You feel that tingle down your spine? It could just be the chill in the air. Either way, horror fans are gearing up for Halloween, and preparations for New York's scariest haunted houses are underway. Wait times (and annoying high schoolers) only increase throughout October, so start planning early. If you're not sure where to get your gore on, don't lose your head. We've compiled the top terrors of 2011.
1) Nightmare: Fairy Tales (107 Suffolk Street)
Forget New York. This one-of-a-kind experience is routinely listed as the scariest Halloween event in the country. There's a good reason, too: the creative team (led by Off-Broadway director Tim Haskell) conducts annual surveys, asking New Yorkers to reveal their deepest fears, and creates rooms based on their nightmares. Incorporating a theatrical sensibility, along with their desire to truly terrify -- Haskell says he's not above making you jump, but he'd rather haunt you -- the Nightmare staff creates a stage show (dubbed "The Experiment") to prime you for the haunted walk itself. Past themes have included vampires, superstitions, and ghost stories. This year, it's creepy fairy tales. Something tells us your trail of bread crumbs won't lead you back to safety.
2) Blood Manor (163 Varick Street)
If Nightmare is a psychological thriller, Blood Manor is a slasher movie. Having moved to new digs in Hudson Square, the city's goriest spectacle has even more room for blood, guts, and it's signature: terrifying actors. Whether it's the "Graveyard of Doom" or the "Zombie Apocalypse" room, you can count on your group to receive some jarring jumps. Tickets are $25 online, and $35 at the door.
3) Headless Horseman (Ulster Park, NY)
If you'd rather drive than walk, and you have time to kill (ahem), consider going out of town for your freak fix. Ulster Park, a couple of hours away by car, is home to one of the largest fright factories in the country, including the Headless Horseman Haunted Hayride. The mile-long ride was voted "#1 Hayride in America" by American Airlines, and MTV has called it the scariest haunted house in the Northeast. The screams don't stop there, though -- the Hudson Valley facility also hosts a creepy corn maze and six (yes, six) haunted houses.
4) Blackout NYC (Location Unknown)
We don't know quite how to rank this one -- its creators are keeping its details secret. A few weeks ago, haunted house afficionados received emails containing nothing but a image of darkness. Soon after, the group's Facebook page posted famous dates in New York history -- 1965, 1977, and 2003; presumably in reference to New York power outages. No word yet on whether the entire evening will be in pitch black, but there is one clear rule: particpants must walk through the house alone. If you're still in the dark, sign up for email blasts here. Blackout NYC will open October 1st at an address still to be announced. But if it's anything like past ventures (last year's version at the Vortex Theater gave participants masks and a safe word), the creators are sure to put up one hell of an event.
Brad Mielke is a writer, editor, and aspiring bandit. His work has appeared in the New York Daily News, amNewYork, and ABC News. When not busy teaching himself to glide effortlessly past security guards at New York venues, he enjoys discovering new comedy acts and soccer bars.