'I survived the spine-chilling Nightmare Realm in Dublin- here's what happened'
'Located at Mary Lane’s City Market in Dublin, the frightening experience has been voted Europe’s best scream park.'
Nowhere is a safe space to chill out at The Nightmare Realm, even on the benches at the food court a possessed nun or freaky clown can pounce on you at any moment.
Located at Mary Lane’s City Market in Dublin, the frightening experience has been voted Europe’s best scream park- and I can see why. The brand-new spine-chilling exhibition features five new scare mazes with multiple secret rooms to uncover.
When I entered The Village of Fear XV, I was surprised at how much it felt like a little haunted community tucked away in Dublin. The lights were dim, the music was spooky, and even as I walked around the food court and the main stage characters popped out on me and tried to lead me to their home (one of the five scare mazes).
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I wearily entered The House of Little Red, where my friend Lauren and I were lured inside by a possessed young girl. The aim of this scare maze is to make it through the sinister mansion to deliver food to Little Red’s grandmother.
While it’s inspired by Red Riding Hood, the experience was anything but a fairy tale. In complete darkness, I went through a tight, twisting hallway after the young girl whispered where we should go.
At the end, I got my first and most frightful scare of the night when a man with a white sheet face jumped out at me. He wasn’t dressed particularly scarily compared to some of the other characters, but with the pitch-black hallways and dreary music, I was taken aback.
We were then led to a circular room with creaky floorboards and half a dozen cracked doors. I was taken to a room and locked inside while Lauren was brought to another- I was now alone.
The room featured a single bed and a bedside locker. I was very confused about what I was supposed to be doing.
I tried to open the door but it was locked. For a brief moment, I scared myself further- what if a bad person disguised themselves as an actor and was really trying to harm us?
That moment only crossed my mind for a second, and my instincts kicked in. There must be a way to get out of this room.
I looked under the bed and found a secret tunnel, brilliant. Getting down on my hands and knees I crawled out of the creepy room- cursing myself for wearing newly washed jeans.
At the end of it, another ghoulish character jumped out at me, but I wasn’t as scared this time, I think I was getting used to it. As I navigated through more dishevelled hallways, I was delighted to be reunited with Lauren.
There wasn’t much time for a reunion though as a loud “get out!” was shouted at us. I took this order way too seriously and brought us out an emergency exit-oops.
The actors didn’t break character though and let us be, the correct exit was right beside it anyway. No spooky detail was missed in the village. You could spend hours reading all the little signs and discovering the nooks and crannies.
Outside of The Meat Market scare tunnel, a little butcher shop window had every type of Halloween meat for sale. My favourite? 100% lean ex-boyfriend chunks. It was sourced from ‘gym bro gains’ and was only €2.99 per rotten handful.
1692 Possession was also an eerily creepy maze, but there were fewer jump scares. As we entered, we were brought to a box room by a haunted priest. On a single bed sat a possessed woman who was pleading for help as she wrangled around.
The priest asked us to sit down on a small stool, he was about to perform an exorcism. Although the actors were phenomenal, we tried not to laugh as the bed extended up so it appeared like the woman was floating and she almost hit the roof.
Then, suddenly, the lights went completely out. When they came back, the creepy characters were standing right in front of us screaming.
The final two scare mazes were The Last Gas Station and Slappy's Birthday Bash. I’ve never been a fan of clowns, so I was a bit apprehensive.
Upon entering the circus, we were met by a creepy clown that looked like Pennywise from IT. We had to navigate the derelict hallways as eerie carnival music played while strobe psychedelic lights hinged our vision.
At one point, a blood-covered clown said my name and urged me to follow him. I was initially creeped out but realised he must have previously heard my pal calling me.
The circus maze finished with a massive ball pool. I happily jumped inside and when no one hopped out after a few seconds I thought we were safe.
However, as we both made our way through the colourful balls to exit, Slappy jumped out and we had our biggest scream of the night. He hid himself very well in fairness.
The Nightmare Realm opened on October 4, and horror enthusiasts will be able to catch it until November 1.
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