An abandoned theme park sat deserted for years after a horrific accident, but now, the chaotic and haunted remains of what was once a fun-filled playland are coming back to life.
Listen To The Interview with Todd
What Should You Expect at Slaughterland Screampark?
Slaughterland, in Binghamton, New York close to the Pennsylvania border, will feature four attractions—Dark Magic, Wendigo Woods, Frightmares 3D, and Fallen Fairgrounds. Two of these are indoor haunts, and two are outdoor walkthroughs that take place in a creepy forest.
Guests proceed from one haunted experience to the next and end in the midway area, where they’re encouraged to hang out with family and friends around the fires or grab a beverage at Bloodstreet Brewery, which will feature custom-crafted beer from Water Street Brewing Co., located in Binghamton.
The Slaughterland Guest Journey
Slaughterland is a linear experience comprising four attractions, both indoor and outdoor:
- Dark Magic (indoor)
- Wendigo Woods (outdoor)
- Frightmares 3D (indoor)
- Fallen Fairgrounds (outdoor)
The Slaughterland journey begins with a walk in the woods. Guests can proceed to the midway or going through the attractions, the first of which is Dark Magic.
Dark Magic
This is an indoor, dark attraction. There’s a short walk from the queue to the Dark Magic attraction itself in which guests are immersed in a pre-Dark Magic atmosphere—a graveyard with a voodoo theme leading to a little village in a swamp. Dark Magic takes place in five, 53-foot-long tractor trailers. “It’s tight quarters, little to no light, with small scenes lit by a flashlight here and there, and overwhelming sound,” explained Todd Fedyshyn, owner of Slaughterland. “We’ve gone to the roots of anything voodoo. There’s the butcher room, which has chicken feathers everywhere. It’s a chicken massacre. We’ve tried to add a voodoo spin on the entire thing—from the soundtrack to the animatronics.”
From there, guests emerge into Wendigo Woods.
Wendigo Woods
Wendigo Woods is an outdoors, forest walkthrough, which is about three-quarters of a mile long. “People love getting out into the woods in the Fall, and I liked the creepy aspect of it,” said Todd. Wendigo Woods is that it’s where everything unwanted or not allowed in the main areas of the park—especially bizarre characters—now live. “Guests visit Wendigo Woods before and after the next attraction, Frightmares 3D, and it provides a transition to the last attraction, Fallen Fairgrounds,” explained Todd.
Frightmares 3D
Frightmares 3D is an indoors experience featuring artwork by Stuart Smith, a noted ChromaDepth 3D artist. Like Dark Magic, Fightmares 3D takes place inside tractor trailers. “This is an awesome, fun and different spin on nightmares and different ways to scare people,” said Todd. “I wanted to focus on scares using this technology, because I always enjoy the 3D haunts, but I think sometimes the scare factor is missing.”
Guests start out in a room where it appears a little girl is having a nightmare. She’s tossing and turning in her bed, and the room looks normal. When the epic moment occurs, the lights switch to UV, and the ChromaDepth artwork makes the walls come alive. “It will submerge Guests in Stuart’s work throughout the entire attraction, ending with a vortex tunnel that leads guests back into the woods and then to the Fallen Fairgrounds,” explained Todd. “Guests are in the woods for another half mile or so and experience everything they did before—bizarre, crazy, chaotic scares coming at them from different huts and blind spots, with diversions and distractions that the public has grown to love from us haunters. I encourage my actors to take it to that next level, within reason—safety first—by owning their character and showing me what they can bring that’s unique,” he said.
Fallen Fairgrounds
“Fallen Fairgrounds is like a fairgrounds that burned down,” said Todd. “This might’ve been where the carnies used to hang out, and there’s some even weirder stuff on the way down the hill, which is about another quarter mile, to the midway.” It leads directly guests into the path of Bloodstreet Brewery and the rest of the midway scene. “The brewery looks like an old factory with toxic waste coming out of the windows,” noted Todd.
Who is Slava?
A friend of Todd’s, Dustin Tang Chun, had a haunt called Slava’s Zombie Circus several years ago. Slava was a character that Dustin created for his haunt. “I wanted to keep this character alive. The backstory of Slava at Slaughterland is that he was the owner of the forgotten theme park that became Slaughterland, and he’s now the mayor of Slaughterland. Slava wore a top hat and had tried to be some kind of professional in the circus, but he’s messed up and shouldn’t be in control of anything,” explained Todd.
About The Creator Todd Fedyshyn
Creating a Haunt to Benefit People with Disabilities
Todd was introduced to haunting as a kid when he helped his uncle Dennis do a home haunt. After college, he and his uncle did home haunts for 10 years that drew between 500 and 1000 kids every Halloween. Todd eventually created Haunted Halls of Horror for Southern Tier Independence Center, an agency for people with disabilities. From there he migrated into doing escape rooms, which became an even more profitable, year-round fundraiser for Southern Tier Independent Center. Slaughterland will donate a portion of the proceeds from every ticket sold to Southern Tier Independence Center.
With Reaper’s Revenge, Todd Becomes a Haunt Professional
After that, he became the second, full-time, year-round employee Reaper’s Revenge, at which time he decided he wanted to become a haunt professional and went about learning everything he could about haunting. Todd is still part of the Reaper’s family, and does graphic design audio, animatronics, and promotion for it.
Todd continues to educate himself as a haunter. “The day you think you know everything, you might as well just close the casket and call it, because there’s no room for that. We all have things to learn, and there will be growth everywhere.”
For the future, Todd intends to remain in the Reaper’s family and continue to do escape rooms throughout the year as fundraisers for Southern Tier Independence Center.
As evidence of stepping into his haunt professional role, Todd has been a member of the Haunted Attraction Association for the past four years. He was asked to join the board because of his work with making haunts and other attractions accessible to people with disabilities. As an HAA board member, Todd says, “I love the new blood that’s coming into what we’re doing. I’m very fortunate to network with amazing haunters. Even though we’re all busy getting ready for the season—which is just a little over a month away—we’re still taking time to make sure we’re planning and getting ready for what we do at Transworld to help advocate for our industry and be the voice for every haunter—not just full-time haunters, not just professional haunters, but every haunter. Anybody that wants to be creative in our industry, we advocate for.”
How Starting Out as a Home Haunter Prepare Todd to Operate His Own Attraction
Todd shared the professional benefits of starting out as a home haunter. “What home haunting does is it trains you to be broke until Halloween—because, as a home haunter, you buy everything, and you’re not making any money. Haunting ain’t any different. Our budgets go through the roof until we make any of that money back. We hope we just balance make a little bit of money so we can keep going.”
Location, Open Dates and Hours, Ticket Prices, and Additional Information
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Where is Slaughterland Screampark?
Slaughterland Screampark is at 666 Barrier Road in Binghamton, New York, just north of the Pennsylvania border.
When Does Slaughterland Screampark Open?
Slaughterland will open on September 27th and be open every Friday and Saturday night through October 26th
What Time Does Slaughterland Screampark Open Each Night?
The box office and midway open at 6:30, and the attractions open at dusk.
How Much are Tickets to Slaughterland Screampark?
General admission tickets are $30 (either online or on-site), with a $50 VIP package available that reduces wait time. This option is also available online or on-site, as is a $25 VIP upgrade to the general admission ticket. Military and group discounts are also available.
General admission includes all four attractions and access to the midway. Individual attraction prices aren’t available. Cash only for on-site tickets; an ATM is available.
For information, call 866-7Scream or email [email protected].
