Haunts of L.A.

Halloween haunt events in the Southern California area mainly covering Los Angeles, Inland Empire and Orange County. A blog reviewing L.A.

Halloween haunted houses and in depth haunt event calendars.

12/31/2025

REVIEW: The Hatteras Halloween House

This past October, as we drove through the San Fernando Valley, the owner (and Disney Imagineer) behind one of our favorite yard displays - Hearse Hill - tipped us off about a great haunted maze a few blocks away from his haunt. We drove through the residential streets of Van Nuys unsure of what we were in for. As we approached the otherwise quiet corner of Burnet Avenue and Hatteras Street, we were immediately in awe of what we saw - a red and blue illuminated exterior inhabited by giant monsters welcoming visitors to the Hatteras Halloween House.

Strangely we had never, to our knowledge, visited this haunt before. The maze wraps around the home and contains numerous themes. There are multiple rooms, including a sinister chapel, an exorcism room, and a swamp - the latter being our favorite. The ground sank as snakes and reptilian monster heads peered out from the brush. There were sounds of real running water as we crossed an incredible, sinking miniature bridge. The awesome attention to detail of this haunt created a truly immersive experience within an evolving storyline.

Another factor that we found interesting was the lack of scare actors within the haunt. (While they *might* have had them on certain nights, the only people we saw were very calm, fun characters who seemed to be more of a passive part of the maze meant to bring the different environments to life.) Instead they relied on animatronic props and embellished mannequins for their frightful characters. Therefore, people of all ages were able to take their time going through the different themed areas and enjoy the enormous amount of creativity and work that went into making this maze come to life.

After our visit we found out that the Hatteras Halloween House would go dark after this year. The family who has been bringing this labor of love to life created a wonderful experience for the community to enjoy for the past eight years. We hope that sometime in the near future the Hatteras Halloween House - or some version of it - will rise from the grave once again to entertain those brave enough to enter.

December 30, 2026

12/29/2025

REVIEW: Rotten Apple 907

For every Southern California haunter there is a seasonal destination that is always at the top of the list: Rotten Apple. This Burbank maze has been around longer than most of our lifespans and has become the gold standard of what can be done with storytelling inside of limited home haunt space. This year's maze, “Nightmares in Secret”, was no exception - proving once again that Rotten Apple is still one of the best at creating original and innovative worlds.

In the front yard outside of their home, Rotten Apple built a multi-room maze whose exterior was a roman pillared building named the "Dragconic Archive". Every few minutes the dragon head overlooking the top of the entrance would spit out fire and smoke into the atmosphere. Once you enter the library you are told by a greeter that this 1800's archive loves "all things scaley". As you leave and begin to comb through hallways of books, papers, and dragon imagery you encounter numerous darkly cloaked, dragon masked scare actors and eventually run into Little Red Dragon Slayer - a young, stoic warrior in a red hood who paced in circles while showcasing her basket with a slayed dragon head poking out. There is even a dragon faced fireplace where a charred man reveals himself as he screams and reaches out from the flames.

Next, you run into a scientist who explains that they have figured out how to tame a dragon. In the following room, the dragon's lair, you run into a Harry Potter-esque teacher who moves his wand and magically moves the floating candles that light the room. He then reveals from behind a curtain a real life dragon whose mechanical head enters the room to the awe of guests.

To exit you enter a dragon and travel through its insides. The red lit halls of innards had a similar feel to the "hell" portion of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. You finally hit a dead end and a mysterious scare actor pops out of the shadows and says, "There is only one way out - bottoms up!", as he reveals the exit.

The technical or visual aspects of a haunt are often analyzed to determine what makes a haunt special. At its core, what makes Rotten Apple special are their aesthetic predilections and signature worldbuilding. Year after year they have delivered magically unique experiences for thousands of people, filling hearts with joy and inspiring the imaginations of all who attend.

