RECAP:  This year’s rendition begins with a tragic introduction about the remains of the Mayor's 8 year-old daughter being found inside the old Town Hall.  Thrills begin immediately when a terrorizing villain suddenly emerges from behind a previously unnoticed slide-down wall panel, and an early run-in with Mayor Joseph himself that arraigns us to appear at Mayor's Court in front of a presiding Judge begging for forgiveness!   Sentencing soon dismisses through a contemptible jail, where a merciless electrocution takes place, and insane prisoners blast sparks off the iron bars of their holding cells!  Without warning, one of the inmates unexpectedly escapes, and charges forth wildly down the hallway!  Green foggy mist secludes an old wooden cabin inhabited by axe-carrying rednecks, anxious to slice and dice trespassers to bits!   We readily know its time to flee when one of the hillbillies is overheard suggesting, "Red Rover, Red Rover - Let's bend them all over!"  Yikes!!  Quickly departing upstairs unveils a strange teacher in the midst of a classroom, who's punished some disobedient pupil by having him write, "I will not kill!" a hundred times on the blackboard, while insisting the rest of the class caress his pet rat, Mr. Jangles!  Correctly responding to an inquisitive riddle expels the course through a previously concealed passageway into the grasp of a red-eyed monster that comes to life within a spooky cave.  A claustrophobic trek past additional drop-down, monster-concealing panels advances into a pick-a-door surprise before yielding beyond a bizarre girl crawling along the floor, and into the office of a satanic physician whose last patient is seen strapped to a chair with her chest ripped completely open, exposing her bloody internal organs and intestines, along with a still-beating heart, while a second unfortunate patient has suffered the fate of having the lips of her mouth stitched entirely together!   Whispering voices instill fear while maneuvering through the tightly cramped spaces of a one-of-a-kind, tilted maze that stumbles into the clutches of an idiosyncratic girl seen bending over backwards, laughing wickedly, and demanding to know, "Which one of you killed Mama?!"  Avoidance points into a bloody butcher shop, through a tunnel overgrown with gigantic spider-webs, and into a moving incline beside a bottomless pit, that without warning begins to narrow the walkway, while squeezing progression dangerously close to the edge of the endlessly falling abyss!   Still to come is an elaborate graveyard highlighted by moving tombstones and the undead being restored to life, then a wicked chainsaw assault courtesy of a blood-spattered fiend pleasurably screaming, " I want your blood on my chest!"  A surprise clown attack lies in wake delivering one final treacherous confrontation before finally escaping The Haunted Town Hall!

ANALYSIS:  The attraction annually sports some of the best dialogue the industry has to offer, and this season is no exception!  Most of the characters encountered have something meaningful to say, and an intimidating way of saying it!  Haunted Town Hall is also appreciated for capitalizing upon traditionally "haunted" concepts, and making use of "secret passages" like this year's sliding bookcase.  Bottomless pit is an amazing new scare, and unique tilted maze remains an OVH favorite since we first discovered it in their third season some 15 years ago!  Newly designed, tombstone containing cemetery positively impacts the overall adventure as well.  The Haunted Town Hall is one of the best kept secrets in the business, and a real TREAT to experience.  As already touched upon, acting is always well above average, and they can always be counted on to cleverly create numerous, memorable, originally inventive scares that just aren't seen elsewhere.  This annual highlight of our season never disappoints, and the cost of admission remains affordable in this day and age of price gouging!  By all means schedule a visit to Lafayette, Ohio and Mayor Joseph's Haunted Town Hall!