Sean Padelsky
Netherworld Haunted House (Stone Mountain, GA)- Each year I like to end the season with a bang. And what bigger way to close out an epic haunt tour than with one of the largest attractions in the country? Heading to Netherworld has become sort of a yearly tradition as of late (this was my 4th consecutive year in attendance). And if the place wasn’t 700-some miles away I’d probably be there even more often!
Celebrating 27 years as one of America’s leading haunted houses, Netherworld has consistently set the bar for haunts everywhere. With their use of cutting-edge technology, costuming, custom props, and set designs, they’ve managed to stay at the forefront of the industry with shows that rival anything you’re likely to see in this lifetime.
My first visit a full decade ago at their former Norcross location (where they remained from 1998 to 2017) yielded some of the most amazing visuals I’d seen to date, and completely changed my perspective on indoor haunts forevermore. Larger than life monsters, living & breathing atmospheres, and wildly inspired set designs-the likes of which I’d never seen, showed me what was possible within the context of a haunted house attraction. This was a real gamechanger for me without a doubt.
Since then, I’ve been back 6 more times (including this most recent visit), and never been let down. Not even slightly. If anything, the shows have gotten even more sophisticated and impressive. And this endless pursuit of something intangibly epic and grandiose has kept me returning year after year. I always know that when I set foot in Netherworld, I’m going to walk out with my jaw on the floor.
I’d chosen Sun. November 5th as the day this time. The absolute tail-end of the 2023 haunt season. And the crazy thing was, it wasn’t even NW’s last day open. They still had the following weekend to go yet before packing it in for the year. These last two weekends are generally attended by industry folk that couldn’t make it during the regular season.
I’d messaged NW owner & mad scientist Ben ahead of time about our visit. And as per usual he just said to page him when we arrived, and he’d meet us at the info window. This has pretty much been the protocol for the last bunch of years. And the great part was, this was our only stop this time. So there was no rush to get anywhere afterwards (besides back home), and nothing preventing us from getting there right at opening time.
We arrived right around 6:30, pulling into the adjacent Life Storage parking lot. Parking here remains free as always. After a short walk up the street, we circled around to the entrance area to find a reasonably sized line of folks waiting to get inside. Apparently they hadn’t started letting anyone in yet, as their posted opening time was 7pm. I couldn’t remember the last time I got here this early. Probably not since the very beginning. Usually, I’m the guy scraping in at the last minute!
They opened the entrance gates at 6:45 and everyone began pouring through. They typically handle all entry times with designated timeslots, which range from $30 GA to $55 for speed passes.
The information area was located up a short staircase at the front end of the building near the giant inflatable devil display. We had the staff person at the window page Ben and hung out by the door for about 10 minutes or so. In the meantime, we got a brief comedy show from the lot below as some actor wandered by holding a broom and proceeded to beat on a porta john with it shouting “Oh my god! There’s a monster!” Their top hat wearing skeletal “Collector” mascot showed up as well, dragging around his signature shovel and sending folks packing in the opposite direction. You’d never know Halloween had ended days ago, as it seemed business as usual around here.
Ben appeared from behind a dividing curtain at 7 on the dot and had us follow him inside. He cut us into the intro photo op area, where we had a group photo, and then off towards the entrance itself. Along the way we passed the always amazing inner queue area, which looked like some ethereal Roman-inspired coliseum with all its immaculate décor, glowing alien symbols, and giant columns encircling the room. Even the waiting areas are visual pieces of art here.
Ben cut us past all the queue areas straight to the first of two attraction entrances. Their themes change yearly, and he was more than happy to fill us in on the premise behind this year’s features. “Primordial”, as this one was called, was based on the four elements: Earth, fire, water & wind. He didn’t go into too much detail, but from what I heard, it sounded like another winner.