December 29, 2025

12/22/2025

REVIEW: Darkwood Drive

Burbank, long renowned for how celebratory they get for Halloween, has always had some of the best haunts in the LA area. Whether it is the defunct sci-fi world of Backwoods or the long running institution that is Rotten Apple - this suburb knows how to do things right. One of the newer mazes of the area - Darkwood Drive (last year known as Camp Beachwood) - really impressed us this season with their incredible ability to make visitors feel like they were in a legitimate 1980's horror film.

Built around a tiny, corner house's front yard - this maze loops in and out of corners and had everything from decrepit Southern shacks to eerie dark caves. You enter through a disturbing chicken shack where a bloody butcher is eating all of the raw meat he has accumulated throughout the room. As you leave you go through dim, lantern-lit hallways and exit out to a very animated farmer who opens up his shack for you through a cool, rigged up prop rope. Inside the room a silent cowboy sits at his poker table - suspensefully waiting for his invisible partner to make their move. On your way out you run into people screaming against cages in the darkness and exit through a wooded area - on par with a Hollywood film set - that contains a ghoulish man slowly sharpening his axe - its sparks illuminating the night. He eventually pops up again, unexpectedly, with a flash at the end of a dark hall as you pass by other lurking scare actors.

Darkwood Drive is a wonderful surprise every single season. The maze's creator - Sandy Chila - changes the theme every year and is only open for a handful of nights. Somehow Chila has channeled the energy that exists from the Golden Age of horror films and captured its essence within a DIY maze built in his small front yard. We are consistently impressed with Chila’s work and really looking forward to all of the ideas he will continue to explore for years to come.

December 22, 2025

12/05/2025

REVIEW: Fairbrook Manor

Forgive us as we are still catching up on all of the amazing haunts we visited this past Halloween season. We have been incredibly busy working on some upcoming haunt projects outside of this and can't wait to share them. There were so many awe-inspiring places we visited this season and one of our favorites, Fairbrook Manor, delivered a memorable experience beyond anything that we expected.

Located in Long Beach, Fairbrook Manor tells an original story of an evil widow who haunts an abandoned home - with help from her kidnapped children who all died within the manor grounds - waiting to scare any visitors brave enough to enter. Thanks to the talent of local drama students, this story is told hauntingly well and is now a celebrated visit by both locals and seasoned haunters.

The build, lit by mostly green and red lights through a thick blanket of fog, is impressively fabricated. The routing, which for the first time expands up the driveway instead of just the front yard, is filled with hundreds of Victorian props. Hidden throughout the maze are the scare actors who, at times, seem to surround you out of nowhere. This experience expands beyond the maze itself as characters seem spread throughout the neighbor’s home and the street, emphasizing the talent that lies within the maze’s walls.

We don't know how, but Fairbrook Manor seems to step it up every single season. It's always been a transformative visit, allowing you to live for a short time within the creative minds who make this attraction come to life. While having an impressive maze is always more than enough, it is worth noting that they take donations for the local food bank every season. It is important to support places like Fairbrook Manor, both for the incredible experience they offer and also because they give teen students the opportunity to hone in their creative ideas through acting and using their imagination to make a captivating story come to life.

December 05, 2025

11/23/2025

REVIEW: Lunar Terror

We closed out the Halloween season by visiting Lancaster to see Lunar Terror's incredible maze titled "AEDFU". Evolving its theme every season, the team at Lunar Terror decided for 2025 they would offer visitors to the Antelope Valley a journey to an ancient Egyptian experience full of suspense and horror. And while it was an hour and half drive for us, we ended up going through the maze three times and were more ecstatic with each walkthrough.

Inside the maze, which is a DIY soundstage built within the family's three car garage, you are instantly transported from suburbia into a world of theater-quality sets, original soundtracking, impressive lighting grids, and some of the most talented scare actors in the LA area. It is unbelievably suspenseful as it incorporates complete darkness and silence for a majority of the time, only to get unbelievably loud with the original horror sounds that are synched up with the lighting. These short flashes of intensity reveal each vignette only to disappear as quickly as it was revealed. The timing of all of this was extremely impressive and inspiring. At times this maze can transform into something more, thanks to how well designed everything is, and can feel more like experiencing a live theater show or a film set.

