Take an Isolated Journey through Terror in Alone

The following is a spoiler-free review for Alone – The Fear Experience by Reign of Terror Entertainment located in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. This is not to be confused with the immersive company Alone based in Los Angeles, California or the haunted house Reign of Terror in Thousand Oaks, California.

Alone in the dead of night, a flashlight is my only companion. Its beam of light jitters, mimicking the trembling of my hand, and illuminates a small section within a large, abandoned concrete structure. I take a deep breath and calm myself. This is only a show, I think, but I’m already a slave to the paranoia of the unknown; my body reacting to every noise I hear. Deep in the distance, something moves, and now I’m terrified I may not be alone after all.

The Fear Experience

Mystery plays an integral role in Alone – The Fear Experience, a psychological horror experience created by Gregory Carl of Reign of Terror Entertainment in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Outside of only a few details made available on their website, Carl intentionally leaves out any significant mentions of what his isolated experience entails, creating an intense amount of anxiety prior to the experience even starting.

Without any information and pure blind faith, I headed to Reign of Terror’s website to complete their online application in hopes of being approved.

I was contacted by email within minutes. Carl wanted to set up a Skype interview.

The ‘Known’ Before Arrival

During our session, I began to suspect that Carl wouldn’t provide me with any details I wanted to know—beyond the little amount I already knew. However, there were a few major points he made sure to go over:

As the name of the experience suggests, I will find myself entirely alone.

The duration of the experience is approximately 4-6 hours. Though there isn’t a safeword per say, Carl does provide a clear way to opt out of the experience once within the space.

And lastly, the location will remain undisclosed: meaning I will be required to wear a blindfold to get there from an agreed upon meeting point and again on the return trip. My cell phone and other personal belongings will be collected at a security checkpoint.

All I had to do now is timidly say, “Sign me up.”

Journey into the Dark

Alone, in essence, is a dark exploration of an incredibly massive location which slowly escalates into a nightmarish purgatory. Investigating every inch becomes crucial in uncovering what your role in all this is.

And yes, the space is incredibly massive. It is so big, that you can easily find yourself getting lost amongst the dozens of large and creepy rooms connected with one another if you don’t keep track.

From the moment you take your first step, you determine how you wish to navigate the labyrinth of a building. As you stumble upon the occasional closed off area or blocked pathways, you must use your surroundings and ingenuity to uncover an alternate path.

Follow the Breadcrumbs

It is the small moments, nuances, and details that stir up the most unsettling aspects of Alone. Finding a woman’s high-heel seems unusually odd at first, but these details are just breadcrumbs of a larger scheme at play.

Appropriately, the environment shifts disorientingly around you the more you unveil the narrative. Creaks and echoes turn into whispers and distant moans, and dark rooms turn into hazy dreams. It’s a slow build up but terrifying every step of the way, leading to one of the most unexpected endings I’ve encountered in an experience that literally left me shaking.

Face Your Fears Entirely Alone

Alone is a jigsaw puzzle with no reference photo. Yet, the true horror of the experience unfolds as each piece comes together and you slowly realize what that final image is. It’s pure psychological terror that cleverly toys with your mind as you explore the elaborate space and discover the dark secret that the experience is hiding. What you’ll find won’t be pleasant, but it’s twisted ending is worth shining a light on.

Alone – The Fear Experience is currently accepting reservations up until December 30, 2018. For more information, to sign up for an interview, or to follow for possible extension, please visit their website. You can also find Reign of Terror Entertainment on Facebook and Instagram.