Explore: Tulley's Shocktober Fest

On Sunday I went to Tulley's Shocktober Fest. And what a night it was...




Tulley's Halloween Festival is the UK's No. 1 Halloween attraction and to be honest they are not wrong, I had a fantastic time. I love a good horror film and I'm not really scared of much anymore after watching so many; if anything it's creepy faces that still send chills down my spine (think The Exorcist).

Tulley's Farm is situated in Crawley and first started their Halloween festival back in 1998 and each year their attractions get better and better, at least that is what I have heard from others who have visited. This year was my first time going to the Shocktober Fest and I was a mixed bag of excitement and nerves. I'm usually pretty good and don't jump when people try to scare you but I was about to test that knowledge. I went with a bunch of friends who some were more scared and others were ready to have a laugh.

The Shocktober Fest has something for all; ten haunts, rides, food and drink, live music and actors roaming the grounds, there's even a corn canon and pumpkin chuckin'. We purchased the X Scream Pass which gives you access to all of the ten haunts once, as well as to free roam the park and enjoy everything else they have to offer.

The Haunts

Shocktober opens in the evening and is not an all day thing. On Sunday it was open from 5pm, the Haunts began at 5.30, and the park closed at midnight. When you enter through the gates you get given a ticket, the X Scream Pass, that you keep on you at all times and this allows you to enter the haunts. I got to do seven of the ten haunts.

These are the haunts I got to do:

Wastelands Penitentiary
Without revealing too much about these haunts, as I want to keep it a surprise to all, I'll kind of give a brief description of them and what I thought of them.
The Wastelands Penitentiary has become corrupt and the inmates have escaped their prison cells. This walk through was the first one I did with my friends and we had a huge laugh doing this. This haunt had a lot of flashing lights to show the prison going in to lock down and a lot of the actors were amazing and some followed you and came out from nowhere. Very good fun.

The Wreckoning
I think this might have been one of my favourites. It was pirate themed and seemed to go on for ages which was a lot of fun. Albeit we did get lost by accidentally going through an "actors door", but the actors didn't come out of character and even said "you're going the wrong way idiots" and led us back on the path. There's also a moment in this haunt that you literally cannot see a thing and it's equally terrifying as you're picturing something jumping out at you whilst trying to find your way along the path. But altogether I absolutely loved this haunt.

The Creepy Cottage
I enjoyed the Creepy Cottage but it wasn't much of a scare for me compared to some of the others in the queue. During the wait to enter we saw a few groups come running out implying a climactic ending to the haunt. It was a good walkthrough and I would say it would be one for those who are being slowly weaned in to these scary walk throughs.

VIXI
This haunt was really clever because it was different, this was all about using your senses. You wear a black sack over your head and go round the haunt "blind". There is a rope that you follow all the way around but this experience really opens your hearing, above all other senses, to all the different sounds and the feel of the different rooms. Hearing whispers so close to your ear will give you goosebumps.

Horrorwood Haunted Hayride
The Haunted Hayride is one that everyone loves and this was proved by the queue. When we first got in the queue it said only a 25 minute wait, we ended up waiting up to 45 minutes and when we were near the front the queueing time had jumped up to 55 minutes. The ride was so good, lots of different moments that you travel through, including a cult and hillbillies, and the actors jump up into the cart and terrorise you. It is equally funny and freaky depending on what horrors you like and don't like. But very good and loved the last moment of the Hayride.

The Village: Coven of 13
Another fun one and great use of technology. There are these air bags that are reminiscent of bouncy castles that you have to squeeze through in one part and they use green laser lights and the actors pop up from underneath them. This was another really good walkthrough and had a lot of fun going through this one. Also some very interesting reactions from guests and the witches themselves.

The Circus of Horrors
This was a nice alternative to some of the scares, this was a short theatre experience of the weird and wonderful, featuring Camp Dracula (right) and some of his peculiar friends, the Mongolian Laughing Man is a sight to see, and more. Amazing acts that will make you laugh and also screw your face up in disgust.

There are three more haunts which I ran out of time to experience, and these are:

The Cellar
This one is described as being like a cat and mouse game, where the guests are the mice. Sounds like it could have been a freaky game to walk through.

The Chop Shop
Supposed to be one of the most popular attractions along side the Haunted Hayride and the Penitentiary. The famous Pig Man is meant to reside in this haunt and is something of a sight to see too.

Twisted Clowns
Who doesn't love a clown? I reckon this could have been a really interesting experience especially with everyones heightened fear of clowns, and the recent release of IT playing on everyone's minds.

























There are also plenty of activities to do outside of the haunts. There are stalls to grab food and drinks, and they cater for all; and for those who are able to drink there are a couple of bars to sit down and drink some dutch courage... or calm your nerves.

There are lots of outdoor seating situated near camp fires to keep you warm. Whilst you're there enjoying your surrounding why not watch some of the live acts that perform at the park.

The live acts perform a variety of halloween themed music and is always a crowd pleaser with people singing along and having a great time.

Watch out for live actors strolling the ground, they love to terrorise the guests. When we were queueing for the Coven haunt we saw two masked uniforms with chainsaws chasing people, and the funny thing about it is watching the people brave it or run a mile away. The actors love to chase people!

If the thrill doesn't stop after the haunts why not try out the small handful of rides they have here. They have a slingshot ride that will throw you high in the air! They have a twister style ride called The Joker that will bounce you up and down as it spins forward and backwards. They all looked like a lot of fun.

I had such a fantastic night and will definitely visit Tulley's again next Halloween. The actors were all superb and did a fantastic job of staying in their role the whole time. An amazing night that will be talked about for ages.

Has anyone else been? If you have leave a comment down below of what your favourite haunt was!


Tulley's Shocktober Fest runs through to 2nd November 2019.

Enjoy x