Vampires: the quintessential monster of the darkest night, the terror from beyond the grave, the focus of movies and television shows for decades, and one the best attractions you will experience at HAUNT. Lore of the Vampire is a classic in more ways than one: feel like you’re falling into Bram Stoker’s Dracula as you weave through Worlds of Fun’s oldest haunted attraction and dodge vampires from all centuries of time. Be warned, these are no sparkling vampires…

Starting in the manor, encounter the earliest renditions of the vampire: those who are mentioned in Carmilla and Dracula, those that prowl the halls in gowns dripping in blood, looming over candles, and lurching from beautiful, ornate curtains. The scent of blood lingers in the air as they seek their next meal, enticing visitors with their haunting beauty before lunging to strike, indiscriminate in their thirst. It isn’t hard to spot the more enthusiastic vampires as they already have a stream of red dripping down their fangs onto thier faces, hands, and clothes.

If you manage to get away from these ancient vampires, you’ll find your way to the crypt: where gravestones and coffins lay. Names from the past are carved into the slate, a stark reminder of the danger you’re in as you prowl through the mausoleum. Take notice of the bone: milky white and stained with blood in coffins, hung from the ceiling in decorations, and reaching for escape on the floor. Be wary of the netting, it may drip of something deep red, obscuring some horror lurking behind the visage. If you’re lucky, you may make your escape, but that is hardly a victory with the terror waiting ahead.

Descending next into the subway, a collection of past victims hangs from the ceiling, draining blood into a basin. After all, vampires hate to waste what they’ve collected, and must make the night’s catch last far into the next day. As you stumble into the corridor, scrawled graffiti marks the transition into new-school vampires, those that have been seen in recent popular culture as they’ve made their revival.

This abandoned tunnel leads you to their lair: the remainder of their meals hung as decorations on the walls and from the ceiling. Greeted by a particularly ghoulish half-corpse, you enter a maze of terror: witnessing a couple of skeletons embracing in a cell and mottled faces coming from the wall. True to their aesthetic, walls are made of stone skulls and iron spikes, stone statues await, and red curtains obscure the more terrifying pieces of their collection.

The small rooms and narrow corridors finally open to catacombs, but a shock awaits: more corpses await here, wrapped tight while coffins jut out from the stone walls. Special caskets lay open and displayed in the cold rooms, and as you round the final path to what you dare hope is your escape, a weeping angel statue looms above.

Finally, if you are lucky to escape, the doors to freedom are waiting just a sprint away, and like the vampires, you’ll be welcomed back into the night with the memories of the undead haunting as you flee. What can’t be forgotten, however, is the red and the fleeting image of werewolves chasing after you to protect the secret of their master's llair.