Black Orchard Review by Ash

Welcome back, ya'll! If you're reading this, it means 2 things.

1. We survived the haunt and lived to tell about it
2. You're here to find out our take on the Black Orchard haunt in Shelbyville

The night was dark and a strange funky smell hung in the air. I'm not sure if it was intentional or just some surrounding funk...or maybe it was fear? Either way, we made our way down the hill - be careful! It's uneven and downhill, and if you have my impressive grace, you could be risking life and limp before you even get inside. 

We stood in line as the only ones in line for a short bit, chitchatting with the crazed locals, before being led inside by the Butcher. Now, I will say this: the butcher was friendly and all, and he was knowledgeable telling us about what to expect, but his role seemed a little clunky and awkward. Like, I get it, you need the intro, but the scenery and props weren't exactly believable, his character seemed unnecessary, and honestly, they could've given us the rules outside where there was at least a little more air to breathe. Maybe that was just me, and it's not a stab at the actor, but it just seemed a little pointless. 

On we go. I purposely stayed in the back to see how well they did with scaring the group (there were only 3 of us, so it wasn't that much to deal with) but real talk - they only really focused on the first two and I watched the others get scared while I laughed my way through. It was more funny to me than scary. The scares were solely based on the BOO factor - they jump out and scare you then go back for the most part. I think Kayla made a new friend, and our third member for the night may have made a new boyfriend, but overall the scares weren't really up to our expectations. It's possible we hit them on a bad night, and these things DO happen. But I wouldn't feel I were being true to the blog or our purpose if I didn't tell the truth and share our real experiences. 

The haunt was entertaining, but it wasn't all that scary. I feel like it could have been a real success but some of the rooms were empty and some were lackluster. The whole group didn't get the same experience, and there wasn't a lot of actual fear to be had. Gotta give this one 3 stars. Sorry guys, but it just didn't live up to our previous experience. We expected more, but we'll try again next year.