Halloween

Queen Mary's ‘Dark Harbor' Won't Haunt 2020

The historic ship's Halloween-eerie autumntime treat is canceled, but the Long Beach landmark is already looking to 2021.

Phillip Faraone/Stringer

What to Know

  • The Long Beach fall fear festival will return in 2021
  • Queen Mary's attractions, including its ghost tours, are currently closed
  • A few other Halloween events, like Midsummer Scream, have postponed to 2021

Time, as a concept, almost doesn't matter when you're dealing with characters who occupy the ethereal realm.

For a century can creep by, in a spooky old manor or frightful castle, and the ghost that calls it home will hardly notice.

For when you're a supernatural being, capable of causing humans to start and screech at your mere presence, the years can and do pass in a flash.

Fans of Dark Harbor, the annual September-into-October scarefest at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, may be looking to such stories for a bit of patience-building at the moment.

For the the Halloween-focused affair, which includes a host of monster-filled mazes, slider shows, and wandering ghoulies, announced it is canceling its 2020 event due to the pandemic.

The announcements was made, via the Queen Mary and Dark Harbor social pages, on June 29.

"We may not be able to scare the ship out of you in 2020, but we’re coming for you 2021! Scare you all next year!," is the looking-ahead, stay-scared message on the Dark Harbor Facebook page.

Other Halloween-themed happenings, including the huge Halloween convention Midsummer Scream, have also moved their 2020 gatherings to 2021.

Perhaps, though, we don't need to learn the patience of a ghost haunting an old castle over the centuries.

Perhaps the time spent waiting for your favorite annual events to return in 2021 can also be used to read some terrifying ghost tales, to work on an extra elaborate Halloween costume, or to plan on trying out for Dark Harbor yourself, a Southern California summer tradition, next summer.

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