2025 Question and Answer With The Nevermore Haunt

2024 Staff Photo - The Nevermore Haunt

MarylandHauntedHouses.com recently sat down with Thomas Wingate of The Nevermore Haunt, to discuss what's new at The Nevermore Haunt for the 2025 Halloween Season!

What's new at The Nevermore Haunt for 2025? Do you have any new rides, attractions, or special features that Haunt Seekers should know about?

This year we focuses on updating a lot of our older scenes, adding new special effects and decor.

What are you most excited about for the 2025 Halloween Season?

We're most excited to celebrate 10 years of haunting!

What differentiates The Nevermore Haunt from other local haunts in Maryland?

Our theme and our custom built props distinguish us from most other events. We're located in a 150 year old building in an historic neighbor that dates back to the early 19th century so we incorporate that into all of our event. We also make a lot of costume, interactive, props and scene elements that you won't see anywhere else.

How long has The Nevermore Haunt been in business? Can you tell us a bit more about The Nevermore Haunt's history?

We have been open since 2016, making this our 10th season. We are an historically themed, Baltimore inspired haunted attraction. We take a lot of inspiration from the works of Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft, which will be evident when you come through the event.

What's your favorite experience since opening The Nevermore Haunt?

My favorite experience every year are the young kids that start out almost too scared to enter and come out screaming and laughing. Only matched by the folks that come by and tell us how our event has been come an annual tradition for their families and friends. We love building a community around our favorite holiday.

How long is a typical haunt experience at The Nevermore Haunt from start to finish?

Our event features a lot of front of house entertainment, magicians, sideshow, clowns, music, food and a bar so some folks hang out the entire night. Strictly speaking of the haunted house walkthrough from front door to exit usually takes folks about 20 - 25 minutes depending on how quickly they move.

On a scale from 1 to 10, how scary would you say The Nevermore Haunt is? Why?

I would give us an 8 or a 9. We don't do a lot of gore and we do try to incorporate some humor throughout. The event is very dark though and there are also a lot of things that will surprise you, rather large things. The event is intended to be frightening for adults, we do routinely have to escort adults out of the event.

Does The Nevermore Haunt's property have any real haunted history? Do you have a spooky encounter you'd like to share?

The building is very old and the neighborhood has a long history. During the Great Fire of Baltimore burn victims and firefighters were treated in the neighborhood, the building itself was built on top of 4 previous structures dates of construction unknown. There is an early 19th century burial ground at the north end of our street and two famous sharp shooters, Wells & McComas, are buried just outside.

We've done a few paranormal investigations and some seances in the building, each one we came away with some unexplainable phenomenon. There are number of stories from staff about strange occurrences but we're never 100% sure if those are spirits or just staff playing prank on one another.

All said, the buildings basement is extremely creepy. We don't let guests down there and all of our staff stay out unless they need to go down.

What inspired you to open up a haunted attraction? What's your favorite part of the business?

The event was founded by a group of scare actors and scene designers that had worked at a number of other area events. Maryland has a great haunted attraction scene but we wanted to strike out on our own and build something with a slightly different vision. One of our biggest goals was to build something in a downtown location since most of these events tend to be in more rural areas.

My favorite part of the industry is the community that pops up around these events. Staff and visitors alike, I think haunted attractions can create a really positive space for folks that might not have outlets for this kind of thing anywhere else.

How has new technology (i.e. animatronics, special props, etc) helped you to enhance The Nevermore Haunt?

We have built a number of costume robotics for our event that I think really catch people by surprise. If you're coming through our haunt and you think the dolls on the shelf are watching you, they really are! We're lucky to have a wealth of engineering talent on our team to be able to create some really unique props.

Can The Nevermore Haunt accommodate large groups? How many people can experience The Nevermore Haunt together as a group?

We work really hard to avoid conga lines in our event. We try to keep groups to 6 or less.

Does The Nevermore Haunt offer any special deals, discounts, or coupons?

We normally do a flash sale in September. We try to keep our tickets as low as we can and still pay all of our staff so there aren't really any special promotions during the season. We do occasionally benefit nights to raise money for charity and we do offer group rate discounts upon request.

Anything else you'd like to let us know about The Nevermore Haunt?

Excited to be back for another season, this industry isn't always easy but it is very rewarding. We hope that everyone in the industry and those coming to get their scream on have a safe and spooky haunt season.