Full disclosure: Monroe County has exactly one haunted house with its own Google listing, and you can't make a top five out of one. So this week we're breaking our own Monroe-only rule. Four of these five are over the county line in Carbon and Lehigh counties, all within about an hour's drive. In our defense, the one we've got is a good one: Hotel of Horror has the most reviews of any haunt on this list, by a wide margin. I can vouch for it personally. My niece's fingernail marks from two years ago are still solidly implanted in my arm. Ranked by Google rating (as of Thursday), with review count breaking ties.
The highest rated haunt on the list. Reviewers single out the jump scares, the actors' costumes and makeup, and a freak-show sideshow you walk through on the way in. One summed it up: "The effort and work put into this place is incredible!!"
3975 Long Run Rd, Lehighton, PA 18235A Palmerton haunt that reviewers praise for its props, its set designs and friendly actors. If you judge a haunt by how good it looks, this is your pick.
320 Delaware Ave, Palmerton, PA 18071Our hometown entry. Two haunted houses, Hotel of Horror and Altered Nightmares, run through five floors of the Lake House Hotel, a building with more than 200 years of history, from the basement to the attic. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 1, roughly 6 or 7 p.m. to 10 or 11 p.m., $35 to $45. Reviewers who sprang for VIP tickets say it was worth the price, and a few mention cash only, so bring some just in case.
5105 Cherry Valley Rd, Saylorsburg, PA 18353Set at Country Junction, home of the "World's Largest General Store," and the reviews read like a whole evening: a haunted house plus a corn maze, a hayride and an escape room, with food on site.
6325 Interchange Rd, Lehighton, PA 18235The longest drive on the list and the most social. The haunted hayride gets the most mentions, but so do the two big bonfires, the DJ, and wood-fired pizza and cocktails while you wait. Google lists admission at $50.
2951 Betz Ct, Orefield, PA 18069
