For many Halloween devotees, the haunted houses or scare mazes they knew as kids, wherever they grew up, consisted solely of a few enthusiastic neighbors in rubber masks, some wet spaghetti in a bowl, and, if things were super tricked-out, a strobelight and fog machine.
How far, and fearful, these things have come. Look to one of the theme park classics, a seasonal treat so big we're quite sure a Halloween-themed resort should be built nearby, so fans can take time with each maze over a couple of days.
It's Knott's Scary Farm, and you're 100% correct, it is a Knott's Berry Farm, in Buena Park (the name is a dead giveaway). Opening date: Thursday, Sept. 24.
Baddies of every stripe and ghosts and witches and fictional characters of a gruesome nature fill out the multiple mazes on the spooky slate for 2015. "Forevermore" visits the twisty-turny brain of a certain Mr. Edgar Allan Poe, while "Pinocchio Unstrung" makes any of our puppet-based fears burble to the surface. Several others charm and alarm simply from their names: "Special Ops: Infected -- Patient Zero," "My Bloody Clementine," and, yes, "The Tooth Fairy."
The. Tooth. Fairy. We're fairly sure there won't be any delighted peeking beneath one's pillow in hopes of a nice surprise in that particular maze.
But Knott's goes beyond the maze concept to celebrate other seasonal favorites, including shows like "Elvira's Asylum" and various areas teeming with terrifying monsters. "Carnevil" is on the docket -- prepare yourself for an onslaught of clowns, coulrophobes -- as is "Ghost Town Streets," which is described as "the largest scare zone in Scary Farm history..."
Well, that'll give anyone the willies.
The Scene
Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.
Knott's Scary Farm sends shivers through Buena Park on select nights through Halloween.
