Scariest

Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights is scaring the life out of punters with Terrifier. Kelly Williams decided to give it a go and left with goose bumps and utterly horrified

Despite having never been to Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights before, I knew the Terrifier was going to be bad, but I didn’t expect it to feel like my stomach – and nerves – were being tested with every step.

The smell hit me before anything else – putrid rot, bleach, coppery blood, even the stench of faeces. It stuck to the back of my throat so thick I nearly gagged. The house started deceptively dry, as if lulling me into thinking I’d make it through clean. That didn’t last.

Within minutes, I was in the middle of a full-on blood bath. Red splattered walls, dripping ceilings, and warm droplets spraying across my arms. They say it uses six gallons of blood and 35 bodies – the most ever – and I believe it. Every corner I turned was another slaughter.

And then there was Art the Clown. Not just once, he appeared everywhere, each guise worse than the last. He came at me dressed as a sick parody of Santa, revving a chainsaw and plunging it gleefully into a victim’s back with that same, mocking grin.

A few rooms later, I caught him mid-kill, snapping someone’s jaw with a crunch that echoed through the hall. The squelch of him disembodying someone else was another gruesome scene that still haunts me.

In another chamber of hell, he stood behind a screaming man, dragging a blade across his throat as blood sprayed into the air, and I had to turn my face away. The worst was the bathroom scene. It stank of mold and sewage, and the sinks were clogged with guts.

There were bodies piled in the bathtub and a mirror streaked with gore. I wanted to close my eyes, but Art was there too, standing so still it made me wonder if he was waiting for me specifically. Then came the familiar warped jingle of the Clown Café, cheerful and wrong, like a lullaby for nightmares as Art danced nonchalantly along.

By the finale, I was lightheaded from the smell and the sights, practically stumbling toward the exits where I was faced with a choice – dry path or blood bath (of course, I went for the latter). My stomach lurched with every step, I came so close to throwing up. But I made a run for it, and when the warm spray of blood (water really) finally hit me in the last corridor, I felt it on my skin long after I’d escaped.

I staggered out laughing, but it was the kind of shaky laugh you let out when you’re not sure if you survived or just got broken. Terrifier wasn’t just a haunted house. It was being dragged into Art the Clown’s world – unrated, unrelenting, and almost too much for me to handle.

Book the holiday

Virgin Atlantic Holidays offers seven nights on a room-only basis at the Loews Sapphire Falls Resort in Orlando, starting at £1,719pp, including Virgin Atlantic flights from Heathrow and a ticket to Halloween Horror Nights. Find out more and book at virginholidays.co.uk.

More info at visitorlando.com and universalorlando.com/hhn/

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A horror series that has been described as the “most terrifying” TV show ever made is streaming for free, and fans are being warned to prepare for a chilling experience

One of the most spine-chilling horror series ever made, which viewers insist ‘just gets scarier’ after each episode, is now available to stream for free in the UK.

The Terror, adapted from the acclaimed sci-fi and horror author Dan Simmons’ book of the same name, depicts the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845, which aimed to discover the Northwest Passage, the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Arctic Ocean.

Simmons, also the author of the Hyperion Cantos, fictionalised the accounts of the expedition’s Captain Sir John Franklin as two British ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, became trapped in Arctic ice, eventually vanishing without a trace and leaving no survivors.

Across 20 episodes, featuring Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, and Ciaran Hinds amongst others, historical fact is woven with supernatural horror as the crew aboard the Terror succumb to starvation and cannibalism whilst grappling with the mysterious creature that haunts them.

The series, which was recently revived in 2025 following its first two seasons in 2018 and 2019, has received rave reviews on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes film and TV review platforms, scoring 7.8 stars out of 10 and an approval rating of 87%, respectively, reports the Express.

Evidence of its bone-chilling nature can be found on Reddit’s Horror subreddit, which boasts over 3 million members who post reviews and pose questions to the site’s leading horror entertainment community.

Horror enthusiasts can watch the programme without charge in the UK via ITVX’s streaming service, following account registration and enduring several advertisements.

Reddit user gtr011191 put forward a query to the online forum: “So just finished The Haunting of Hill House again, just looking for something else now to watch. What, in your opinion, is the most terrifying TV series?”.

Numerous Reddit contributors were swift to suggest The Terror, alongside other programmes, with user Hookums garnering more than 40 upvotes for their comment, “The Terror, season 1. F***ing horrifying. Episode one has some really chilling moments, and it just gets scarier from there.”

