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RECAP: Celebrating their 10-year anniversary, the Auglaize county farmland has once again been taken over by the Hammer Brother’s Circus, consisting of four haunted attractions – The Homestead, The Cornfield, The Fun House, and The Zombie Paintball Wagon Ride. There’s also an annual, interactive Zombie chase called The Hunt, scheduled this year for Saturday, October 19th.
THE HOMESTEAD (w/Touch Pass): The Homestead is accessed through an isolated cornfield, where catching an intimidating glimpse of a dilapidated, old farmhouse creates tension and anxiety over what might lie in store in the not so distant future. A terrorizing clown pops out of hiding to harass the approach to the run-down shack, followed by Uncle Bob who also makes his presence known alongside the front porch area just outside the structure itself. Inside, Grandma welcomes visitors into a spooky living room that’s set up to host the funeral wake of a little girl. Paying our final respects by kissing the child inside her casket permits advancement into an unfriendly dining room, where guests are seized and restrained by a family of inbreds, and silenced by having duct tape placed over their mouths. Granny returns, sneaking up from behind to rub their heads and mumbling something about, “Eye candy,” as “blood” is splattered on them from a gravy bowl, and brains from preceding intruders are served as the main course of the family dinner.
From there, a brief entrapment in a shaking, rattling, wooden box gives way to a lethal bathroom experience that witnesses an infant that’s been drowned in a tub filled with blood or bloody water! Funsters pounce into action playing games and jokes and forcing groups to be seated while Sprinkles and Aces embark upon a variety of tricks. Slithering beneath a bed and crawling your way out soon guides continuance into a gory laboratory, where the scientist (Pookey) proudly introduces his monkey, which is actually a goat, but you can’t convince him of such because of the fact that he enjoys spanking it so much!
A brief entanglement in a dark corridor is followed by a hospital-like, urgent care engagement, where groups are taken into an exam room and placed one-by-one onto a table that slides into an MRI machine, which scans for infections. As the tests return positive results for some unknown virus, the psychotic technician laughs wickedly, pulls out a giant syringe, and happily announces, “You’re all infected! It’s time to die!” Meanwhile, the mad doctor is busy performing surgery in the ER and we become his assistants by reaching inside the exposed midsection of his patient’s body to pull out body parts in order to, “save her life!” First up, a bloody baby is retrieved, but the demented physician scolds, “Nope, that’s not it!” and flings the fetus over his shoulder onto the floor! Next, the poor victim’s heart is removed, but that too is met with contempt, as the surgeon scoffs, “She don’t need that either!” and tosses it down as well. With our hands now completely covered in blood, we make a break for it past the quack MD and his despicable medical practitioners back out into the corn to the safety of the Big Top queue line area, thus concluding The Homestead segment of The Hammer Brother’s Haunted Circus..
- 17 minutes, 16 actors.
THE CORNFIELD (w/Touch Pass): The scares begin early on along this adventure when a girl suddenly comes running out of the corn exclaiming, “Mr. Piggy is waiting for you!” while rubbing a knife up by your face! Loud music plays upon being ushered into a shack-like structure inhabited by a pig-faced rival that immediately unleashes a vicious assault by choosing a victim, dragging him away from the group, and tying his hands together. Once the torture and torment concludes, the victim’s released and ordered to, “Get the f*ck out of my barn!”
Back out in the corn, a second pig attack takes place prior to an encounter with a horn-honking clown. Entering a run-down shanty finds trespassers being grabbed, forced down on their knees, and toyed with by three crazed clowns before being ordered down a hidden staircase into the cellar and having the trap door slammed shut behind them! Squeezing through a tight crawl space empties into a large sewer pipe that has its exit temporarily blocked by another jester, before finally spilling back out into the cornfield!
Still to come is a run-in with strange, name-calling ghouls insisting that, “Shiny” sits down and eats some unknown treat. From there, a visit with The Corn God precedes entrance into The Church of Hell, where an unholy nun sporting a pentagram on her forehead loudly leads a chorus of, “All hail the Corn God!” Elusion returns the trek back to the cornfield as progression stumbles over dead bodies and into another structure occupied by deranged jokers making use of zip ties to shackle their captives’ legs together! Sticking carrots in their mouths, they’re instructed to, “Hop on out of the field like a rabbit!” A relentless chainsaw chase-out ensues, as the bunnies bounce and spring their way to safety out of The Hammer Brother’s Cornfield!
- 21 minutes, 28 actors
THE FUN HOUSE: This indoor maze is accessed across kernels of corn scattered about the ground while approaching the Fun House. Following an immediate attack by a fiend armed with a Taser-like zapper, loud music, flashing strobes, and dense fog assault the senses creating an agitating atmosphere that persists for the duration of the event. An early entrapment requires the discovery of a code word, which can be used as the combination to open a lock that’s securing a door and trapping your group inside.
Dead ends, uncertain paths, and misdirecting villains contribute to nervous unrest that develops while trying to work your way through the blinding haze. Group separation is likely, which only adds to the emotional discomfort and confusion until the one and only escape route is finally detected revealing the way out of The Hammer Brother’s Fun House!
We ended up getting split up and sent to explore different routes, resulting in some of us discovering the exit at the 12 minute mark while another was “lost” for an additional 5 minutes or so. The attraction could easily last 30 minutes or longer depending on how busy they are, and how long they want to keep you inside.
- Approximately 10 – 30 minutes, 6 actors.
ZOMBIE PAINTBALL WAGON RIDE is a family friendly event lasting approximately 15 minutes consisting of several different areas inhabited by undead walkers. Mounted paintball guns are utilized to fire at the zombie targets that emerge from hiding as the tractor-drawn wagon makes its way through an isolated cornfield that connects the various scenes. This unique event is fun for all ages, and extra paintballs can be purchased for an additional $5 if you get a little trigger happy! Cost is $15.
THE HUNT is a one-of-a-kind, walk-through participation event where customers attempt to track down, shoot, and destroy The Walking Dead before becoming victims themselves! Open ONE WEEKEND ONLY in October! This season’s Hunt takes place on Saturday, October 19th, costs $50, and is scheduled to be the last time Hammer Brother's plans to offer this special event.
ANALYSIS: Purchasing the Touch Pass for an extra $5 turns the Hammer Brother’s Haunted Circus into a fun-filled, full-contact attraction! As such, participants become involved in the action, and may subject themselves to being drawn on with makeup or markers; dappled with “blood;” bound with duct tape; tied up with ropes; having their legs, feet, and/or hands restrained by zip ties, etc.
The course involves crawling in a few places, but bypasses are provided for those with physical limitations.
Best actors include Mr. Piggy; lab tech (Pookey); Doctor; MRI assistants; zip tie fiend and his chainsaw-packing cohort; Sprinkles; Aces; Nun; and staircase/trap door clowns. The best scares arise from being tied up, put in the MRI machine, crawling, and trap door. Keep in mind that the touch pass is optional, and can be removed at any time if scares happen to get too intense.
Cost of admission is $15 per attraction ($25 VIP). Touch Pass is a $5 upgrade, and The Hunt is a special event selling for $50 per participant. Offering a combo ticket, at least on the three main attractions, would increase value.
Ohio Valley Haunts recommends visiting on Fridays as lines can get long and Hammer Brother's is generally more crowded on Saturday nights. The Circus has 3 center-ring attractions; a family-friendly, zombie themed paintball ride, and live music! The Hunt is scheduled for Saturday, October 19th ONLY, weather permitting
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