The coastal village of Bayville is situated on the north shore of Long Island. The village is located within the town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County on Long Island in New York State. One of the village’s major attractions is the Bayville Adventure Park, which has been family owned and operated since 1853. The history of the town and park is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Unable to verify the historical accuracy of many of these claims the story feels more like a legend, and makes for an entertaining story. Take it for what you will.
In 1658 Captain Bartholomew “Black Heart” Bay purchased land from local Native Americans. Originally the land was shared with his 23 crew members who were the original inhabitants of Bayville. In 1701 Bay was hung in London for piracy. Then the story of the Bay family goes cold for over 100 years. In the mid 1800’s Barnabus Bay, a vampire hunter was eventually bitten by a vampire in Transylvania and as the story goes was turned into a creature of the night. Around the same time Barnabus’ cousin Bennett Balthazar Bloodworth (BB) Bay settled on the land originally purchased from the Native Americans. In 1853 he opened up BB Bay’s Carnival of Wonders, and later in 1859 Bay he was also responsible for the official founding of the town of Bayville. By 1870, Bloodworth Manor was built. Twenty years later the mystery fun house was opened to the public. The original clown was BB’s younger brother and vaudeville performer Baxter who scared guests until his passing in 1910. By 1919 BB’s son Bradley became the first mayor of Bayville. As the years passed only stranger occurrences began to unfold.
Many members of the Bay family have vanished under inexplicable and mysterious circumstances. In 1925, the mad scientist Dr. Bascombe Bay disappeared. In 1949, Brewster Bay vanished in the Lost Temple of the Forgotten Maze. Shortly after in 1951, the Bay twins also vanish and Bloodworth Manor was closed. In 1958, BB’s grandson and explorer Colonel Bay was lost while on expedition in the jungle. Captain Barrett “Briney” Bay who opened the Shipwreck Tavern in 1965 was lost over the Bermuda Triangle in 1977. In 1980, Brittany Bay disappeared in Africa. Then finally in 1995 Professor Burton Bay died in an explosion during an experiment in his laboratory. Despite all of these strange disappearances that is not the strangest part of the Bay family tale.
In 1953, Barnabus Bay returned to Bayville. Yes, the vampire hunter now vampire returned to Bayville and locked himself inside Bloodworth Manor during the daylight hours only to terrorize the neighborhood during the night. The locals began to notice a rise in paranormal activities and needed a solution. By 1959, townsfolk pressured Barnabus Bay to sign a pact that would only allow him to come out in October. During that time the park continued operations.
By 1969 the property was given to Baxter’s great grandson Benjamin Bay who began working as the funhouse clown. He renamed the attraction the Funhouse of Fear. In 1971 the fun house was closed after a tragedy and Benjamin Bay disappeared. In 1977 BB Bay’s Carnival of Wonders was closed after a mysterious fire occurred. Some suspect that Benjamin Bay had a hand in the park’s destruction. In 2007, on the 30th anniversary of the original park’s closing, the Bayville Adventure Park was opened to the public.Today, the Bayville Adventure Park is the home to a host of rides and attractions for people of all ages, but the target audience includes families and children. The miniature golf course has been rated the best course in Long Island for the past few years. There is a maze, a ropes course and a rock climbing wall. There are also a number of rides like bumper boats and a train ride around the park. There is an arcade with state of the art games. Visitors are welcome to grab a snack at the ice cream shop, and for those in the mood for a full meal there is a restaurant on the grounds. Last, but not least is the fun house with a mirror maze and clowns as creepy as the Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Every October, the Bayville Adventure Park is transformed into the Bayville Scream Park.
This past weekend I went with a number of my friends to visit Bayville Scream Park. Outside the amusement park was a madhouse, and that should have been an indicator of the night ahead. There were families in groups as large as Mongolian hordes. In equal numbers were packs of teenagers who were using their extended waiting times as an opportunity to make out and smoke cigarettes without the fear of getting caught by their parents. All this, and we didn’t even get out of the car yet.
Parking in the area is quite limited. There are spots on the street, but they are few and far between. There is a motel next to the park that charges $20 to use their parking lot. Rather than drive around for an unknown time circling the area looking for a spot we decided to pay the fee and park in the lot.
