Blood Manor’s Crypts of the Coliseum creeps out Long Islanders
After successfully running in New York City season after season, Blood Manor has finally come to haunt Long Island. The 10,000 square foot attraction, titled Crypts of the Coliseum, is located in the basement of the Nassau Coliseum and is sure to spook anyone who dares to enter.
I went to check out the haunted house for myself, and I definitely strained a couple of vocal cords from screaming.
As my group made our way down a carpeted path, a massive animatronic grim reaper loomed over the entrance. His eyes flashed and an intimidatingly deep voice boomed over us as his lantern swung from one hand, his scythe gripped tightly in the other. A few people in the crowd immediately crossed their arms in an effort to comfort themselves.
A skeleton-like figure then pranced forward and invited us to stand against a skull-lined wall while he theatrically told us the rules of Blood Manor: no touching the actors, no photography and no touching the props. He then sent us on our way into the darkened labyrinth of rooms.
For about 20 minutes, my heart pounding, we tip-toed through a series of spooky spaces. Ward patients screamed maniacally as they chased us around a room of locked up figures and blood-covered dancers stared us down as they twirled around on stage. A clown madly slapped at a piano and tapped his fake eye with a fork as the man next to me cried ‘no way.’ A girl begged us to save her from a mad scientist and a crazy artist with a beheaded body writhing in the corner and intestines hanging on his walls pleaded with us to let him turn us into his next gory masterpieces.
At one point, we’re corralled through narrow twists and turns that are so dark I can’t see my hands as I reach out in front of me, desperate for a sense of which way to go. There are taps on my shoulders from the girl behind me trying to find her way through the space as well. The only guidance comes from an eerie voice that seems to follow right beside me, whispering whether to keep walking straight or turn. Don’t dare use your phone for light though, the voice will shriek, ‘No lights!’
My favorite part of the house was the neon section. A crazed clown honks as he hands out 3-D glasses. Suddenly the splattered paint on the walls is floating in mid-air and the clown’s face paint jumps out at me. We meandered down two hallways and figures in morph suits seemingly materialized out of nowhere, making my heart rate skyrocket.
After finally reaching the exit of the haunted house, I felt like I could breathe again. Blood Manor definitely packs a scary punch. Each room places you in the middle of a horror story and the actors really sell it; this isn’t your typical middle school haunted house.
This attraction is definitely not for the faint of heart (or for those with epilepsy due to the room with a strobe light). As we wandered through, there was the constant sound of guests’ screams ringing out, voices repeating ‘nope’ over and over again and the occasional cry of pain as friends squeezed each other’s arms in fear just a little too tightly.
Blood Manor runs now through Halloween. For tickets and more information, visit bloodmanorli.com.