On IMDB, a verified critic named mohahaa13 awarded the programme nine out of 10 stars, cautioning audiences: “Going into the series with no expectations or impressions from the novel, and barely reading about the series at all before binge watching it, I was expecting a high-paced master and commander type of series.

“And, while it’s set in roughly the same time period, it’s unlike anything I was expecting. It’s quite suspenseful and chilling.

“Much thanks to the great acting, casting and details. The ambient soundtrack (R.I.P. Marcus Fjellstrom) is fantastic and really helps with the eerie feeling.

“There were some moments that made me feel really at unease. Right up there with the top series for sure. Well worth a watch.”

Jamie Marie, 24, has explored a number of spooky places – but her creepy experience at one abandoned asylum, the Mansfield Training School, chilled her to the core

An urban explorer has spoken about the ‘scariest night’ of her life after she paid a visit to a creepy abandoned hospital.

Jamie Marie is no stranger to spooky situations; she has braved more than 100 eerie sites. But there is one place she has vowed never to return to after a truly terrifying experience.

The Mansfield Training School in Connecticut, US, is a vast asylum that opened in 1860 but was finally shut in 1993 after years of scandal and neglect. It has been left to rot and has earned a reputation among ghost hunters who swear its dark corridors and tunnels are still haunted.

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Now Jamie has shared details of her own spine-chilling ordeal in a clip racking up 925,000 views and 152,000 likes. “An energy I felt there steered me away from the property for over a year,” the photographer and social media manager told What’s The Jam.

“I made my way down to the basement, which included storage, a former electroshock room and a crematorium. The air turned very cold, and I was overwhelmed with a strange feeling. I can’t even put it into words.

“I felt that I needed to get out immediately and proceeded to do so.”

Jamie says the basement, with its electroshock room and crematorium, was so horrifying she bolted upstairs in panic. And the 24-year-old has vowed never to step foot in an asylum again.

She said: “I have not visited the basement floor since, but I have returned to the other portions of the campus. The experience didn’t make me stop urban exploring, but it kept me away from hospitals and asylums.

READ MORE: Abandoned care home found littered with creepy dolls, mould and rotting beds

“Even as a sceptic, and someone who has been doing this for over a decade, I still become overwhelmed with the energy in these places.”

Jamie, who lives in New England, US, has seen her passion for the paranormal take her across the states.

She said: “I have always had a passion for abnormal and unsettling things. I have always loved stop-motion movies, puppets, the paranormal and everything Halloween.

“As I grew older, I needed to incorporate this interest into something more physical, like a hobby. I started exploring abandoned places with my best friend and found a way to mesh the non-physical interests of my childhood with an abnormal hobby.”

It comes after another urban explorer named Ben claimed to have spotted a ghostly figure lurking in the hallway of an abandoned school.

READ MORE: Abandoned UK zoo left eerily quiet with horrifying animal corpses left behind

“I was definitely alone in the building, it’s a very rural area and I called out and checked rooms before I started taking pictures,” he revealed to What’s the Jam.

The school was abandoned following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan in 2011, which claimed over 18,000 lives, including several thousands victims who were never recovered.

Ben continued: “The place is quite creepy because it is completely untouched. There are still the school bags on desks, homework on the walls, awards on the walls, even the plants which are dead in biology. It sits on its own on the outskirts of town with everything frozen in time.

“But it was only after looking back at my photos that I noticed a figure in the hallway. It was like a black and white figure and looked like a spirit. I just felt really weird after seeing it.

“I haven’t experienced much with the supernatural or spirits. But I know the Japanese believe spirits stay where they belong.”

Drew Binsky, who has visited all 195 countries in the world, has returned to a war-torn state widely regarded as the most dangerous place to visit – and says it’s “scary and unpredictable”

A fearless globe-trotter, who has explored all 195 nations across the world, has made a return journey to a conflict-ridden territory widely considered the planet’s most perilous destination.

YouTuber Drew Binsky ventured to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital in East Africa, where he claims there are “no rules” in the bustling metropolis, which is regularly monitored by heavily-armed militants.

Whilst filming a piece for his channel at Mogadishu’s scenic Lido Beach, he outlines how firearms are omnipresent: “There are so many AK-47s around me, I’m not joking you when I say this.

“There’s six guys on that side of the beach, there’s a pocket of six guys right there on the ground, there’s a dude walking towards me in a blue shirt. I feel like I’m just going to be stuck in crossfire.

“All eyes are on me right now and we should probably get the f*** out of here. The longer we stay here, the more attention we get.”

It’s a sensible measure, as in August 2024, the Al Qaeda-linked terrorist organisation Al-Shabaab executed a devastating assault on the beach that claimed 56 lives and wounded over 200 people.