When we got to the main entrance there were two lines. They were both long, but one of them was much faster. This shorter line to the left was the cash only line. The longer and much slower line to the right was the credit card line. The line was actually so long for those using credit cards that it would have been a smarter idea to get on the cash only line with your group and have someone walk to a nearby ATM to pull out the money necessary to purchase the tickets. Obviously anyone without the cash would not be able to do this, but if possible, remember to bring cash and avoid the longer ticket line as you try to enter the park.
The entry fee is quite expensive. Tickets were almost $50 and a speed pass upgrade was available for an additional $10. The ticket entitles visitors to one entry into each of the five haunted attractions. It makes a good deal of sense why so many people were on the credit card line considering the price. Fortunately, we all had the cash on us. According to security, we would have spent double the amount of time on the credit card line. After about 30 minutes on the cash only line, we were able to purchase our tickets and enter the park.
Once in the Scream Park we decided to wait on line for the most popular of the 5 haunted attractions. Bloodworth Manor is the largest of the haunted houses and the line took over an hour before we got inside. Each room was bloodier and gorier than the next. We snaked our way through the interior of the building as scary sound effects and a variety of different lighting effects tested our senses as we cautiously made our way around each corner. Special effects creatures of all varieties popped out at us and other unsuspected visitors in an effort to scare the pants off of one of us. Fortunately, we all came out in one piece.
As we left the house we bumped into some friends and joined them on line for the Evil in the Woods attraction. We actually waited for approximately 25-30 minutes. There was actually no speed pass for this attraction. Instead, all ticket holders were corralled into one line. The attraction wasn’t very scary. We walked around a marked path that was roped off to keep people on course. It mostly relied on using lights to blind you and creatures would then pop out of the woods in an effort to scare you. Many people were being blinded by the lights and then almost instantly spooked by one of the creature characters who came running out of the woods nearby. Actually, one of my friends got caught three times in a ten minute time period. I couldn’t stop laughing, but it was very funny watching my friends jump out of their skin so often.
Next we went to Uncle Needle’s Funhouse of Fear. The line was short and took us less than ten minutes to get inside. We were given 3D glasses just before we entered the attraction. The funhouse first began with a mirror maze. Despite the signs warning you to walk with a hand in front of you it was almost impossible to not walk into a mirror. Creepy clowns popped around corners or so you thought based on the optical illusion. Then you walked through a series of rooms with other scary clowns. The clowns themselves were not scary, but the 3D glasses combined with the imagery on the walls and the lighting effects made walking around disorienting and what I would imagine Timothy Leary would call trippy. This haunted house was definitely the most intense sensory experience I had all evening.
We did not visit the Temple of Terror or the Zombie Pirates attractions. However, I can give a brief description and review of the attractions as retold to me by a friend who arrived earlier with his family and visited them. The Temple of Terror is a dark maze that you can get easily lost in and that increases the fear factor. The attraction is given a spooky Halloween twist compared to the standard attraction that runs the rest of the year. The line was not long and would have only taken around ten to fifteen minutes to get inside the haunted house. The Zombie Pirates was on the miniature golf course and was “a total waste of time”. The waiting line was over thirty minutes and the ride itself was a short walk through the mini golf course with the advertised zombie pirates all over the place. It was with those descriptions that we decided to leave.
We decided to leave without finishing the last two attractions. Although we didn’t complete all five haunted houses, the park guidelines stated that if a visitor did not get to all of the attractions, they would be able to come back to the park and complete them prior to the closing of the Scream Park at the close of business hours on 10/31.
Overall, we had a good night at the Bayville Scream Park. Yes, it was expensive and crowded. However, it was the Saturday a week before Halloween, so it was probably the worst time to go and visit. This is life. We got there when we were all free to get there. I’m glad we went. Originally, we regretted not upgrading to the express pass, but we soon realized it was only necessary for the Bloodworth Manor attraction. All the other lines moved consistently, and some attractions were not even using the express lane feature. Looking back, it would have been a waste of money other than speeding up that one line. The attractions we were able to visit were a good experience. The special effects caused sensory overload that got all of our blood pumping. I don’t know if I would race to go there next year, but I wouldn’t say no straight out of the gate. If you have never been to the park then it is worth a trip during the park’s spooky season. Happy Halloween everybody!