Pictured above: A giant clown sign marks the entrance to Scream-A-Geddon.
Courtesy of Sofía García Vargas | The Crow’s Nest
By Sofía García Vargas
As Halloween approaches, Tampa Bay has started its spooky season celebrations and Scream-A-Geddon is the perfect place to “be afraid, be very afraid” with friends.
This year marks the seventh anniversary of Scream-A-Geddon, and with it, the debut of the new attraction Bloodwater Bayou. Fan-favorite houses Rage 3D, and Demons Revenge make a return, as well as interactive experiences Ravenhill Asylum, Blackpool Prison and Zombie Paintball Assault.
Monster Midway is a hub for food, drinks and games, where terrifying monsters will pay spontaneous visits to those brave enough to handle it.
Scream-A-Geddon Marketing Manager Winston McDaniel said this year’s event is very different from the previous years.
“We’ve revamped all the houses that have come back from last year. And we’ve totally redone the whole Midway area. We’ve added more food and drink options as well as expanded our craft beer list,” McDaniel said.
The haunting experience begins before visitors even arrive to the event. Located in the middle of the woods of Dade City, Scream-A-Geddon aims to build visitors’ anxiety with a dimly lit, confusing road to the entrance.
“We want people to think when they’re driving here, ‘am I going the right way, or did I take a wrong turn?’ and that’s the idea. You start to feel anxious before you even get inside the park,” McDaniel said.
To ensure improvement and new additions to the event every year, guests are surveyed at the end of the season and asked what they want to see next fall. According to McDaniel, demand for a voodoo-themed house was high. In response, Bloodwater Bayou was built, making its debut this year.
The new house transports visitors to an alternate plane of existence infested the demons and monsters after being hypnotized by a voodoo priestess dressed in spooky garb. The only one able to free the innocent is Papa Legba, the speaker of the dead, who decides if they are worthy enough to return to reality.
St. Petersburg residents Tamieka Sutton and Nakia Salter said they thought they wouldn’t survive the scares of the Bayou.
“I never want to do it again, it was so scary,” Sutton said. “They built up the intensity so much and I was like I don’t want to meet Papa y’all.”
The returning houses immerse guests in a locked-down asylum, a church of the occult, a rioted prison and a raging neon-themed clown house.
Additionally, guests can pay for a separate ticket to participate in the Zombie Paintball Assault, where guests are taken on a bus ride around the woods to slay some zombies with paintballs.
Even though the event was open last year during the pandemic, McDaniel said this year they are furthering their COVID-19 protocols and safety measures.
“We are keeping a lot of the really successful actions from last year, such as making sure everything’s super clean. We sanitize everything throughout the night and at the end of the night, all the costumes and all the houses on the inside. We are also asking guests who are not vaccinated to wear face masks, as well as any staff member,” McDaniel said.
An award-winning haunted house experience, Scream-A-Geddon offers everything a Halloween enthusiast looks for this time of the year.
The event runs every night from Sept. 30 to Oct. 31. General admission tickets vary per night ranging from $25 to $48 and can be found at screamageddon.com. Add-ons such as fast passes and tickets to Zombie Paintball Assault can also be bought online. Parking is $13 and is paid on-site.
