Bayville's Dark Carnival: New Jersey's First Traveling Circus Side Show

BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ -Most of the year, Blackbeard's Cave is definitely a non-scary place, with a miniature golf course and a place to work on your golf or batting swings.

It's a different story in the woods behind Blackbeard's in October. The property has been transformed into "The Dark Carnival - New Jersey's First Traveling Side Show."

It's a haunted maze rife with up to 30 actors playing an assortment of incredibly creepy clowns, grotesquely deformed monster mutants and other oddities.

"If you have unquenchable curiosity for the outlandish, thirst for the unknown, and both an attraction and repulsion for the diseased and deformed, we have put together the show for you," according to the attraction's Facebook page. "Visit our Sideshow of Oddities and we assure you that your mind, your curiosity, and all the beliefs you have ever held true will be questioned forever."

Rob Conti - the creator and owner of "The Dark Carnival" - rents the back of Blackbeard's property, close to the woods. Visitors to the can meander through an 8,000 foot enclosed area and a number of other smaller haunted attractions, he said.

The website comes with a warning that warns the sideshow oddities are not accustomed to human interaction and can be "extremely dangerous."

"For your own personal safety and that of others please do not taunt our “performers” and never, ever put your arms or hands into their booths at any time," the post states.

The Dark Carnival is open 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday nights in October at 136 Atlantic City Boulevard (Route 9 South) in Bayville. Tickets are $20.