2026 Question and Answer With Nightmare Forest
August 31, 2026
By Haunt News & Press Releases
What does Nightmare Forest have in store for the 2026 Halloween season? Jeff Howlett is here to tell you!
What's new at Nightmare Forest for 2026? Do you have any new rides, attractions, or special features that Haunt Seekers should know about?
Three brand-new attractions join us for 2026: Ring, Five Nights and Weapons. They sit alongside returning favorites including the Nightmare Forest trail itself, Hawthorne's Circus Bizarre, Trail of Terror and Demented Hills, and every one of them is covered by a single admission. We have also added two bonus Sunday nights this year, on October 18 and October 25, on top of our usual Friday and Saturday schedule. That gives thrill seekers fourteen nights in total to come and find us.
What are you most excited about for the 2026 Halloween Season?
This is our 35th season, and we are marking it by opening three new attractions at once rather than one. We are also looking forward to the parts of the night people do not expect. While you are waiting your turn there is a free side show and freak show, axe throwing, and an on-site fireworks show, so the evening is a lot more than just walking the trail.
What differentiates Nightmare Forest from other local haunts in Kentucky?
We are an outdoor haunt, not a building. Nightmare Forest is not confined by four walls, it spreads deep into the woods at Otter Creek Park, so you are walking real trails through towering trees and fog rather than corridors. One ticket covers every attraction on the property, and the extras around the midway are included too: a free side show and freak show, axe throwing and an on-site fireworks show. We have been doing this since 1991, which makes 2026 our 35th season.
How long has Nightmare Forest been in business? Can you tell us a bit more about Nightmare Forest's history?
Nightmare Forest has been family-owned and operated since 1991, so 2026 is our 35th season. What began as a single haunted trail in the woods has grown into a full haunt park at 850 Otter Creek Park Road in Brandenburg, with multiple attractions on one site, a midway, and characters who have been with us from the early days, including Bobo the Clown. Every season we add new paths, new characters and new scares, and this year that means Ring, Five Nights and Weapons.
What's your favorite experience since opening Nightmare Forest?
After this many seasons, the thing that still gets us is the returning crowd. We have guests who first came through as teenagers in the nineties and now bring their own kids, and groups of friends who book the same night every October the way other people book a holiday. Watching somebody talk a nervous first-timer through the front gate, then hearing that same person shouting about it in the parking lot an hour later, never gets old. The other one is opening night itself, when the crew finally sees a whole summer of building finished and lit up for the first time.
How long is a typical haunt experience at Nightmare Forest from start to finish?
Most people are on the property for around two hours. The walk itself takes the better part of an hour to get through the trails and attractions, and then there is everything around the midway, which is where the rest of the night tends to go: the free side show and freak show, axe throwing and the fireworks. On a busy Saturday, or over the last two weekends of October, plan for longer. That is exactly what Speed Pass and VIP Skip the Line are there for.
On a scale from 1 to 10, how scary would you say Nightmare Forest is? Why?
We would put ourselves at an 8. What pushes it up is that we are outdoors in real woods. There is no exit door two steps behind you and no lit corridor to follow, just trees, fog and a long dark walk between scenes, and your own imagination fills in the gaps before we do. What keeps it off a 10 is that we want people to enjoy the night rather than genuinely regret it. Families come through, first-timers make it around, and everybody gets back to the parking lot. Fair warning though, we use fog and strobe lighting throughout and the darkness does a lot of the work for us.
What inspired you to open up a haunted attraction? What's your favorite part of the business?
The appeal was always doing this in real woods rather than inside a building. Anyone can put up walls and paint them black, but a forest at night is already unsettling before you add a single prop, and that is what we wanted to work with. It started as one trail back in 1991 and it grew from there. The favorite part now is the crew. A lot of our actors have been coming back for years, some of them started out as guests who loved it enough to ask for a costume, and every September the whole place comes back to life for a few weeks. That, and the noise a group makes when they come off the trail.
How has new technology (i.e. animatronics, special props, etc) helped you to enhance Nightmare Forest?
Lighting, fog and sound do most of the heavy lifting for us, and we have gotten a lot better at all three over the years. Animatronics and larger props absolutely have their place, and we use them to hold a scene or set up a moment, but out in the woods they will never beat a live actor who has read your body language and picked exactly the right second. So our approach is to let the technology build the world and the sets, and let the actors do the scaring. The scenes get more detailed every year, which is part of why people who came last season still find something new.
Can Nightmare Forest accommodate large groups? How many people can experience Nightmare Forest together as a group?
Yes, groups are very welcome, and because we are an outdoor haunt park rather than a single building there is room for larger parties to come through together. For group inquiries and private bookings, call us at 502-576-6999 or email jeff@yournightmarebegins.com and we will sort out the details.
Does Nightmare Forest offer any special deals, discounts, or coupons?
We keep it simple with three ticket levels, all of which include every attraction on the property: General Admission is $30, Speed Pass is $45 and VIP Skip the Line is $65. Speed Pass and VIP both shorten the wait at every attraction, which is worth thinking about on Saturdays and over the last two weekends of October when we are at our busiest. All three are available online in advance.
Anything else you'd like to let us know about Nightmare Forest?
Our 2026 season opens on Saturday, September 19 and runs Friday and Saturday nights through October 31, plus those two bonus Sunday nights on October 18 and October 25. Gates open at 8:00 PM. The ticket booth stays open until 12:30 AM on Fridays and 1:00 AM on Saturdays, and as long as you are in line by then you are getting in. We are at 850 Otter Creek Park Road, Brandenburg, KY 40108, roughly 35 minutes southwest of Louisville, and parking on site is free. Please note we use fog and strobe lighting throughout.