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2020 is Asylum on Pine Knoll’s very first year as a pro haunt, so we were SUPER excited to support them! The day before going we found out the owner was only 17 years old… WTF???!!! This fueled our interest even more, so we definitely had to check them out!

Upon pulling into the field to park, a giant laughing clown head welcomed us at the top of the hill. We entered into his dark, gaping mouth and then down a slide into Asylum’s common area. This space was so chill! There were picnic tables and gas heaters all beautifully lit by string lights and the roaring 20’s big band music that played seemed to compliment everything perfectly. The port-o-potty area was just as clean and well-designed; there was even a hand washing station!

A fire-breather on stilts and a unicycling clown served as a little pre-haunt entertainment. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to experience the fire show due to light rain, but we were informed of his performances that happen multiple times throughout each night. There was also a small shop set-up adjacent to the picnic area providing snacks and merchandise.

We walked up to the haunted façade past the drunk clown laying on the ground and, after sharing a drink, went in! Asylum on Pine Knoll is a classically built 4x8 panel labyrinth with some surprisingly large builds hidden within its walls. In addition to the clown asylum theming with midway areas and padded rooms, there was a shack in the bayou, an area of complete darkness, and then a 3D blacklight maze. There aren’t any animatronics, but they do utilize some cool lighting and fog effects. Our favorite was the 3D/blacklight section. The artwork was amazing! You were given 3D glasses, but the images were just more blacklight reactive than 3D but still cool, nonetheless.

There were some interesting characters along the way like the voodoo witch, the demented doctor, and the pig face guy… we think he wanted to eat us! Despite the really narrow corridors (which were awesome!), there were still plenty of places for actors to hide offering up some well-timed jump scares.

A lot of passion and vision went into the construction of this haunt and while it is definitely still a work in progress, we can see where it’s going and at this rate Asylum on Pine Knoll could be the dopest haunt in America before the owner is 30. Pretty much all of the actors and staff were high school age, so it was really cool to see this next generation of haunters. We are just so damn proud to welcome this young haunter and his whole crew into the game. Rumble, young man, rumble…

We would love to see them continue to elaborate and expound on their clown-overrun asylum theme and enclose some of those corridors to create an even tighter feel. We are definitely looking forward to watching them grow!

Everyone needs to go check out the Asylum on Pine Knoll, so you’ll be able to say sometime in the future, “I remember when…”


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