While it is quite a trek to get to Lancaster from LA to visit this haunt, we can say that we have honestly never regretted doing it. While this is a haunt full of darkness and horror it is also executed in a very beautiful and unique way. "AEDFU" was one of our favorite mazes this season and we are looking forward to many more years of visiting this gem tucked deep into the Antelope Valley!

VC
November 22, 2025

11/12/2025

REVIEW: Ghostwood Manor

In the same tradition as Rotten Apple, who don’t repeat their themes, Stephen Taylor of Pasadena's Ghostwood Manor is in a constant state of reimagining what types of mazes he can build in his driveway. For the better part of the past half of a decade, Taylor has explored themes ranging from haunted trophy rooms to a restless tomb where the dead come back to life. Last year he surprised the haunt community by building a life-size, sunken pirate ship walkthrough entitled "The Wreck of the Crimson Dagger".

Taylor's haunts have always been packed to the brim with imagination and ingenuity. However, the scale of what he built for the Crimson Dagger went above and beyond in epicness. The inside of the ship was filled with underwater lighting and atmospheric marine sounds, animatronic fish, a shark who dives towards you, a mechanical marionette of a dead sea captain, and an illusion of a mechanical skeleton who is revealed through a part of the ship's wall - via the clever use of lighting and scrim. When we say that this attraction is teeming with all of the tricks a haunt can incorporate, we are not exaggerating. The Wreck of the Crimson Dagger really has it all.

Towards the end of the Halloween season, Easter eggs and bonus features began to appear. Taylor’s son, Oliver, built his own child-sized haunted post office walkthrough in the yard. Taylor added a haunted briefcase, covered in snow, at the ship's exit. On the briefcase was a message: "Do not open until October 2026" - a great hint at this next season's haunted maze.

While this past season was your last chance to visit the Crimson Dagger, we are excited for what great plans Taylor has brewing for 2026. In full disclosure we were part of making a documentary on this incredible haunt that is available for free on YouTube. If you are interested in learning more about the build and the background of Taylor and this maze, we recommend checking out the video! (Link in bio)

VC
November 12, 2025

11/08/2025

REVIEW: Beware the Dark Realm

At this point, Beware the Dark Realm has been around for longer than most of its attendees have been alive. Ever since 1971 retired mailman Scott Sivley, with help from his family, have been building some of the most impressive mazes in town. This year's maze, “Diary of a Madman”, lived up to the reputation that this haunt has worked hard to earn.

Diary of a Madman is a unique maze in that it is based on Ozzy Osbourne's music. As we passed through the fog filled, candlelit hallways that Beware the Dark Realm is known for, we entered areas all themed around his music. For example, we ran into a pig with a chainsaw as "War Pigs" played. The song treated the vocals with an octave down effect to create an even more sinister feeling as we tried to escape. Uniquely they didn't lean into tropes you would expect - such as Ozzy biting a bat - which made it even more refreshing. In fact it seemed to rely on his spirit as we didn't spot a physical Ozzy at all during our visit.

Everyone who left this haunt was glowing with exhilaration. We are thankful for the Sivleys and the work they continue to do by offering a top tier home haunt that is free every Halloween. Additionally, they support the community by accepting donations for local charities - making their work even more respectable. This year's "Diary of a Madman" was an incredibly unique experience and we can’t wait to see what Beware the Dark Realm brews up next year!

VC
November 07, 2025

11/06/2025

REVIEW: The Vandy Manor

Dick Van D**e has been entertaining multiple generations and offering creative inspiration for longer than most people have been alive. His brilliant career as a performer and actor has received innumerable accolades for his work in radio, theater, film, and television. Van D**e’s creative output is so rich and broad that he has different worlds of fans devoted to particular roles he has played, from Rob Petrie (The Dick Van D**e Show) to Bert (Mary Poppins). We tend to gravitate towards his more obscure contributions to the world of Halloween, where he and his wife Arlene Van D**e have created their annual, invite-only haunt, The Vandy Manor.

