Only a few days until Halloween, intrepid readers, and I’m still trying to ignore the Christmas decorations that have popped up in stores. The coming of October’s end is always bittersweet for me, but I’m grateful I’ve had so many opportunities to get into the immersive and haunted this year, from firsts time trips to hold favorites. For this report, though, the classic fog calls to me. We’re wrapping up the season with Knott’s Scary Farm and bidding the old ghosts and ghouls one last hurrah before it all fades away.
The Event
Frequent readers of these reports know the drill: 10 mazes, 5 scare zones, 3 shows and the seasonal overlay of the Timber Mountain Log Ride make Knott’s Scary Farm a mist-choked dimension that nothing else I’ve been to can beat. From longevity to size to scope, the progenitor of the haunt keeps reminding people why it touts itself as the premier haunted attraction in SoCal. And yet, every year is just a little bit different, keeping the familiar while adding (or removing) offerings here and there, keeping nostalgia high while adjusting what it presents.
On that: notably absent this year is the Candy Mine overlay to the Calico Mine Ride, which I’m unsure was ever terribly popular. I’ve never been prone to go out of my way to ride it, as even the nighttime “twisted” version felt a little goofy to me, with infrequently working effects and hit-or-miss audio cues. While I won’t miss it, I do want them to do something with the Mine Ride that ties in with the season, even if it doesn’t include live actors. I have fond memories as a kid of going through the ride during the day in October, well before I started attending Haunt, and enjoying seeing spooky props like skeletal hands emerging from the bubbling mud pots and sheeted wraiths circling on a mobile over the Glory Hole.
Equally absent is anything in the Walter Knott Theater, which is also surprising. It was that very same theater that led to Scary Farm happening at all, since Larry Vincent (aka Sinister Seymour) pitched the notion of doing a live B-movie riff at the then-new venue, which expanded into the first Haunt in 1973. It’s a peculiar hole in the event that I think has more to do with a tightened budget this year, and unfortunately that same budget constraint can be felt in other areas of Haunt this year, but I’ll get into that soon.
I am happy to report that this isn’t felt in the scare zones, which remain unchallenged in quality compared to anywhere else I’ve been. Little has changed significantly between them in a major way, and that’s a good thing when each is such a solid environment for dread and terror. Ghost Town Streets, Forsaken Lake, CarnEvil, Gore-ing 20s and The Gauntlet really pull their weight for Scary Farm, keeping immersion high and allowing the talent peak atmosphere to roam in. The pop-up show beats are absolutely worth checking out as well when you can see them: the funeral procession at the lake, the live jazz and dancing revelers of Memory Lane, and the secretive slider show to appease the royalty of Helsire.
There seem to be even more interactive lantern locations as well, a neat little innovation that brings plenty of fans out armed with their flickering lamps. The quality of each interaction can vary, but it does make for a scavenger hunt of sorts to see what weird and spooky things one can come across in both the mazes and scare zones.
The Mazes
With Wax Works and Bloodline 1842 now consigned to memory, two new mazes have taken their place and caused me to reshuffle and reconsider my annual rankings. The lineup remains an impressive mix of themes and stories to give Haunt a gestalt variety of horror stories to work with.
The only trouble is some of the mazes feel emptier than normal, and this is what I was getting at earlier. Not a knock to the talent in them by any means, but there felt like a distinct lack of monsters this year, leading to some quiet rooms and segments. With the aggressive nickel-and-dime slashes Six Flags has been making to Knott’s since the corporate merger, I’m not surprised but disappointed to know that there’s been some diminished returns in this area. It’s not the only area I’ve seen this in, but it’s a telling sign that things aren’t ideal.
Still, I think what has been brought out this year holds up, and my ranking is thus:
10 - The Chilling Chambers
Time and again I state that there’s not a bad maze at Scary Farm, and that’s true here too. But Chilling Chambers has never been my favorite for a myriad of reasons that I won’t repeat verbatim (hint: it’s still the C3 section). One interesting note is the return of The Keeper, reimagined as a red-cloaked figure, a possible homage to the old Overlord icon, wrapped in chains and locks like some Dickensian ghost. It’s a good design choice and helps elevate the maze’s theme of a dark archive of the event’s past.
