LEWISBURG, W.Va- “Halloween has always been so much fun” Berkley Miller, of Miller’s Nightmare Haunted Farm says, reflecting on his teenage years.
“When I was in high school, we would have a bunch of friends come over for the night, and we would just scare as many people as we could.”
Miller further explains that he started out as a “kid writing horror stories”, and now has a full-time career designing, building, and operating a 20-acre Haunted Trail in Lewisburg, WV.
“There was a growing demand for haunted houses and haunted trails, so my family gave it a shot”, Miller recalls. “We started in 2014 on our family farm with a corn maze, a little haunted trail, and a 200-amp power service”.
Today, Miller’s Nightmare Haunted Farm has grown to include a larger corn maze deemed the “infected crop,” a demented forest trail, several themed escape rooms, and the “Dark Midway,” in which guests can find music, concessions, axe-throwing, and a bow-shoot. Miller promises brand new terrors for their 12th year of operation, including the “Miller Psychiatric Institute,” where guests will walk through an intricate and interactive haunted asylum, as well as “Lore,” an unfortunate little town that has been apparently taken over by cryptids.
Because Miller’s Nightmare Haunted Farm is a family-run operation, you can bet the quality of the “scare” is top-notch. Miller’s parents, Ron and Cindy, finance, run retail, and operate the DJ and concession stands, while his brother Creighton manages actors as well. Miller and his brother-in-law’s father, Bill Handley, have constructed the majority of the haunted buildings by hand, with oak and pine from their own sawmill. Handley gets a certain gleam in his eye when mentioning the “red lights in the floorboards of the Hag’s House, and how they shine up through the dense fog” over the man-made pond he added to the trail.
Miller points out the first animatronic prop the family ever purchased, which is a life-size, wild looking witch hanging from a beam with her mouth fixed in a scream. These days, Miller estimates he’s using over $10,000 in props, including a 14-foot-tall animatronic Wendigo, as well as over 50 gallons of “fog juice” for his machines every season.
When asked what makes a “successful haunt,” Miller says the material things are just part of it, though. ‘It is really about the different ways the actor can interact with and scare the person walking through,” he clarifies. Miller and Handley go on to show the author numerous secret passageways they’ve built into the walls of the buildings, so that any of their 150 different actors can pop-out and give jump-scares to their audience at any moment.
Just last year, around 13,000 people made their way through the “Nightmare,” and the number continues to grow as the Haunted Farm expands every year.
“We add something new every season,” Miller adds.
If one is looking for a novelty Halloween experience, look no further than Miller’s Nightmare Haunted Farm, located at 260 Cabin View Lane in Lewisburg. Open every Friday and Saturday night from September 26th through October 31st, visitors can expect a large bonfire with a “haunted parade” to start each night, followed by walk-throughs of the “infected crop,” “demented forest,” “the town of Lore,” the “Miller Institute” and the “Blood Shed.”
Tickets range from $23 for general admission to $45 for a Fast Pass, allowing the purchaser to skip the general admission line.
For more information, visit the Miller’s Nightmare Haunted Farm Website: www.millersnightmare.com