For a better part of the past four decades, Van D**e has been showcasing his handmade and store-bought monsters to the delight of family, friends, and neighbors. His horror collection, which spans back to the late 1950s, represents decades of Halloween purchases. The front of his house that lines the street is decorated with masks, heads, and grotesqueries that tell the tale of how Halloween has evolved throughout the years. Jack-o’-lanterns carved with Van D**e’s self-portrait caricature illuminate the night as animatronics jump to life, giving a frightening jolt to passers-by. These animatronics, created by the legendary builders at Distortions Unlimited, are shipped from the company’s warehouse in Colorado and assembled in-person by the owners and their team. One of these animatronics, an enormous eight-foot head of a wizardly Van D**e, comes to life every few minutes and spits out fog as Van D**e's iconic voice recites Vincent Price's monologue from the song “Thriller” and prose from Edgar Allan Poe.

This year also brought in a new collaborator - monster maker Casey Wong - who many know from his work in film and at Universal Halloween Horror Nights. As requested by Van D**e, Wong brought in his own recreation of Lon Chaney from “The Phantom of the Opera” - complete with an era specific makeup kit. (Chaney, known as “The Man of a Thousand Faces", famously did his own makeup in order to transform into his ghoulish characters.) This fantastic tableau of the Phantom lurked behind the gate of Van D**e’s front porch, glowering at each trick-or-treater as they grabbed a piece of candy from the giant cauldron below.

While visitors were being frightened by spitting animatronic monsters and ghoulish creatures, Arlene Van D**e offered dazzling entertainment via her musical numbers featured on the makeshift stage built in front of the family garage. For years it has become a tradition for her to come out as Ursula and perform "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and dance to pop songs like Billie Eilish’s "Bury a Friend" and Chappell Roan’s "HOT TO GO!". Between her performances there was entertainment from magicians, puppeteers, and our favorite Magic Castle luminary: the flaming hamburger juggler, Michael Rayner.

As Van D**e approaches his 100th birthday, we would like to appreciate how impressive it is that he is still haunting. Thanks to the help of his wife Arlene, he has elevated Halloween to new heights - creating a wonderfully magical world for his neighbors and special guests to enjoy. Arlene and Dick’s creative collaboration truly celebrates their love of Halloween, and more importantly - their love for each other.

VC
November 06 ,2025

10/30/2025

REVIEW: Eulogy Collective: Deadly Sins

For the last half of the decade, the Santa Ana Haunt brought fear to their local neighborhood with a daunting, two-story church exterior. Distressed in its appearance and overlooking a closed casket, the church emanated a sense of foreboding and suspense which culminated once you entered and experienced the frightening builds and scare actors. The reputation of this haunt quickly grew and became a mandatory visit for SoCal haunt lovers.

Like most home haunts, they eventually outgrew being able to host their maze in a residential location. This led to some growing pains as they went through a few different events and venues. However, this year they have re-branded as the Eulogy Collective and opened up in a location that used to host the awesome Chinese themed haunt by Richard and Christina in Anaheim GardenWalk.

The Deadly Sins’ maze is about half animatronic and half scare actors. There were all kinds of characters inside including a frightening, knife-wielding child talking about killing his parents (whose corpses sat by the fireplace) and a horrifying (possibly undead) man who made the floor drop while we were on it. Catacombs adorned the hallways that led to creepy, abandoned rooms full of insects and urine bottles. There was even a sideshow and a doctor who has taken the world "facelift" a little too seriously - scoffing as he showcased the flesh he cut off of his patients faces. The sound was loud and the lighting superb - as to be expected from the minds of the Santa Ana Haunt.

The good news is that this maze will be open throughout the year - much like Reign of Terror. We look forward to seeing how this haunted attraction evolves and grows over time as it's exciting to have another haunt in a permanent indoor space. The Eulogy Collective also shared that they have some cool off season plans and collaborations that are yet to be announced - which we know will make all local haunters excited for some post-Halloween scares!

