The Haunted Cottage

Not worth it. I did this ‘ghost tour’ like many other people did with a Groupon. We spent half the night standing around or sitting around. We didnt hear/​see anything and we even got to do a ‘special’ tour of the campgrounds where civil war soldiers are apparently seen… nope…nothing…not that I expected to see anything, but it just was not an entertaining tour and was sort of a waste of like 6 hours!

Overall this is a good place to go if you’re near it but I wouldn’t do any special trips.

This review is long over due! I came here over a year ago, I did a basic tour of the cottage. I found Vince to be incredibly knowledgable, and very friendly. We even had our own experience here! We were in the basement and my husband felt a tapping on his shoulder. Whatever is was, this place def has a creepy vibe. I have been dying to go back and do an over night tour. If you enjoy the paranormal or are into visiting historic sites, the haunted cottage is a must see.

Update: Never got the chance to use our groupons and probably never will. Very disappointed.

Update: I was going to flag Vince’s latest comment, but I think I’ll let it stand. He’s funny. At the bottom of my previous review of The Haunted Cottage, he has posted a book excerpt about conspiracy theorists that makes him look like an insane person with a personal vendetta.

I went to a zombie run sponsored by The Haunted Cottage and run by it’s owner, purchased through Groupon. It was a total scam. There was no obstacle course, making the premise of the event an outright lie. Even worse, the idiots running the show weren’t bothering to see who had paid for the event and who hadn’t, so they gave all the required racing gear that others had paid for away to random strangers. Rather than be remorseful, the scam artists running the event were like «who cares? it’s for a good cause.»
I care. I didn’t make a charitable donation. I drove two hours and paid for tickets to a scam. If I’d wanted to go jogging, I’d have done it locally.
Stay away. These guys are crooks.
Edit:
Things were even worse than I first wrote. So many lies were told. We were promised medals and swag, obstacle courses, all sorts of stuff that wasn’t provided. It’s still unclear if this event was even legal. These guys instructed 200+ people to run on public streets that weren’t closed. That’s a lot of jaywalkers.
Also, the original web page for the event said proceeds went toward the Haunted cottage, but the owner of the business later told a lot of us that the money was going to a charity. I’m confused. Who stole our money? A charity or a business? Or a business pretending to be a charity?
OMFG Edit:
Vince has made a pattern of posting then deleting comments. He also talks in lists. Some of them are really funny. Check out Trip Advisor for a real hoot. Vince posted this list, then deleted, but not before I could screengrab and save this gem, adding comments.
«1. It did not take place at The Haunted Cottage.»
(when I bought the ticket, it was located at the Haunted Cottage. Check the groupon page…
)
«2. Justin is upset because some supposed volunteer insulted his girlfriend. That is his real motivation.»
(I’m complaining about real problems. Vince’s staff was one of many.)
«3. Natural obstacles were all over the place. They just weren’t „hard-​care“ enough.»
(the event specifically stated there would be man made obstacles. No modifications were made to our path through Harpers Ferry. Sidewalks are not natural obstacles.)
«4. No one said or acted like „who cares“. Refunds were offered and free tickets for next year. Mistakes were admittedly made mostly due to lack of volunteers. 40 were supposed to be there. Only 8 showed. We did a great job despite this.»
(I talked to Vince personally before the race, along with 3 staff
refunds or apologies were given)
«5. Justin said that due to him feeling slighted he would, «make sure your reputation was ruined.»
(I’d really love to see the screenshot of this.)
«6. Car H. and Beth F. are his two friends he brought with him to the race. Something he failed to mention. «
(We’re listed as friends. learn to use Unilocal?)
«7. The event was perfectly legal.»
(I’m still not sold on this. By whose authority? No police were present and in most places, you can’t tell children to get chased around by zombies on public streets)
«8. Where did the money go? Well, 1^st, the registration fee was never for charity. It was to pay for the race and future races. On every ticket, the planners made less than $ 12. Even less still depending on the source, of which there were several. The charity? Jefferson County Ministries. We were collecting food. This was always clear on the website and reminder emails went out saying so as well. It is still on the website now.»
(while attempting to get refunds AT THE EVENT, IN PERSON, we were told the money was going to charity)
«9. There is almost no traffic in Harpers Ferry. Despite this, we listened to complaints and the roads will be closed next year. Races of this type have been done with open roads before in the area.»
(this’ll be nice evidence if it’s ever needed in court.)
«10. This was a 5K race, not a 5 mile race. K meaning Kilometers. Since we didn’t have enough volunteers to divert an area we would have liked to have used we cut the race to 2.8 miles which equals 4.50 616 kilometers. Almost 5k. Next year, we will make it over 5 kilometers.»
(great. so we agree.)
«11. As a consulting hypnotist I have helped dozens with problems and entertained hundreds. I am not sure how that equals scam. Hmm.»
(the scam was selling hundreds of people something he didn’t provide, and then refusing to give them refunds.)
«12. As of this writing Justin has refused to contact me via phone to discuss exactly what he expects me to do. He has instead insulted me, threatened me and my family and business from the safety of his computer monitor. My number is 304−885−0707.»
(I talked to Vince in person. He personally denied me a refund. He later confirmed with
that he was not offering refunds. Vince clearly doesn’t get how the internet works. I’ve been nothing but honest. I’ve got proof of my claims. All we wanted was our money back.

Purchased a Groupon earlier this month for a murder-​mystery dinner theater, made a reservation for the event, drove up to Harpers Ferry from DC only to discover they weren’t doing the event that night after all. Was promised a refund two weeks ago and still haven’t received one.

I used the Groupon coupon to visit the Haunted Cottage and see what it was all about. I emailed Vince a couple of times regarding details, and if it would be appropriate for my 4.5 year old son to attend (he loves ghost stuff). So we made a weekend of it in WV! We booked the 8pm 2 hour ghost hunt/​paranormal class. It was us, a couple of friends of ours, and another couple. Vince certainly knows his stuff. I could have talked to him for hours about stuff, but the clock was ticking! He gave a presentation on the history of Halloween, and I have to say I learned a few things. Then we got a tour of his house, which he says is haunted. We saw an exhibition on paranormal stuff, which was a little cheesy, and hey, we were anxious to ghost hunt! Then he gave everyone (my son included) an EMF detector and told us to go hunt ghosts! My son’s detector actually found «something». I wish we had had more ghost hunting «instruction» and more time to ghost hunt. Oh well, I guess we will have to go back!