After success in the first year, Loudoun County-based Milltown Haunt is adding new haunted experiences, an extreme night and kids night.
LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Most of the year, Ghorley and Sarah Gregg's 50-acre farm in Loudoun County is just that: a working farm. Ghorley Greg, who has served as a Loudoun County firefighter, is also a third-generation farmer. But during the Halloween season, the family turns part of that farm into Milltown Haunt, a haunted house attraction for thrill seekers.
"We are Halloween lovers at heart," Sarah Gregg told Patch. "We were married on Halloween. Everything that I've ever done big in my life has been Halloween. My first home, I closed on Halloween, quit my corporate job on Halloween. So it's just kind of been in our blood."
Two of the couple's three daughters had worked at Shocktober, a now-closed Leesburg haunted house that the nonprofit Arc of Loudoun ran as a fundraiser before the COVID-19 pandemic. When the couple acquired the Milltown Road farm property in Lovettsville, they reached out to Arc of Loudoun to gauge interest in reopening Shocktober there. While reopening wasn't viable for Shocktober, the family decided to still use the property and decided to open Milltown Haunt in 2023.
The family ultimately had to delay the opening to 2024. That was a timely decision, as Scream Loco's owners moved away, and Milltown Haunt could absorb Scream Loco's actors and makeup artists.
Milltown Haunt is about to enter its second year. The first year was successful for the haunted house, as Scare Factor reviewers ranked Milltown Haunt seventh out of 218 haunted houses reviewed in 2024 and most recently second best in Virginia. They also saw guests turn out from North Carolina to New York. Gregg also credits the actors for making the experience memorable.
"Being a haunt owner, I want people to walk in, and I want them to laugh, I want them to scream, I want them to have a good time, but I do want that the wow of this is different, this is unique," said Gregg.
Milltown Haunt's debut year featured haunted attractions in its two barns — Thorn House and Barn of Fears — which are returning in 2025.
"The Thorn House is Grandma's house. That's Grandma. She's there, she's on the property, and she is coming after you," said Gregg. "We've changed a few areas in there this year, so we've added a few things. Grandma didn't like people in there last year, so she's making it a little bit trickier to get through.
Gregg adds, "Barn of Fears is exactly what that is. So we're changing up the rooms to target certain fears of certain people. So every room is something different. We've added quite a few things. We've changed our ending, so now it's a different way to get out."
This year, Milltown Haunt will add a corn maze and a dark maze called The Void.
"We've added what we're calling The Void, which is nothing but a dark maze, no lights, no nothing, and you're by yourself. You have to get yourself out. That is the only way through," said Gregg. "And then we've added Trickster's Hollow, which is our corn maze, and it's more like a trail. There's no dead ends. We want you to get through without a conga line, but it's old school Halloween."
Gregg says the farm typically alternates between corn and bean crops year to year, but they may do another corn maze next year if it proves successful in 2025. Another perk of farm life was Gregg's pet goat being part of the haunt last year.
Another new feature will be an Oct. 30 kids night with no scares, trick-or-treat with candy handed out by the actors and Gruto's ice cream.
For those seeking a scarier experience, a new extreme night will be held on Nov. 1 for guests 21 and older. An additional waiver is required for that experience.
"That is for the people that are beyond just wanting to get scared," said Gregg. "We're going to immerse you into the scent, the taste, the feel. You might be taken from your group and hidden away somewhere for a little while. You might have to eat something or drink something before you can go further, the feels of you think that something's touching you, but is it really touching you?"
A blackout night will return on Nov. 2. Attendees will get a glow stick for the Thorn House, Barn of Fear's and Trickster's Hollow. No glow stick will be needed for The Void dark maze.
Before wrapping up for the year, Milltown Haunt will bring back its Christmas haunt in December.
Along with the haunted attractions, Milltown Haunt features a midway with One Family Brewing, a food truck, seating and sales of merchandise like Milltown Haunt T-shirts and sweatshirts.
"Once you're there, you're welcome to stay until we close. Some haunts will kind of put you through and then send you out," said Gregg. "I think the biggest thing was just the family atmosphere, that community of nobody felt like you weren't welcome there. We have actors that are walking throughout the midway. So there's always photo ops."
Milltown Haunt is part of a widely popular haunt industry that thrill seekers pack every Halloween season. Gregg says haunted houses offer escapism from reality, which can be more scary.
"It gives you a break because you get to go in there and be immersed into something that you're not in your daily life," said Gregg. "And for us, if we can give you that 30 minutes or an hour of just not having to deal with what's what's normal, and we take you from that and put you into something else, then we've done our job."
When not running the haunt and preparing for the next season, the family is growing and harvesting corn, beans and hay. According to Gregg, Milltown Haunt was also a strategy to preserving the farm land with another use to pass onto their daughters someday.
"We farm when we're not operating the haunt, so we're still utilizing that land," said Gregg. "Our whole goal was, being in the farming world, we don't want to see more houses go up around us. So our goal is to salvage that land and keep it as a farm use and produce what we can off of it."
Tickets for Milltown Haunt range from $5 for just midway access to $55 for VIP haunted house entry. Milltown Haunt will once again provide a portion of this year’s proceeds to local nonprofits. From Oct. 17 to 19, guests who bring a nonperishable food donation for Loudoun Hunger Relief will receive discounts on tickets or merchandise.
Milltown Haunt is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (except Oct. 5) in October, plus Oct. 30 for kids night, Nov. 1 for extreme night and Nov. 2 for blackout night. The location is 13936 Milltown Road, Lovettsville, VA. For more information, visit www.milltownhaunt.com.