Ben joined us as the 3rd member of our group as we entered inside through the large Cthulhu mouthed entrance façade. The first series of immersive sets involved iridescent turquoise lasers and copious amounts of fog (which emulated shifting waters at sea) and a platform resembling the deck of a boat that raised and lowered as if on the waves in an ocean.
From there we headed down a descending ramp where it felt like we were gradually disappearing beneath the murky surface of a body of water. The large octopus tentacles on either side of the platform, one-eyed giant beast overhead, and animated mermaid prop were a nice touch here. The sensor-activated prehistoric fish that flopped around directly afterwards was equally cool. The entire first section of this attraction was all aquatic-based, which obviously referenced the water elemental aspects of this year’s theme.
Things continued with a trip across the slanted floor of a ship’s hull with oversized snapping animated monsters around every corner. Actors would appear suddenly and fade back into the scenery just as quickly. Most did not speak. And the ones in the bungee harnesses that would randomly come surging out of the darkness were the most effective. This place has perfected their form of scare tactics over the years and has it down to a science at this point.
Things deviated over to an ice theme with the implementation of falling snow overhead, realistic-looking icicles hanging from above, and a family of giant wooly mammoth creatures. Was this the Smithsonian Museum or a haunted attraction?? Either way, this was amazing stuff here.
At one point a wall flipped around revealing a hidden actor that got in a quick jump scare before disappearing. Another winged individual soared overhead like an eagle. And the giant abominable snow beast creature that towered above provided some thrilling visuals as we ventured through. For those unaware, NW is all about visuals. And you’ll see more amazing ones here per square foot than pretty much any other haunt in the nation.
The mirror maze here, which is brief, has remained in place for a long time. And the skeletal figure that would periodically appear ahead and then vanish was a very cool effect. Those damn air cannons in there got me again too. You’d think I’d know where all these things are in here by now. I guess that tied into the whole “wind” elemental theme?
The cross-section of a house was still in place here. The big stuffed grizzly bear animatronic and large tipping mirror were still very much there in the study and hallway sections. Ditto for the hissing raccoon and wildlife props, and attic section with the miniature dollhouse, spongy floorboards, and silhouette of a woman in the shower (always a humorous visual). What did any of this have to do with the overall theme? Nothing really. They’re just some of the NW sets that remain here every year.
I recognized some other familiar unrelated set pieces in here as well, including the chomping giant teeth, spinning vortex tunnel, swaying walls, and opening and closing spike obstacles. There was definitely a copious amount of funhouse-oriented props thrown into the mix here for good measure.
One particular set that grabbed my attention that I did not recall from our last visit was the bone room (perhaps representing the “Earth” elemental theme). Easily one of the most elaborate and nuanced sets in here (and that’s saying a lot), this was an early contender for favorite part of the entire attraction. I would go as far as saying this was the best looking set I saw anywhere all year! I could’ve easily spent an hour just in that room alone looking at everything.
A rather peculiar looking pumpkin-headed individual kept recurring throughout much of the attraction. I’m not exactly sure who this fellow was, but he kept turning up all over the place. We must’ve run into him a dozen times or more. This guy was apparently doing double and triple duty that night.
Eventually we arrived at their “fire” section: which I can only assume was the NW equivalent of Hell. The large rock creature (formerly seen out in their midway section the previous year) was prominently displayed, along with an animated horse that reared up on its hind legs, and large rat props that sprang out as we passed through the laser/fog tunnel. I also learned the giant eyeball monster near the end here was one of Ben’s favorite creature props.
Pulsing lava-like walls and animated worm creatures popped in and out of holes in the passages ahead. Meanwhile, overhead we had towering dragon creatures and giant “things” I don’t even have names for. The fantasy element here remains front and center, so I always expect to see a lot of mythology-based props and creatures each visit. This time was certainly no exception.
There was literally something going on in every direction in spots, making it near impossible to see everything. This is one of the reasons I recommend going through more than once if you can. I usually do, but we had to drive straight home as soon as we were done (not recommended by the way), so not an option.
