Upper Manatee River Road gets spooky with haunted trail

Looking for something a little different to get your thrills this weekend?

Husband and wife team Alex Pineda and Belisa Mazzara are opening up their 5-acre haunted trail attraction for its second inaugural weekend.

Delirium Haunted Trail, located at 157 Upper Manatee River Road, is open this Friday through Sunday from 7:30 to 11 p.m. The spooky scene will be also be open the weekend of Halloween. Admission is $10.

It’s the first year the trail has been open to the public. Last year, Pineda created a smaller version as a private party for some of the

couple’s friends.

“It was just the two of us and very simple — and they got so scared,” Mazzara said.

Opening a haunted attraction has been a dream of her husband’s. The couple are both from Venezuela and met in the United States. Neither of them really celebrated Halloween until after they learned about the culture surrounding Halloween in America — once, when they were dating, they visited a haunted house in Orlando.

 “We fell in love with the Halloween concept in America,” Mazzara said.

Pineda also loves to build things. The couple has lived in the U.S. over 10 years, but moved to East County about three years ago. They like to dress up with their kids for Halloween, and often Pineda will build something for the neighbors to enjoy. One year, their daughter was a pirate. He built a ship in the yard complete with a treasure map.

“People were always looking forward to what we were doing,” she said. “(The trail) is by far the biggest step.”

The trail takes about a half-hour to complete. People are only let out in their groups, Mazzara said, to maintain the surprise factor. There are about 14 actors who do scares or other spooky scenes, but with the amount of people expected this weekend, they’re adding more.

The couple did not advertise their attraction; they created a Facebook page for the trail and spread the word among their friends. In the first weekend, they got 250 visitors. Visitors rated the attraction on the Facebook page, too, and it has an average 4.9 out of 5 stars from 20 reviewers and dozens of positive comments.

“People come out and they love it – we were overwhelmed by the response,” Mazzara said.

Although they don’t recommend the trail for children younger than 12, Mazzara said it is a family-safe environment. There are police officers there to maintain a presence and no alcohol or intoxication is allowed on the premise. Parents who think their children won’t get too scared are welcome to bring them, too. The actors in the trail do not physically touch visitors. That hasn’t reduced the scare factor, though. Many online reviewers have said the trail was definitely spooky.

“You don’t get lost — if you stay on the trail,” Mazzara said.