9 - The Grimoire
The fourth year of The Grimoire will be the last one, and the epilogue looks like its falling a little flat. I feel like any pretense of pacing and trying to convey the story has been basically abandoned this year for quick scares to keep people moving, which is a shame. This was a good maze with a lot of potential, but I think its been recognized that the typical Scary Farm visitor just isn’t understanding the concept and the means of getting the narrative across have to be snappier. That’s at least my guess. But I have a feeling this is only a chapter in this haunted book’s story, and we may see it manifest again in another way…
8 - The Zoo
A long-abandoned zoo has become the testing ground of a shady military organization, using genetic experiments and vivisection to create animal/human hybrids as soldiers. Your arrival unfortunately coincides with the test subjects escaping and wreaking havoc through the facility, eventually setting a plan in motion as they complete their vengeful takeover: shutting the lights off.
This is a Daniel Miller maze through and through - if you want body horror, gruesome and grisly mutations, and a ton of blood and gore, this maze is for you. “Icky” might be an apt one-word description of The Zoo, which still has fun with its animal themes to create fitting frights. The major selling point this year, however, is that the maze was originally billed as having two modes; that after 11pm, the major shows lights would dim and guests would have to traverse the zoo armed with their own weak flashlights. This is a really simple but genius gimmick, one used before in Trick or Treat: Lights Out to enhance an already eerie maze. The lights out version has proven so popular (and made such a bottleneck of people waiting only for the 11pm change) that the schedule has shifted this late in the season to have the flashlight version the dominant way to experience The Zoo, which is fine but does mean one doesn’t get to experience the maze with its beautiful show lighting unless they make it in the narrow window of time for it. I happen to like it both ways, but it seems the gimmick has really won most people over.
7 - Widows
Plenty of people I’ve talked to have put Widows much higher, and deservedly so. It makes my skin crawl in a way most of the other mazes don’t, and the layout make optimal use of the space to make journey from the nursing home to the spider caverns feel longer than it actually is. For it me it boils down to themes, and the theme of Widows is not as appealing to me as the next six on a personal preference level. But Widows is rapidly becoming iconic in its own right, and I predict it spinning its yarn for many years yet.
6 - Eight Fingers Nine: The Boogeyman
Obvious bias for my goat-harassing cameo aside, Eight Fingers Nine is a masterclass of storytelling in maze design, a nightmarish bit of folk horror that I feel like I discover more and more intricate detail in every time I venture through the doomed township of Aliston. It features some of my favorite scene painting in the park, with backdrops lavishly depicting the village and haunted forest and accentuating the feeling of a grim storybook.
5 - Cinema Slasher
Alright. I did promise last that if my Rip Tupman’s death was restored to the third screen in the Slasher of the Dark marathon, I’d bump the maze back up. Don’t ever say I don’t keep my promises. And really, what more needs to be said? Cinema Slasher rules.
4 - Mesmer: Sideshow of the Mind
A bittersweet breaking of the mesmeric trance is coming, as this is the last year Professor Mesmer’s traveling show will be luring in rubes to see the strange glimpses of a Limbo between hypnosis and death. I think Mesmer will go down as an all-time classic and be fondly remembered even after the dust settles and some new nightmare takes its place. I’m glad I got to see it one last time.
3 - Room 13
Vibes, vibes, vibes. Room 13 is a maze that takes its time and manages to be dreadful and cool all at once, almost more hypnotic than Mesmer with its sense of immersing you in the twisting halls of the Argive Hotel, full of art-deco darkness and depravity. I love a maze that allows itself to build, not having to be in your face intense the whole time and giving itself room t be just, well, haunting!