VC
October 29, 2025

10/29/2025

REVIEW: H&L Realm of Horror

Another incredible haunt that was featured in the Midsummer Scream 2025 Hall of Shadows was H&L's Realm of Horror. A relatively new haunted house located near Hesperia, it has only been around for a few short years - yet has built a reputation for having a very unique take on a haunted maze.

H&L’s Realm of Horror has a wonderfully frightening two-story facade that hints at the horrors which live within. Throughout the maze you run into dimly lit set builds, triggered scares, and sinister creatures. The characters are well-acted and often utilize Universal inspired pre-recorded phrases - adding to the suspenseful ambience of the maze. Around every corner lies a scare, like the demonic fortune teller, the undead butcher cutting apart his victims, or the Grim Reaper looking for his next soul.

There are surprisingly a great number of haunts in the High Desert area and we really encourage you to take a visit out to H&L's House of Horrors. You can make it a trip combined with All Saints Lunatic Asylum, Fear Farm, Hesperia House of Horrors, and the High Desert Haunted House to enjoy a thrilling and frightening evening outside of LA County.

VC
October 28, 2025

10/26/2025

REVIEW: Dead Serious Packing Company

Sometimes when you leave the beaten path you are pleasantly surprised at what haunts you can find. Years ago we randomly stopped by the Micheltorena Pumpkin Fest and found out that they do an annual haunted house fundraiser. This maze, put together by students and parents, raises money for the school while providing a very unique experience for the community.

Every year the people in charge of the mazes change and therefore so do the themes. In the past we have seen a vast amount of ideas explored that range from you being in your own horror movie to going deep into the depths of the ocean where you learn about the effects of pollution. It really is THAT broad which creates a pleasant surprise with every year's visit. And in the tradition of previous years’ themes they amazed us once again by creating a maze about a haunted Amazon shipping factory this past weekend.

Taking place beneath the elementary school, the "Dead Serious Packing Company" maze spits you through hallways and rooms filled with thousands of boxes the students decorated with haunting words and blood. When you first enter, an adult volunteer, dressed as a shipping driver, explains that things have "gone wrong" and "gotten weird" at the factory but to not worry and head inside. Surrounded by boxes you are jumped at by children at every turn which was elevated when a zombie adult came out and pulled one of the children monsters behind a stack of boxes. Everything comes to a thrilling conclusion when you are met face-to-face with cardboard demons and an adult clown showcasing her new toy shipment - a transparent box containing a talented, tied-up child scare actor trying desperately to escape while foam peanuts fly in the air around her.

Every year Micheltorena Elementary delivers quite the haunt and this season was up there with the rest. While it is only open for one afternoon per season, this maze always leaves us feeling good. And more importantly, we are happy to know that we contributed to the school's fundraiser as they pumped everyone up to celebrate Halloween!

VC
October 26, 2025

10/26/2025

REVIEW: High Desert Haunted House

A fun part of attending haunts outside of LA in the darkness of the moonlit desert is how remote it can make you feel. Dirt roads illuminated only by the evening stars lead you to isolated lands - far away from the building codes of LA - where chaos reigns. The suspense and awe is contagious and for the past decade the team at the High Desert Haunted House (HDHH) has consistently delivered an experience that exceeds all expectations.

This haunt is creative and wild. The mazes, built out of repurposed materials, flow into each other and are full of the youthful, high octane energy that the HDHH has become known for. Inside you run into witches, vampires, and unique takes on every monster you can think of. Real chainsaws echo in the distance as you hear attendees scream as baseball bats collide with metal. While core elements of the haunt remain the same, new additions are created every season. This year's new room, based on the Creature from the Black Lagoon, is filled with both lifesize and miniature monsters interpreted from the film and is one of our favorite room that the HDHH has built yet.

As we already stated this season, we encourage LA haunters to make the trip out to the High Desert to enjoy the wonderful haunts that it has to offer. With planning you can easily visit not only the HDHH but also Fear Farm, All Saints Lunatic Asylum, Hesperia House of Horrors, and H&L's Realm of Horror in one evening. We promise it will be worth the trip!

VC
October 26, 2025

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