Sir Henry’s Haunted Trail is one of Florida’s best haunted attractions! Opened in 2014 in Plant City, this horror fueled delight has gone through many changes. Now the site is home to multiple haunts throughout the year, including Sir Henry’s Haunted Trail: Love’s Revenge for one weekend only in February. Read iHorror’s interview with Sir Henry’s creator Zach Glaros!
iHorror: Thank you so much for talking to iHorror, Zach! This is your 12th year owning and operating Sir Henry’s Haunted Trail! What inspired you to begin Sir Henry’s over a decade ago?
Zach Glaros: Growing up I was always into decorating for the holidays, whether it was Christmas or Halloween. I enjoyed making all of my own costumes also. As I got older my parents let me have more opportunity to create and do bigger displays in their yard. It quickly became one of my favorite passions. When I was close to graduating college, my dad (who also shares my creative passions) and I had a conversation about opening a haunted trail walk through on our property in Plant City. And 12 seasons later here we are still!
iHorror: How has Sir Henry’s changed over the years?
ZG: Sir Henry’s has changed so much over the years. From starting out as a simple, singular haunted walking trail to growing into what we are today: 3 haunted trails, a haunted hayride, escape games, midway area and so much more. It has taken time to get to where we are, but from the beginning we put so much back into the event to keep leveling it up and offering guests the best experience possible. Walt Disney said Disneyland would never be finished, and I think that’s the same approach I take when challenging ourselves year over year on how we can be better and top ourselves for our fans.
iHorror: When did you realize there is an opportunity for a haunted Valentine’s Day event?
ZG: Love’s Revenge started about a month before covid in Feb. of 2020. Our team had talked about the idea of doing a horror themed Valentine’s event and how we could incorporate that into the characters we had at that time as well as the attractions. Our first Love’s Revenge was a huge hit and showed us that fans are eager to consume more horror themed events outside of just Halloween. I think our brand of Sir Henry’s horror and the atmosphere we create during Love’s Revenge is what helps the event stand out unlike anything else.
iHorror: Where do you get your storylines behind each haunted trail?
ZG: Storylines come mostly from inspiration that has come to myself at some point in time. I draw a lot of inspiration from history. For October, almost always the themes are solely chosen by myself. But for off season events I open up to our core management team to get their input on ideas. For the past few seasons their ideas have been heavily featured in our offseason events and stories.
iHorror: Is there a difference between crafting your Valentine’s Day haunt vs Halloween attraction?
ZG: Valentine’s, just like our other offseason events, primarily focuses on crafting the attractions and event around the specific theme and holiday. For Valentine’s we focus heavily on the re-themeing of the trails, adding new Valentine’s only characters and making sure the entire event is saturated with Love’s Revenge. For October we focus on all of that, but October is where we work to build all new sets, introduce new icon characters and storylines, as well as revamp certain sets and guest experiences.
iHorror: Love’s Revenge has so much planning, costumes, props and energy that goes into it! Why is it open only one weekend in February?
ZG: It takes a lot to put on these off season events, while also trying to coordinate for the upcoming October event. Because we never stop building and creating, our off season events are short run to allow us enough time to continue working on the things we need for later in the year. We also want to make these off season events feel exclusive and limited.
iHorror: Do you have a favorite Valentine’s storyline from over the years?
ZG: I was mentioning to our team the other day that my Favorite Valentine’s trail might have been “Blood Wedding” a few years ago. This was about a bride who caught her husband cheating the night before and went on a murderous rampage. I think it was the epitome of Love’s Revenge, and also a very well executed theme and story within all of the elements.
iHorror: What other events do you have throughout the year at Sir Henry’s?
ZG: Sir Henry’s Haunted Christmas opens for 2 weekends during December. And last April we introduced Sir Henry’s Haunted Ghost Town and BBQ and that was a huge hit, and was a ton of fun to put on. You can bet that’s coming back for 2026!
iHorror: Has horror infiltrated other parts of your life?
ZG: Ironically I really don’t like horror movies. I like the classics like Halloween, but typically I’m not a big horror fan. I think my passion resides more in the space of creating themed entertainment with horror/Halloween characters and themes as the backdrop for story telling. Maybe it’s because I live and create so much of this that I am not as interested in it as a consumer.
iHorror: I would be remiss if I didn’t ask; what’s your favorite scary movie?
ZG: Favorite scary movie of all time is definitely Halloween (1978). Hocus Pocus is near and dear to me as well. More recently I am a huge fan of The Haunting of Hill House. I think that was such a brilliantly produced show.
iHorror: Where can horror fans find out more about Sir Henry’s Haunted Trail in Plant City, Florida?
ZG: For all the latest updates you can find those on our website and follow us on all social media platforms. Search Sir Henry’s Haunted Trail. We often provide video updates and you can even watch our podcasts on our YouTube channel.