Summary:

St. Pat's is a community run haunt that is located in an abandoned convent that is supposedly really haunted. The haunt consists of three floors as well as the basement, and is usually a combination of various scenes on the upper floors and a dark maze in the basement, along with a brief outside portion as visitors walk from the building to the basement.

As far as actors go, St. Pat's is usually staffed with younger children (sometimes as young as seven), so the scares are low, but they are often creative, with unusual scenes or actors in hiding places where adults cannot fit. Also, St. Pat's has visitors circle around one side of a room and then another so that the same actors can scare them more than once.

The dark maze portion of the haunt is the least interesting, as it is simply a bunch of dark colored walls that visitors have to navigate through. Several of the maze sections force visitors to duck to get through them, and it's easy to hit one's head unless one is very careful walking through the maze.

Also, some of the areas in the maze have bits of wood or nails sticking out of them and visitors can sometimes get hurt (as I can personally attest to on more than one occasion)!

On the night I went, there seemed to be fewer actors. For instance, in the dark maze there was only one actress in the center when there are normally several to help guide visitors, and the other rooms in the basement were empty of actors as well. The main house seemed lower on actors, too, with several rooms simply having props rather than props and actors.

Additionally, when I went through, the actors seemed unprepared, with many of them sitting around chatting to one another when I entered their rooms, often with their masks off, and some didn't even realize that a visitor was coming through when I was in their room. This happened several times in the first part of the haunt and although it was amusing, it did detract from the haunted house feeling.

Overall, I have to say that this year's incarnation at St. Pat's was a bit below average. Normally the haunt is enjoyable, even if the scares are low, and the wait entertainment is usually top notch. This time, however, there seemed to be a lower energy throughout the entire haunt, resulting in a somewhat muted experience.

However, as this is a community haunt, it's possible that it was just the particular night I was there. I have gone to St. Pat's numerous times and have enjoyed it, so one night might not be representative of the entire season. As always, your mileage may vary!

To find out more about this event, visit:

http://hauntedhs.com