Forsaken Lands Attraction Pulls Out of Goshen
54 Bare Hill Road in Goshen. No sign of the Forsaken Lands haunted outdoor attraction remained on the morning of April 28. / Photo by Michael Edison
The Forsaken Lands Haunted Halloween Attraction has packed up and left its leased location at 54 Bare Hill Road in Goshen and will not be returning this Fall. The month-long weekend event, which featured apocalyptic sets, live horror-style performances, glaring lights, and blaring sound effects, had been the target of complaints by neighbors on the quiet cul-de-sac during its run in Fall 2025.
Goshen Zoning Enforcement Officer (ZEO) Marissa Wright told The Goshen News that the withdrawal was “voluntary, but that type of activity is not considered an as-of-right farming activity and was therefore not allowed per Goshen’s regs. If they continued, they would face regulatory action,” she said.
In a telephone interview with The Goshen News, 1st Selectman Seth Breakell expounded on that. “If it's not specifically listed in our zoning regulations, then it is not an approved activity or use. If it's not there, it's not allowed… so that whole operation was not approved, an authorized use… [so] that wasn't enforced correctly.”
The attraction had previously been allowed to operate as an accessory use to farming by former ZEO Martin Connor at a different location, and more recently by former ZEO Spencer Musselman at the Bare Hill Road location. Musselman later claimed the attraction had been misrepresented to him as a haunted hayride, a claim denied by the attraction’s organizer. The attraction’s website described it as a walk-through outdoor haunted attraction.
Attraction organizer Alex Fortuna continues to assert that the attraction qualified as agri-tourism. “We remain deeply convinced that our work served as a vital accessory to the farm, helping promote and sustain Goshen's agricultural heritage under the Right to Farm Act”, he told The Goshen News. “But unfortunately, due to the shift in the town's position after the initial approvals that we received... we just had no other option. We were put in a position where we couldn't [any] longer operate on that property.”
The Right To Farm Act appears to define agri-tourism in terms that require a connection to agricultural activity, rather than encompassing any activity that simply happens to take place on a farm.
Breakell said there were two violation letters sent to the property owner, one for the event from Planning & Zoning, and another from Inland Wetlands for issues like parking in a regulated wetlands area.
ZEO Wright issued a statement saying: “The town is taking this issue very seriously and is doing its best to ensure future violations of the zoning regulations do not occur…and are promptly addressed.”
As for the future of Forsaken Lands, Fortuna said: “We are absolutely going to continue, hopefully [in a] prospective new location that we… have in the works.”