In the UK, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office recommends against all journeys to Somalia.

However, the locals Drew encounters on the beach maintain that the gravest threats are behind them, and that “everyone should come to Mogadishu.”

Dozens can be seen enjoying themselves, with young men playing football and many women in full traditional Islamic dress paddling in the crystal-clear waters while surrounded by AK-47-toting men.

The well-travelled Arizona teacher describes Mogadishu as “one of the most intense places I’ve ever been,” saying it’s “scary and unpredictable,” and quite possibly “the most dangerous city on Earth.”

Drew explained how, during his initial journey to Mogadishu, he was flanked by an enormous security detail.

“Every time I left my hotel,” he said, “I was accompanied by eight soldiers with AK-47s and I was hardly able to leave the car and explore.”

During his second visit, he travelled with a far more discreet protection squad, carrying handguns instead of assault rifles.

Yet Drew emphasises that the capital remains in a constant state of vigilance.

Checkpoints appear every few miles along each main thoroughfare, whilst the impact of more than three decades of conflict has reduced whole streets to little more than debris.

Five years following his initial visit, he notes that the security circumstances on the ground remain unchanged: “All the checkpoints, all the barricades, to enter buildings, the barbed wire fences. Just the hostility that you feel on the streets.”

Conservative estimates place the fatality count from Somalia’s numerous intersecting wars since 1991 at beyond 500,000.

The wounds of perpetual warfare are visible throughout Mogadishu, Drew observes: “Bombings, kidnappings, and street battles have turned everyday life into a battleground.

“To make matters worse, Mogadishu’s lawlessness extends offshore, where Somali pirates hijack ships along global trade routes.”

Despite the risks, Drew found his time in Somalia exhilarating: “Nothing gets my adrenaline rush going than being in a place like Mogadishu,” he says.

While a walk around the park is all the adventure many of us need, for the brave a trek along Wasdale Screes in the Lake District is sure to get your adrenaline going

Many of us will take to the trails at the weekend to fill our lungs with fresh air, get our hearts going and take our minds away from the stresses of everyday life. While a Sunday afternoon stroll may usually resemble a lap around the local park or the route around next door’s field.

However, for one man, his leisurely walk turned out to be an all-around more stressful afternoon as he attempted the UK’s scariest walk.

TikTok reviewer and social media star Phil Carr headed up to the Lake District to attempt the perilous walk up Wasdale Screes, an area of unstable, loose boulders on the bank of Wast Water.

The route appears to be more of climb than a hike, with locals and trekkers alike generally advising against the route due to the seemingly endless places to take a tumble or roll an ankle.

Heading up the sketchy hill, Phil said: “The scariest path in the UK? This is it, and yes, Wasdale Screes is an actual footpath, and it’s terrifying. Everyone said ‘don’t do it’ and I couldn’t find anybody who’d walked across it more than once in their lives.”

While the likes of Giddy Edge in Derbyshire, a path that essentially straddles the side of a cliff face, and The Broomway in Essex, a path that can soon leave you cut off by the ocean, whereas Wasdale poses a whole different challenge – thousands of loose rocks lining a mountainside above your head.

Phil added: “Wasdale Screes is over 1,000 feet of rock slide just above your head. It’s insecure, it’s steep, it can all go at any minute, and the route across it is over a mile.”

The Lake District route starts seemingly innocently with rolling green hills filled with sheep and even alpacas, that is, until the path splits off up to Wasdale, with the National Trust signpost even labelling the walk as “not recommended”.

Decked out in hiking gear and with a SOS call at the ready, Phil bravely soldiered towards the climb. He added: “Another massive red flag is that there were quite a lot of people in this part of the Lake District, but none of them were going down the path I was going down.”

Locals advised Phil to avoid a dog and to stay low across the screes, with what looks like miles of unsteady rocks looming over you.

Continuing, Phil said: “Normally when you’re walking along a scary path you’re worrying about a drop to one side of you, here you’re worrying about what’s above you, it could all come crashing down on me… they wouldn’t even find me.”

Despite the adrenaline hit and both breathtaking and petrifying views, Phil seemed somewhat scarred by the experience. He added: “It’s not at all rewarding, but it is absolutely terrifying and it is very slow – a mile is a long way when you have to think about every footstep you take.”

Finally summing up his experience and questioning whether he would recommend the path, Phil summarises: “Well, absolutely not, it’s completely pointless, you don’t get any sense of achievement, the view of the mountains is actually better from the other side of the lake.”