Columbia Manor, in Columbia Alabama is located about 20 minutes from Dothan, Alabama.
Columbia Manor is always a group favorite and this place and these amazing people always feel more like family to me. You couldn’t search for a kinder group of people if you tried! It’s an absolute privilege to be welcomed back by them year after year.
For a brief moment, you forget all the frightful, terrifying, REAL events that have happened in the Manor. Since the 1800’s, the manor has been a college, a hospital, a sanitarium, a residence and now a haunted house.
There have been paranormal investigators / ghost hunters, who have set up shop here and some have even had the same type encounters from the supernatural. Testimonies of apparitions, orbs, cold spots, footsteps and eerie sounds- how wickedly creepy and exciting at the same time!?!
Columbia Manor has plenty of free parking, but I still recommend getting there a bit early if you don’t purchase your tickets ahead of time. General Admission tickets are $20.00 and they do offer fast pass tickets for $45.00 – and worth every single penny! A portion of their proceeds go to Columbia Fire Rescue and they also offer concessions and have clean porta-potty’s.
When you first get there, if you haven’t already purchased your ticket, they have the main ticket office, which is on the very left side of the property. Go ahead and get in line so when they open at 7:30 you can purchase your ticket. Once you receive your ticket, there’s two lines, one for general admission and one for fast pass- the lines are very organized to make it easy to not get skipped. As you’re waiting in the line, they get your juices flowing with some spooky music and even a video of Columbia Manor that was featured on the Biography Channel called “My Ghost Story” – it’s very interesting to hear about it from the owner and some of the things the crew and others have encountered. This is even something you can check out now, you don’t have to wait until you go to Columbia Manor.
As you’re waiting in line- the characters are out roaming, getting everyone pumped up and taking photos with anyone who wanted one. There were so many out that night, I’m sure I didn’t even get to see most of them. Beetlejuice was there- we made sure not to say his name 3 times- Freddy Krueger, with his claws out- Art the clown was walking around with his bat and black bag- and even a towering skeleton was out there mingling with the patrons.
When the clock struck midnight- or in this case 7:30, lol- that’s when they start roaming. On the night we showed up, they had a special guest to meet and greet with everyone, so it was really cool that the entire crew of the Manor was lined up like a parade and all walked through- then the guest of honor was drove up to the Parlor.
The Parlor is the cutest little building that they keep all the special guest in that come year after year. It’s like your own little private meet and greet building that makes the guests and the patrons feel very special, like VIP treatment. It’s decorated with old-timey furniture and has pictures of past guests that have attended hung up on the walls in beautiful gold frames.
This year, Mr. John Dugan was there. Most know him as “Grandpa Sawyer” in the 74’ Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie and also in 2013 Texas Chainsaw 3D. He was the nicest person you ever want to meet. You get to take a picture for free with him and if you wanted, you were able to get an autograph still from a movie for only $10.00
Some of Columbia Manor’s past guests include, Douglas Tait, Tyler Mane, Andrew Bryniarski, Nicholas King, Sonya Thompson and Larry Mainland. It’s truly just a magical experience and any horror-lovers dream!
The first house you go into is the CLOWN HOUSE. It’s what they call their “warm-up house” – but it’s truly a FUN house! No matter how much of a grown up you believe you are, the clown house takes you back to -a feeling- a time – to being a kid again. The thrill, excitement and the pure adrenaline fills the room with sweet nostalgia! The laughter and screams from your group can be heard outside. Every clown you know and love and even the ones who TERRIFY you are lurking behind every corner. There’s so much to see and look at, even if you go through numerous times at a normal pace- each time still feels like the first time.
Once you leave the clown house, there’s a path that leads you to the Manor. This is the main event.
Looking from the outside, the Manor just looks like a normal little home. Looks are certainly deceiving. It’s so much bigger than you could even begin to imagine. Once you’re called up to the front porch, the wait time is very small. You go into the main room where a plague Doctor is there to tell you a bit about the Manor. It’s dark in there and cold and you get a weird flashback to what it must have been like in the 1800’s- when Doctors really dressed like that due to all the rare and uncurable diseases-at the time- were running rampant through the towns.
One of my most favorite things about Columbia Manor- no matter how busy they are, or how busy they get, they always ask how many is in your group and they allow you and your own group to go through the house alone. They don’t stick you with a bunch of strangers or groups you don’t know. It feels very personable and intimate that you can take your time and be with your own group of people. Each year Columbia Manor expands and more and more people learn about them and want to see it for themselves and each year, they keep this the same. It truly means a lot to all of us.
Back to the manor now, lol, so after the Plague Doctor gives a run down of the rules, it’s your groups turn to enter the Manor. You get to meet the “lady” of the manor in the first room you enter. It smells like an older home – not a bad smell- just a home that has history and has seen some things… if the walls could speak, the stories we would hear.
A bookcase with a secret passageway and we we’re off- to explore the manor, with our group. Each dimly-lit room, each scene, was decorated the most incredible way. This took time and effort and you can tell a lot of love went into making this haunted house. Twists and turns, staircases and bathrooms and living spaces and dinning rooms set up better than a Hollywood movie set. So much eye-candy to look at, it’s a haunt-enthusiasts dream come true. You and your groups own private role in a movie- or at least that’s what it felt like. It felt, at times, we were just floating through each room, soaking it all up, taking in everything we possibly could.
We made it to a room filled with sinister laughs, kids playing and asking if we “wanted to play” with them. We made it through a crawlspace and through so many decorated rooms. We finally
got to what we thought was the end with hillbillies and a lady with a crystal ball ready to read our fortune – saddened thinking the fun was almost over, but we were wrong. As we walked to the outside of the manor, through a swamp – we made it to a sign that read CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE. A full scene of Friday the 13th was set up- with cabins and dead campers included. We were frightfully looking everywhere for Jason, but he sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Still not even close to being finished- there’s so many other scenes outside as well… then you make it to a graveyard full of walking-dead style zombies. A maze of coffins and tombstones to finish up the tour.
The hair would stand up on the back of your neck at times, frozen with fear, swearing that someone was behind you. You had to remind yourself “it’s not real, it’s not real” – but in the back of your mind, you really have no idea what all has happened inside or outside this house throughout history. Alas, you reach the end, sad that’s over. Until next year Columbia Manor….
A special THANK YOU to Todd, Clayton and the entire crew! I’ve been coming here longer than I can recall at this point, you guys are family now and I truly look forward to coming back year after year! Thank you for always welcoming me back and making me feel like part of the crew! Your hospitality never goes unnoticed.
