Dark Harbor's New Maze Is Going ‘Rogue'

A Halloween-murky, tingle-the-skin maze can sometimes have its own super-specific vibe going, with a stand-out theme that isn't often seen.

For while it can seem that a building filled with twisty dark hallways will be chockablock with various monsters, it also might be serve as a portal out to a ship from another time, a vessel that's about to take on a lot of water.

That's quite the distinct and rarely encountered storyline, but one that absolutlely matches the water-close setting of Dark Harbor.

The Queen Mary's annual falltime spooky spectacular always features several interesting mazes, with themes hewing closely to the ocean, the ocean-liner's haunted history, and maritime lore.

And "Rogue," the newest of the Dark Harbor mazes, will definitely keep to batten-down-the-hatches tradition, with a frightening twist: A rogue wave, one that towers near 100 feet in the air, will be the monster you must face.

"Dark Harbor attendees will roll into the tide of this historic moment by becoming fully immersed in the panic and chaos of Rogue's impact with deafening water effects, complete darkness (and) floor to ceiling seafoam," is the scary description for what to expect. Not only that, though; the sensation of what it feels like to be capsized will also be part of the experience.

Chilling.

The maze's design will hearken back to the 1940s, when the Queen Mary served as "The Grey Ghost" in World War II.

An epic wave, and the feeling of seeing such a wave in the distance, is newer territory for a Halloween maze, and the technology, sound, lights, and production will likely gain plenty of attention among Southern California's maze-loving mavens.

Ready for something different in the realm of Halloween scares? One that has an ocean storyline, but doesn't involve some of the usual eerie scenes we find in ocean tales seen on the silver screen?

Step aboard the new "Rogue" maze, in Long Beach, beginning on Sept. 26, when Dark Habor makes its first splash of the season.