You might not be aware of it, but there is some creepy stuff happening in Corona. In 1938 a horrible flood washed a total of 13 coffins from a nearby cemetery into a wooded riverbed now known as the Crossroads Riverview Park. At the time only two bodies were recovered, or so the legend goes. Now, strange things keep happening. Apparitions, sounds, and mysterious lights have been seen coming from the underbrush at night, especially around Halloween. Now it’s your last chance to visit this creepy locale, just in time as Halloween is tomorrow night!
Crossroads Riverview Park hosts the wonderful Coffin Creek Haunt event every Halloween season and it is something definitely worth checking out. Making use of the expansive Corona park, Coffin Creek sports 3 haunted houses, a freakin’ scary haunted nature trail, a haunted hayride, and an escape room.
We started the evening at the far end of the property in the village where the Corona Renaissance Festival is usually held. Once festive, this village is now a spooky collection of vendors and diversions. Here we have Uncle Zeds Zombie Safari and The Dark Realm walkthrough, along with The Game Maker Escape Room.
The Dark Realm
This expansive walkthrough was easily one of the major highlights of the night. Led into the ruins of a castle or temple or whatever, our guide tells us we are in a dangerous place. Evidently, as there are skeletons everywhere. Some lovely scares happen as we are led deeper into the maze. Suddenly our guide is taken from us in a brilliant scare moment and we are on our own to find the way out. Dark Realm featured some wonderful sets and inventive scares that really set our expectations much higher than we had them. Nicely done.
Uncle Zed’s Zombie Safari
After scheduling our escape room time slot we hopped aboard the haunted hayride, Uncle Zed’s Zombie Safari for a good old-fashioned hayride. In short, the concept for a hayride is that a group of 20-40 people hop aboard a trailer seated on bails of hay and are towed, slowly through scenes filled with spooky settings and actors. The scares are not all that surprising, nor can they be. Instead, the actors do the heavy lifting of scaring the guests and taunting them as they roll by.
Uncle Zed’s is one of the better hayrides that I was able to experience this year. The scenario is totally tongue-in-cheek and hilarious. There is even a twist pulled midway through with a walkthrough portion that was a lot of fun. Then there is the creepy AF clown. A true stand out.
The Game Maker Escape Room
After surviving the zombies our group wandered next door to The Game Maker Escape Room. Situated just off to the right of the hayride, this is a fun little diversion worth the couple of bucks they are asking for. The Game Maker is a serial killer who is, of course, obsessed with games. He has been on a killing spree and we have found his hideout. We are trapped inside and must find our way out in order to stop him from finding his next victim.
As far as the difficulty level here, it is middle of the road. Even a novice could get the concepts pretty quickly, and have a great time solving the series of puzzles, riddles, and mind benders. The tip here is to arrive early and schedule your time slot once you get to the village. Go enjoy everything else, then finish things up with this little game.
The Haunted Asylum at Coffin Creek
The weakest of the offerings, The Haunted Asylum at Coffin Creek is a run-of-the-mill asylum themed walkthrough. Long hallways lead to grisly scenes of mayhem as the inmates have run amok. During our tour through the asylum, there was a lack of actors. There were maybe 5 total. This happens at haunted houses as this is live theatre. It is an organic, living thing, we totally understand that. However, we were not able to take a second tour through and, well, there was nothing compelling us to try it a second time.
The Catacombs and the Raven Cult
Featuring some beautiful sets leftover from Chambers of the Mauseloum, The Catacombs is a phenomenal walkthrough. Disorienting and strange, the trail leads us through the ruins of a gothic cemetery and into the catacombs that are crawling with Cult members looking for their next recruit. The talent in here really makes the most of what they have and know how to work their scares.
The Prado Witch Trail
To me, this was the perfect way to close the night. Easily the creepiest of all the offerings, the Prado With Trail has guests literally walking through the underbrush along dimly lit paths in anticipation of a scare. Creeping around the riverbed, in the moonlight, was easily one of the highlights of the haunt season for me. The talent in this walkthrough had me jumping at every little noise. the rustling of leaves, a branch snapping under my own feet, and searching for any hint of a shadow or shape of a monster lying in wait. This was so much fun.
The Verdict: While it is clear this haunt has seen better days, there is no questioning the heart behind the scares and the drive that the actors have to entertain. This haunt could easily see a return to form with enough support. Coffin Creek is delivering a big experience with what they have and it is worth a look. That is not to mention that the staff is volunteer and a portion of the ticket sales goes to Magic Wheelchair.
You have but one, last chance to check out Coffin Creek. The haunt will be open on Halloween night from 7:30pm-10:pm. Parking is $5 CASH! so stop by the atm before you get there.
