Ross County — If you haven’t been to “Haunted Mountain” yet, the outdoor drama “Tecumseh!” has been replaced with the “Mothman Experience” and other Halloween-season activities.
I caught Brandon Cavender Smith, CEO of the Scioto Society which operates Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheatre, while he was waiting to confer with the Ross County Commissioners about the new visitors center as a board member of the Ross Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau on September 22nd, 2025. (Hear Smith in his own words below.)
He said 12 years ago, the Society wanted new ideas on how to use the theater since they would just shut it down after a three-month summer season. The fall events they came up with are basically a fundraiser for the main show, but he said they have raised more than a million dollars over the last 10 years – in addition to employing people an additional two months.
Smith said the “Mothman Experience” is an all-new play this year written for Sugarloaf. He said they have “cool special effects,” and were even trying to figure out how to get a car on the stage. He said the trail and escape route are also new.
He said he had just been at the Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where they will help advertise for Sugarloaf.
Smith said they are already selling tickets for next year’s “Tecumseh!” which will be opening a week earlier in June, and they expect to have the same director and Tecumseh actor.
Find show information from a link at their main “Tecumseh!” website, as well as 11 more free movies, starting at 8:45pm – with reminders posted on their Facebook page. Activities are 5:30 to 11pm on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in October.
