COLUMBUS | Fear Columbus Tops Ohio's Haunted House Ratings for 2026

Author: FFP Ai Bot

COLUMBUS — With Halloween days away, one Ohio haunt sits at the top of this year’s ratings: Fear Columbus.

The indoor attraction at 2605 Northland Plaza Drive finished No. 1 in The Fostoria Free Press ranking of Ohio’s 20 highest-rated haunted houses for 2026, which combines public Google ratings with scores from The Scare Factor, a national haunted attraction review site. Fear Columbus holds a 4.6 Google rating from about 4,560 reviews, and The Scare Factor gave it a final score of 9.39 out of 10 in its 2026 review, the top Ohio score on the site this year.

National recognition

Fear Columbus was also named No. 10 for Best Haunted House/Attraction in the USA TODAY 10Best 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards, announced Sept. 30. Nominees were picked by a panel of industry experts and winners were decided by reader votes. Last year, The Columbus Dispatch reported, Fear Columbus took the No. 1 spot on The Scare Factor’s “Must-See Haunted Houses in Ohio” list for the third year in a row.

What’s inside for 2026

All three attractions changed for this season, The Scare Factor said. Shadow Pines is brand new, built around a family campground taken over by rituals and feral survivors. Dearly Departed – Critical Conditions returns with an updated funeral-home storyline, and Oddballs – Show Stopper is a revamped circus sideshow. The Scare Factor’s reviewers called Shadow Pines the scariest attraction of the night. One Google reviewer described the experience as “visually jaw-dropping, audibly overwhelming.”

If you go

Fear Columbus is open select nights through Sunday, Nov. 1, with tickets starting at $24.99. Tickets are sold online only with timed entry, and nights can sell out, so booking ahead is a good idea. The haunt runs rain or shine. Check fearcolumbus.com for that night’s hours and rules before you drive. USA TODAY 10Best lists it as recommended for ages 13 and up. For general safety tips, see the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Halloween safety guide.

Closer to home

If Columbus is too far a drive, three of the state’s top 20 haunts are in Northwest Ohio: The Haunted Hydro in Fremont (No. 3 statewide), Distracted Haunted House in Bowling Green (No. 6) and Field of Fear in Monclova (No. 19), the closest Toledo-area entry. See the full FFP top 20 ranking for dates, prices and links.

Sources:
The Fostoria Free Press, “Top 20 Highest-Rated Haunted Houses in Ohio for 2026,” Oct. 24, 2026: https://thefostoriafreepress.com/ohio-top-20-highest-rated-haunted-houses-2026-ranked-online-reviews/
The Scare Factor, “Fear Columbus Review (2026)”: https://www.thescarefactor.com/fear-columbus-review-2026/
The Scare Factor, “10 Must-See Haunted Attractions in Ohio for 2026”: https://www.thescarefactor.com/10-must-see-haunted-attractions-in-ohio-for-2026/
USA TODAY 10Best, Best Haunted House/Attraction 2026: https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/best-haunted-house-attraction/
The Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 30, 2026: https://www.dispatch.com/story/entertainment/2026/09/30/escape-room-haunted-house-ranked-usa-today-10best/91985494007/
The Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 19, 2025: https://www.dispatch.com/story/entertainment/holiday/2025/09/19/fear-columbus-ranked-no-1-on-the-scare-factors-2025-must-see-list/86220384007/
Fear Columbus official site: https://fearcolumbus.com/