colleagues.
Oh my! you are braver than me! i remember Alan freaking out at the chamber of horrors years ago and this looks scarier
I don't know about that, I was screeching all the way round and grabbing on to whoever was nearest! It was great fun though x