‘It screams Halloween’: A massive haunted attraction opens Friday
Ravenwood Haunted Farm is located north of Boston.
The setting for the Bay State’s newest haunted attraction is a 200-year-old working farm on the banks of the Merrimack River.
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Ravenwood Haunted Farm, located at Chris’s Farm Stand at Silsby Farm in Haverhill, opens Friday. It is “arguably one of the most picturesque farms on the North Shore, for sure, maybe even in New England,” said Benjamin Selecky, co-creator of the attraction.
Selecky’s team will take guests on a hay ride to a haunted trail and corn field on the 157-acre farm, where they’ll encounter fully immersive sets and more than 70 actors who bring everything to life. The designs were created by a team of about 30 professionals who’ve worked on movie sets and national amusement parks, Selecky said. The attraction’s creators, all North Shore residents, knew Massachusetts was the perfect place to build the spooky experience.
“Massachusetts and New England, with the fall season, screams fall, it screams Halloween,” co-creator Alexis Abare said. “It’s a very iconic area for a haunted attraction.”
Ravenwood Haunted Farm in Haverhill.
Much of the attraction’s details and storyline are under wraps, but Selecky did say this: “Most people are used to seeing maybe a 12-inch Venus flytrap. Our Venus flytrap happens to be about 12 feet.”
“It may or may not eat people,” Abare joked. “Overall, our sets are larger than life.”
Guests can complete the journey in 30 to 40 minutes, she said.
“Our experience is not very gore-driven or violence-driven,” Selecky said. “It’s really just the scare factor and spook factor.”
The attraction is the latest of many fall events that take place on the farm each year, including a Pumpkin Festival held on weekends through October.
Ravenwood will be open from dusk to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays from Sept. 27 to Nov. 2 and also on Sunday, Oct. 13, for Columbus Day weekend and Thursday, Oct. 31, for Halloween. Online tickets begin at $27.99 and cost $5 more when purchased at the door. There is no age requirement, but creators said parents should use discretion; they recommended visitors be at least 13.
Selecky said his team’s focus is helping visitors create lasting memories by focusing on the guests and their experience.
“I think that is what is going to really separate us from others in the area,” he said. “The [guests] are at the complete center of everything we do.”
