Off-Season Horrors: Dent Haunted Schoolhouse and Eloise Asylum

Off-Season Horrors: Dent Haunted Schoolhouse and Eloise Asylum

When people think of haunted attractions, most will always associate them with the Halloween season. However, for those of us that crave the scares all year long, there are attractions that are open all year round. Ripley's Haunted Adventure is a year-round house open in multiple cities throughout the country, and the Mysterious Mansion in Gatlinburg, Tennessee is one we did last year that we had high praise for. In addition to these yearly houses, there seems to be a growing list of seasonal houses having off-season events to give a fix to horror fiends. We have had the pleasure of doing two of these events, and both experiences have shown the creative prowess of the creators of Dent Schoolhouse and Eloise Asylum, taking already incredible houses and adding unique seasonal spins that change enough to keep those who visited during the Halloween season on their toes.

Let's get it out of the way immediately, both of these houses are 10/10 attractions that have reviews already on this site. Go find our reviews on each house if you want to read about why these houses are some of the best we have done on our journey to experience haunted houses across the country. Somehow the demented minds behind these houses made each house feel fresh with changes that fit the themes of the season.

Let's start off with Dent, which we visited in early December for their “A Christmas Nightmare” event. Dent Schoolhouse has always had a deceptive facade, a simple two-story old school that looks like with a little work could be reopened easily. This deceptive feelings is deepened by the Christmas decorations spread about. Even the outdoor Halloween festival section of the queue is given festive accessories. Nothing like severed heads and zombies with Santa hats perched on top. This section is the first sign that this trip into the house will replace Christmas cheer with fear. Well alright, maybe Charlie, the murderous janitor and Krampus roaming around outside in the queue is the first sign that you are in for a demented evening. While the theming on the outside was nice, it was the lengths they went to on the interior that was especially impressive. It feels like every room inside the house was packed with Christmas decorations. With garland and lights providing a guide for the path you follow in the house, all the creatures inside are showing holiday spirit as well. The normal denizens of Dent are all done up for the holiday, celebrating in their own unique way. Scattered around the house are additional monsters associated with the holiday season. This includes demented elves, Santa and Mrs. Claus,and an extremely effective Krampus down in the basement that scared me half to death. Speaking of being scared, despite the halls of the schoolhouse being adorned with many decorations, Dent Schoolhouse still feels like Dent. The scares are still strong, the set design is perfection, and the many animatronics and other special effects remain quite effective. The added Christmas flavor is just icing on an already fantastic house, making an excuse to visit the attraction as a sort of encore presentation, with enough additional creative touches thrown in to make it feel refreshingly different.

A slightly different approach occurred at Eloise, which had the “Summer Slash” event for one night only in early June. Paying homage to the many classic slasher villains over the years, Eloise opened up more than just the haunted attraction for the event. Walking onto the grounds past the old administration building and a building that has suffered a lot of damage over the years. Making it into the common area just beyond security led to a band playing in front of a attentive crowd. A few booths dot this area, including one which represented a museum and year-round haunted house here in Michigan that we may check out here very soon. The area that the queue winds through during the Fall season is replaced by an artist's alley. This all combined to make a Summer festival feel, especially the various booths selling handcrafted items based on horror and goth characters and items. We picked up a Freddy wax melt and a Freddy's Soul Food Pizzeria poster. It was a joy to hang out and talk to the various vendors, staff and other visitors. Everyone was excited to be there, with conversations based around horror in all its form springing up all around the asylum grounds. Near the exit of the houses were expanded lines to meet some of the actors behind some of movie history's great villains. It was also nice to see representatives from other haunts from around the country strolling around. It added up to an amazingly fun festival. We spent hours just walking around and taking in the sights, before heading over to partake in the reason we were there in the first place.

The main course of the event was getting the chance to walk the halls and roam the basement of Eloise once again. The two haunted houses were relatively unchanged from the Halloween run, but some noticeable changes were made to provide homes for some of horror's greats to roam the halls. Carrie overlooked the remains of the homecoming dance, while Annie from Misery got ready to swing her sledgehammer at an author's ankles. A personal favorite was a special effects-laden room during the Halloween season was a lot quieter on this run, with Freddy lurking in the shadows, starling guests be sending sparks in their direction by dragging his nails across metal. I appreciated the inclusion of recent greats, like Pearl, into the rogue's gallery. Essentially, Eloise sprinkled in some entertaining extras on top of their already fantastic house, adding some surprises for those who went in the Fall season. It was also great to see the actors taking their performance to another level for this run. The most insane thing I've personally witnessed in a house occurred here, with my wife being guided through a few rooms by an actor biting on her hand, like a dog leading a guest to the treat bowl. Moments like this one make me wonder just how extreme their “High Intensity” event in early November will be.

For some people, the Halloween season is good enough to fill their horror quota for the year, whether it be movies, music or visiting haunted houses. For those of us that love to experience horror all year, special events like the ones at Dent and Eloise are a nice taste of what happens around the country in the month of October. If you are someone who loves doing haunts, no matter the time of the year, be sure to look out for experiences like these ones around you. There are many houses that will do special holiday events, like St. Patrick's Day, Christmas or Valentine's Day,or even just for a random Friday the 13th. Give a special event a go, and you too can discover that horror can be around any corner, lurking in the fog, at any time of year.