Things ended with a series of hallways that led out past the obligatory chainsaw actor-who Ben says is only featured out of necessity. It’s hard to believe there are people that still complain when there’s no chainsaw in a haunted attraction. But apparently this is still an actual thing so…
“Primordial” took us 21-minutes to navigate-which is about average for this place. The first feature here has always been the longer and more prevalent of the two attractions. But as we would find out shortly, that’s begun to shift somewhat as of late with the recent revisions to their second walkthrough.
We wound up out in their amazing midway-which I swear looks better every time I see it. It looked largely the same as last time, with subtle differences here and there. They did add a bunch of really neat photo op’s that were scattered about the grounds. And wouldn’t you know they actually just restocked this year’s shirts over in the merch shop-which was our very next stop.
Incidentally, we ran into some familiar faces in the gift shop while talking to Ben: some of the Lake Hickory Haunt crew. A killer NC walkthrough-style haunt that I unfortunately didn’t make it to this year, but absolutely recommend checking out if you’re in the Charlotte area next season.
When we convened with all the swag buying, we located Ben once more and followed him across the midway to the second and final feature: “Cryptid Chaos”. Revolving around a considerably more complex theme than the previous attraction (involving boogeymen, dark energy, and urban legends), with the sequences of sets laid out in a traveling storyboard format.
We proceeded forth (with Ben still in tow as our honorary 3rd group member) through the entrance doors and into the elevator contraption at its start. This feature has been in place since they moved here and serves as the traditional lead-up to the sci-fi themed atrocities that lay ahead.
After much shaking and sputtering about, the steely-interior chamber came to a rest and dumped us out into the pseudo sci-fi jungle awaiting us. Right away we were accosted by giant robots shooting laser beams, a slingshot actress in white that flung herself directly at my surprised face (very good startle here), and a giant spinning buzzsaw blade.
Sets consisted of assorted alien life forms in incubation tanks, mutant insect props, observation chambers, blinking LED lights and science lab monitors. There was also a brief inflatable squeeze passage in there I’m pretty sure, as well as a red-neon laser passage, and full-size subway car (with chained up sasquatch creature) that shimmied from side to side as we passed through. So, no shortage of interactive environments in here.
I will say that the last quarter of this attraction was more akin to the first in its overall theme and content. Lots of giant animated beasts and fantasy-based set designs. And I really must say that it looked nearly as good as the first as well.
Even with its brief 11-minute runtime, this second feature is quickly gaining momentum with each passing season and may very well soon be on par with the amazing first half of NW. “Cryptid Chaos” was without a doubt the best featured theme that I’ve seen here to date. And I can only imagine what crazy stuff they’re cooking up for next season…
Back out in the midway we ran about taking photos and even scored some free grub courtesy of Ben (thanks for the bonus hot dogs and drinks!) from one of the onsite concession stands. Over by the exit gates we ran into even more haunt folks-this time some of Nashville Nightmare’s crew. It seemed all the southern industry folks were out in force that night!
We then said our farewells and began the arduous 11-plus hour drive home. And all I’m going to say about that is that we lived to tell the tale and that’s about all that needs to be said. If both of us didn’t have to be at work the next morning I certainly would never have undertaken such a ridiculous task.
As always, NW proved why they’re among the best in the industry. I’ve pretty much seen every top attraction in this country at this point. And these guys are still in the very top percentile. When it comes to fantasy-based immersive horror, there’s just no better place. They even managed to place #1 on my list of best houses and #3 on my top overall attractions of 2023 lists beating out over 70 others. So congratulations are in order.
Thanks as always to Ben for the continued hospitality and being the greatest host every time we visit. NW once again provided the perfect ending to another epic haunt tour. And I wouldn’t have chosen to end the season any other way. I urge everyone that hasn’t done so already to make the journey to Stone Mountain and experience one of the definitive wonders of the modern haunt world.
Hauntfinder Rating: 4 (out of 4)
