With Halloween just around the corner, the Jersey Shore is getting more and more into the spooky season.
There are many haunted houses, trails and events throughout Monmouth and Ocean County, from the family-friendly events to the family-unfriendly ones. There is plenty of terrifying fun to be had this Halloween season.
CONOVER KILLINGS
A Christmas tree farm is not the usual place where residents may want to visit a haunted house, but at Conover Farms in Wall, 3101 Hurley Pond Rd., a terrifying haunted trail will be open all October.
Rob Panasuk, founder of the Conover Killings attraction, described this as an immersive haunted trail where a serial killer is hiding out after murdering several victims. While hiding out here, unsuspecting farm visitors – being you – have the unfortunate honor to come face-to-face with Johnathan, the killer, as you face your fears and run for your life. This will be the third year that the Conover Killings will be taking over the farm.
The attraction has its roots in a real-life horror, the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During COVID, I was pretty bored,” said Panasuk. “Nothing was open so I decided to give creative writing a shot. I love Halloween, I love writing, I was an English major in college, I have always been somewhat creative so I decided to find a way to scare people without a ton of props and a ton of animatronics.”
This experience is not only terrifying, but is meant to be immersive. A whole narrative has been created for this event, and the story is told to the attendees as they brave the haunted trail.
Panasuk commended the owners of Conover Farms, along with all the works and scare actors who really help bring this whole experience together. “Our scare actors are just incredible,” he said. “They are so committed.”
What sets this experience apart from other haunted trails and houses is how staggered each group is by time slot.
“It is great to make money and be a big production, but we don’t want to do that. We value every group’s experience,” said Panasuk. “When you pull onto the property, it is very eerie and you may even ask yourself, ‘Are we at the right place?’ The haunt starts the second you pull into the long gravel driveway.”
There are no lines for this event. Instead, groups and attendees are given a number and are welcomed to peruse the decorations and stay warm around the communal fire pit as they await their turn to brave the terrifying maze. By the fire pit, a farm dog named Hamilton will be available to comfort attendees both before and after the horrors of the tour.
He also said the groups are staggered enough to ensure you do not bump into the group in front of you. “If you are going in with a group of four people, you are only going to be with those four people for the whole tour,” said Panasuk. You are fully out there, alone in the woods, with your entire group.”
“We have a good amount of props, but the realness of being lost in the dark is what is really scary,” said Panasuk. “We then just flood the woods with our scare actors.” He warned that the many jump scares may not be for the faint of heart.
For those interested in braving the Conover Killings, booking information can be found online at theconoverkillings.com along with contact information.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Autism Movement Project in Manasquan, as has been done for the past three years.
LENNON ACRES – BRICK TUCKY GRAVEYARD
Throughout the whole area, many homes have set up decorations for the Halloween season, some more elaborate than others. However, none is more terrifying and extensive than 45 Birch Dr. in Brick Township.
Aptly named Lennon Acres – Brick Tucky Graveyard, this “haunted” house is one of the most elaborate and ornately decorated homes around, and one of the homeowners, Tyler Lennon, is welcoming the whole community to see his home.
This tradition was started back in 2005 by Lennon’s father, who loved the holiday. Each year, the house gets more and more elaborate with decorations and scares to add to the overall feel for property.
“I took over my father’s job decorating to build this beautiful display in my front yard,” Lennon said. “This year we have added a lot more animatronics, display pieces, lighting and fog.”
The overall theme for the property is a graveyard, and there are many tombstones scattered throughout the property, many with both comical and scary messages written upon them. This year also saw the most elaborate addition to the property, a burning witch.
Lennon described this as a large witch who is being burned alive, and the animatronic reacts as such. He also said there are a few other surprises in store for those brave enough to come to the property.
He did want to remind attendees this is a residential area, and that this is his home. Residents are welcome to walk around the property, staying behind the fence. They are also welcome to walk up the driveway a bit, as long as they stay behind the cars. Lennon also asked residents to refrain from touching any of the decorations and be respectful to the neighborhood.
To also be respectful to the neighborhood, the lights and sounds are not running 24/7. From Sunday to Thursday, the decorations are lit from 5 to 9 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays, they run from 5 to 10 p.m. On weekends, more fog and smoke is poured into the property to add to the eerie atmosphere.
“It is the love my dad had for Halloween that has made me continue to do these all these years,” Lennon said. “A lot of this stuff is handmade and the passion he had for it is what kept me going and interested in it.”
HAUNTED BAY HEAD
This summer, Mayor Bill Curtis of Bay Head treated residents to a haunted tour of Bay Head in his monthly Mayor’s Walk and Talks.
Haunted houses aren’t the first thing vacationers or even residents think of when they think of Bay Head. However, Mayor Curtis, along with the whole Mayor’s Wellness Committee, showed off some possible haunted locations throughout Bay Head.
The Mayor’s Wellness Campaign is part of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute. The campaign is a statewide program to promote health and wellness throughout the state, according to Meryl Clement, co-chair of the committee. Bay Head has been designated a “healthy town” by the Institute, which is the highest honor they can bestow upon a town, according to Clement.
The most “definitely” haunted house on the tour, according to the mayor, is 2 Mount St., in which people have reportedly run out screaming after seeing all-white figures walking through its halls. The home was torn in half during Superstorm Sandy and has been demolished. A new, larger home is being built in its stead.
However, many Bay Head residents believe the home to still be haunted, though not by vengeful spirits.
While Mayor Curtis doesn’t believe in ghosts himself, he said if they do exist, he believes that many of these spirits still occupying these homes are past owners due to how old and historic the homes are in Bay Head. Just because the mayor may not believe it, that did not stop him from giving an informative and fun tour to the eager residents, many of whom did believe in the supernatural, during the summer Haunted Bayhead walk.
During that tour, resident Maurine Vanderspurt said, “All my grandchildren love ghost stories and they have a plethora of ghost books, from Gettysburg and other places, so I saw this and thought I could show them what is around the corner from them.”
By popular demand, the Mayor’s Walk and Talks will return on Oct. 30, at 5:30 p.m. for a very special All Hallow’s Eve tour of haunted locations in Bay Head.
Starting at the clocktower on Bridge Avenue, all are welcome to attend a ghostly tour of this Shore town. Alongside the tour, paranormal investigation group Beyond the Chatter will be helping Mayor Curtis lead the investigation into the supposedly haunted homes throughout the Shore community.
ALLAIRE VILLAGE
The Historic Village of Allaire will host its Night of Frights on Oct. 18, 19, 25 and 26.
From 6 to 9 p.m. each night, attendees are welcomed to spooky fun for the whole family, including haunted displays, scary scenes, fire jugglers, fortune tellers, a glow-in-the-dark bubble magician, alien dinner scenes and a chainsaw wood carver.
For reservations and tickets, visit allairevillage.org