Dare you see the drive-thru dummies in the dark?

People have joked that they find Mannakin creepy in the daytime and would never go at night - as a fan of all things scary, I thought I’d head on over there to see what delights the business had for Halloween this year.

Located on the rural Brant Road in Fulbeck, Mannakin was set up by Roz Edwards in 2008 and now boasts over 20,000 mannequins, which she hires out for photoshoots and also offers a dummy renovation and recycling service.

Last year, Roz ran a murder mystery themed event at the site and wanted to run a similar event this year, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit, had to have a rethink.

“We obviously couldn’t have lots of people walking around the site, so we thought that if we made it scary enough, we could make a drive-through for people to experience in their cars,” she explained.

Mannakin’s Halloween safari has a slightly tamer experience running until October 22, and then from October 23 to 31, things will get even spookier with a Horror Film Festival of short films being shown for guests.

We went for the tamer experience, where the theme of the event was that the mannequins had taken over completely. It involves a route around the site similar to a safari park with mannequins dotted all around the route in a variety of poses and scenarios. And was it scary enough? You bet it was.

After being greeted at the gate by Roz, we set off down the pitch-dark track to be greeted by dozens and dozens of blank, white faces. Very creepy.

Roz and the team had done a great job in posing up her thousands of mannequins in a variety of different poses.

There was the funky disco taking place, complete with sparkly outfits and wigs on the mannequins, to the very creepy child mannequins pushing wheelbarrows with adult dummies in, akin to something from classic horror movie Children of the Corn.

For safety reasons, guests stay in their cars at all times and drive round the route, and you just didn’t know what you were going to see next, and the blood-stained mannequin with a meat cleaver stuck in her head made us all jump.

It didn’t take long for us to drive round the safari, but it was long enough to make us feel very unsettled. If you’re looking for something truly unique and eerie this Halloween, without having to worry about the coronavirus, I’d definitely recommend giving this a try.

Tickets to Mannakin’s Halloween safari cost £10 per car and are available at mannakin.com/p/mannakin-safari/