Just across the street from the world famous The 13th Gate haunted house, and the challenging escape room games, comes another nefarious creation from Midnight Productions. Necropolis 13 is a lengthy, seemingly endless tour of a haunted Louisiana cemetery.  Here, the dead have risen, demons literally fly, and evil forces wait around every turn. Unlike The 13th Gate, Necropolis 13 sticks to one single theme and pulls out all of the stops.

Approaching the gates, our tickets were scanned and we are presented with an eerie cemetery.  An ethereal, green glow blanketed a collection of tombstones and crypts as clusters of glowing candles gurgled orange light in clusters.

A cloaked figure rose from an underground passageway to our left and began to wander the graveyard before us.  With a ceremonial pace the figure made his way between the concrete markers and weeds like a silent specter. The tunnel that this figure came from was lined with glowing candles on each step, beckoning us as the entrance to this netherworld.

It was our turn to enter, and we dropped into the darkness. Below, a catacomb hallway was lined with broken stone work, skulls, and of course, the undead.  Our time below ground was short lived though, as another stairway brought us back up to surface level, into the maze of crypts and mausoleums that was Necropolis 13.

There was no storyline, no pretense.  This was a walk among the tombstones.  Tombstones that had come to life with the undead, vampires, zombies, and ghouls.  As with its sibling haunted house across the street, Necropolis 13 sported a rich, believable world of textures and sets, all built from the ground up.

Overall the experience is surprisingly long, easily a good 15-20 minutes. You would think that a theme taken to this length would yield only moderate scares and results.  To the contrary, this maze-like haunted experience uses every gimmick and more, keeping the scares fresh and new.  Yes, there are the monsters that pop out from the shadows, there are the ones that jump from around a corner, but there are also the ones that quietly just stare, the ones that hiss, and follow you quietly.  The entire spectrum of techniques is on display here, along with a few things we had never seen before.

The cast in this haunted attraction is to be commended for their fresh, aggressive approach to the scare.  Each one of them owning their part and doing their thing.  Among the standouts was a young ghoul that, instead of skulking about below, was jumping around, Parkour-style, leaping from the tall crypts to the paths below and back again. The stoney performance of a particular angel was also very effective.

If you are at The 13th Gate, it would do you well to walk among the tombstones and experience Necropolis 13.  Don’t compare it to the larger, more established gate across the street.  This is its own experience that stands alone as a fun, startling jaunt through an evil Louisiana graveyard.

The 13th Gate and Necropolis 13 will be open for one more night!  This Friday, November 13th is the final night to experience these two world class haunted attractions for the season.  If you can, get out there and get scared.  Buy your tickets here.