2 - Origins: The Curse of Calico
It finally happened. My favorite maze for the last several years, the story of Sarah Marshall and the beginnings of the legend, finally knocked off its #1 spot for me. It doesn’t mean I love this maze any less, and with how long its been a mainstay at Knott’s (now in its 6th year and with no signs of vanishing into the fog yet) I’m certain its staying power has been recognized. If it hangs in there at least one more season, it will tie with Trick or Treat as the longest-running maze during my time visiting Haunt - both coincidentally starring the Green Witch! But what took its place?
1 - Mary: The Haunting of Worth Home
There’s a ghost story the kids tell about the old Worth Group Home at the end of the street. They say that Mary Worth fled the town of Calico after her sister was accused of witchcraft; they say she was accused of murdering her husband and daughter in the house, and an angry mob of townsfolk stoned Mary to death and buried her in a shallow grave on the property; and they also say her anguished spirit will appear in a mirror if you say her name three times. I mean, it is Halloween, so why not give it a try? What’s the worst that can happen?
As the biggest sucker in the world for a haunted house theme, Mary hits the nail on the head for me, but what sets it above and beyond is the pacing of the maze. It starts out slow, sinister and tense, easing you into the house as you begin to see the bloody aftermath of Mary’s escape from the mirror and increasing haunting of the home that was once hers. Tensions builds in a satisfying way until you actually cross through the mirror into Mary’s world, and then things reach a surreal fever-pitch as you navigate a claustrophobic, dark and twisted version of the reflected Worth home as macabre spirits lurk in every corner. The Bloody Mary myth is ubiquitous enough that its apparent what’s happening without having to rely too much on spelling a specific story out, and repeat visits actually have more hidden details to discover, making it satisfying every time. Everything in it, from sets to sounds to effects to talent, makes this a banger of a debut and, at least right now, my favorite maze of the ten.
The Shows
As for the shows, the highlight for me was definitely Le Manifique Carnival du Grotesque, a mainstay on the Calico Mine Stage at this point. The format of the show heavily showcased the crowd-favorite hypeclown Oopsie-Daisy, and presented three impressive performers doing aerialist feats, balancing acts and fire dancing respectively, plus some beautifully choreographed pops and lock numbers from the roustabouts and a framing plot about acquiring the ringmaster’s staff - a new element this year. This might be my favorite iteration of the Carnival yet, as I feel the performance and spectacle have gotten tighter and more precise.
The Hanging is… well, it’s exactly what you expect. Kinda fun, kinda groan-inducing, not really my thing. Love the stunts, and much love to the people I know who are in the show, but it’s not for me.
Conjurers at the Birdcage Theater rounds out the lineup, and as before it largely depends on when you’re there and who is performing. I’ve yet to see a magician on stage who’s prestidigitation I didn’t enjoy, so it appears to be a fine roster with few duds. Fans of magic will definitely want to check this out, especially on crowded nights to get away from the chaos and fog for a spell.
Final Thoughts
When I began these Fog Reports in 2019, I had no idea I would be working predominately at one of the parks whose Halloween overlay I visited, or get so much firsthand background experience with it without being a monster or designer. My roles as a tour guide and getting included in the mazes on film have been huge opportunities to see how much time, effort and love gets poured into the creation of Scary Farm each year, even in the face of stiff competition and budget cuts from the powers-that-be in corporate. It’s disheartening hen you see a place you love working seemingly get diminished over time.
Scary Farm, on the other hand, endures. Without it, the Halloween landscape would very different across the world, and were it ever to fade away something truly special would be lost. I sincerely hope that it will persist indefinitely, especially in the face of a world that seems increasingly bleak and hostile. Because - and I hate to admit this - I can use a little October escapism, and Scary Farm paved the way for nearly everything I got to do this year. I am extremely fortunate to be in a position to get to experience this and other Halloween attractions, a privilege I don’t take for granted. My hope is that I can share some of that love and enchantment through these articles and not come off like a broken record.
But Halloween night is just over the horizon, and the season is drawing to a close. Thank you for joining me and letting me be your guide through the artificial mists. I wish you all nothing but the best, and until next year: stay safe, take care of each other, and I’ll see you in the fog.
