Looking for a scary good time?

Photo by Ryan Smith

As parents of a pre-teen who's into pretty spooky stuff, we usually try to keep the scares at around a 5 on a 1-to-10 scale: Not so terrifying the boy's gonna be mind-mangled or traumatized or anything, but, yunno, at least creepy enough to lose some sleep to.

Judging from our 12-year-old's and his buddy's pitch-perfect reactions over the course of a couple hours this just-past weekend (they ran, screaming/laughing the whole way, and they came out of it excited, happy to have survived, and vowing to return next year), I'd say Ghost Lake at Conneaut Lake Park has, once again, hit the coffin-nail on the head for a scary good time.

Now, if you're as into that kind of thing as we are, you only have one more night -- tonight -- to get your ghastly groove on at the thing that boldly bills itself as "the longest and scariest Halloween attraction in the world."

Sure, its setting, Conneaut Lake Park, is a good little drive away from the Gem City. But that historic, dusty-beautiful, and truly spooky old park, professionally cast in an beyond-eerie glow, is as authentically creepy a thing as any horror fan could ever hope for.

Scared stupid: Now that's a helluva good way to spend Halloween night.

To find out more about Ghost Lake – directions, prices, how many minutes it'll take off of your life, whether you should consult your physician and/or take a change of underwear, etc. – check out ghostlake.net.

Writer/photographer Ryan Smith can be contacted at rsmith@eriereader.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @RyanSmithPlens.