2012 Halloween Haunts opening on Friday, October 19
The final half of October has arrived, and most of the major professional Halloween events in Los Angeles have already opened. Fortunately, more cemeteries are opening their gates on Friday, October 19, unleashing ghosts and ghouls upon the world, in the form of amateur yard haunts, perilous plays, cemetery tours, and a brand new scary attraction recently imported from New York. Read on…if you dare!
Warning: For the sake of completeness, we have tried to include every Halloween event listed in our calendar for this weekend. Unfortunately, some of them required advanced registration of have already sold out. Please do not be too disappointed!
BLACKOUT HAUNTED HOUSE
Dates: October 20-21, 23-31; November 1-4
Location: 207 South Broadway, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Website: Click here
Description: This new Halloween event actually opens on Saturday – rather late for a professional haunted house attraction, but who is complaining? The Blackout Haunted House has been a big hit in New York City for the past few years. Its gimmick is that visitors pass through the completely dark maze alone, with only a mask and a flashlight to protect them from whatever horrors lurk within. Judging from the reviews, the experience has less to do with Halloween Horror than with torture porn, S&M, and Abu Ghraib: the actors touch you and invade your personal space; you may find yourself shackled in the dark with a bag over your head. The website warns that you will encounter: fog, strobe lights, complete darkness, crawling, stairs, loud noises, water, physical contact, sexual and violent situations. Only those 18 and over may attend; all patrons are required to sign a waver before entering. Tickets are $35 on school nights, $45 on weekends and Halloween. Performance times are at 7, 8, 9 & 10pm on weeknights, with an additional 6pm slot on weekends.
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Dates: Saturday & Sunday, October 20 & 21; Saturday & Sunday, October 27 & 28
Hours: 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, & 4:00 p.m
Location: Homestead Museum, 15415 East Don Julian Road, City of Industry, California 91745
Website: Click here
Description: If you’re interested in history more than horror, then Homestead Museum’s annual Halloween tour may be for you. Devoted to illustrating how American attitudes toward death changed dramatically from the 1840s through the 1920s, the Beyond the Grave tour gives an overview of these changes as experienced by the two families and includes a visit to El Campo Santo (the private cemetery established by the Workman family in the 1850s) with a living history character from the past. Hour-long tours are free, but space on each tour is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. The tour can accommodate visitors with limited mobility.
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Location: 4602 Morse Avenue Sherman Oaks, CA 91432
Dates: October 19-31
Hours: 6-9pm Sunday-Thursday; 6-10pm Friday-Saturday
Website: Click here
Description: The most whimsical and family-friendly of Halloween Events for Children returns for another season of mystical illusions and goofy gags. The whimsical skeletons are back with a new magic show, entitled “Abracadaver” – which promises “even more jaw-dropping illusions to thrill and amaze you this Halloween.” As always, admission to this amateur (but very professional done) event is free.
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BIG WORM’S SHERWOOD SCARE
Dates: October 19-21, 26-28, 7-10pm; Halloween night 7pm to midnight
Location: 8856 Encino Avenue, Northridge, CA 91325
Link out: Click here
Description: The Big Worm’s Cystic Fibrosis Foundation presents this fundraiser event, featuring an 1800-square-foot maze, filled with illusions and scares that may not be suitable for children under 10. Donations are $3 per person. Proceeds go to help ease the stay of patients undergoing treatment for CF in hospitals.
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CAMP SPOOKY HALLOWEEN BASH 2012
Location: Griffith Park Boys Camp, 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Dates: October 19-21. Check in Friday at 5pm. Check out Sunday at 11am. Dinner served at 6pm.
Link out: Click here
Description: The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks offers this weekend event to boys ages 7 through 14. Activities include pumpkin carving, a costume contest, a scary maze, a candy hunt, a night hike, and more.
Note: Registration closed at noon on Thursday, October 11.
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Location: The Huntington Library, 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, CA 91108
Date: October 20 at 6:30pm
Link out: Click here
Description: This outdoor series of dramatic vignettes returns with its series of plays based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe and Edward Gorey, performed by the Guild of St. George. Titles include “The Pit and the Pendulum,” The Tell-Tale Heart,” and many more. During the course of the evening, audience members see up to six out of the ten or more performances, which play simultaneously at various sites throughout the upper levels of the grounds. Most of the performances are outdoors (chairs provided), requiring the audience to walk to various sites. To enhance the mood of the evening, many of the lights on the grounds are dimmed or turned off completely. No one under 18. Unfortunately, tickets are SOLD OUT.
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FALLEN ANGEL CEMETERY
Location: 23830 Berdon Street Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Dates & Hours: October 19-31, dusk till 10:00pm (candy on Halloween night only)
Description: This amateur yard haunt takes a classic approach to Halloween – spooky, not gory – with lots of candy and fun for the kids. The decorated front yard is full of props, enhanced by light and sound effects to create the impression of lightening, thunder, wind, and rain. Fallen Angel Cemetery is not terribly large, but it packs a lot of tombstones into its available real estate. Young trick-or-treaters should get a memorable – but not disturbing – thrill.
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HAUNTED ADVENTURE TOUR: FRIGHT NIGHT AT STARLIGHT BOWL
Location: Starlight Bowl, 1249 Lockheed View Drive, Burbank, CA 91504
Dates: October 19 & 20
Hours: Tickets sold 7-9pm
Website: www.burbankusa.com
Description: The Burbank Park, Recreation and Community Services Department presents this Halloween event, featuring a frightening 15-minute tour of the Starlight Bowl turned into a haunted house. An adult must accompany children under 12 years old, and children under 6 years old will not be allowed. Face painting and other activities will help participants start the fright night off right. This is the Haunted Adventure Tour’s first Halloween inside the Starlight Bowl. Previous Haunted Adventure Tours took place at the nearby Stough Canyon Nature Center. Call (818) 238-5440 or visit www.burbankusa.com for more information. Tickets are $5. Proceeds benefit the Burbank Park, Recreation & Community Services Department’s Nature Program.
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THE HAUNTING OF NUEVO
Date: Saturday, October 20, 5-9pm
Location: New View Elementary School, 29680 Lakeview Avenue, Nuevo, CA 92567
Link out: Click here
Description: This family-friendly Halloween event offers a five-minute guided tour through a haunted house, featuring a maze of sets, characters, special effects, smoke machines, and strobe lights – but nothing too scary for elementary school kids, accompanied by parents. The Haunting of Nuevo’s crew has worked on the Old Town Haunt Halloween attraction in Pasadena (whose proprietor provides the narration for Nuevo’s video). Admission is 2.00 per person
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HAUNTS OF ANGELINO HEIGHTS AND HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD SCAVENGER HUNT
Location: 724 E. Edgeware Road, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Dates: October 20 & 21, 4pm to 6:30pm
Link out: Click here
Description: Out of the Box Events and the Los Angeles Conservancy present the 4th annual Halloween tour of some of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Groups of 2 to 6 people register to receive information, clues, and trivia regarding the tour; then off they go! Bring a flashlight and a digital camera, in case you are lucky enough to spot a ghost! Tickets are $30 per person
Note: Out of the Box Events will also be offering its 6th Annual Haunted Hollywood Scavenger Hunt on October 20, 21, 26, 27, & 28.
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HORROR ON FRANKEL STREET
Location: 2719 Frankel Street Lakewood, California
Dates & Hours: October 20, 27, 31, dusk to 10pm
Website: click here
Description: For Halloween 2012, The Dark Carnival returns to Frankel Street, along with a circus-full of killer klowns. The proprietor promises to update the back story and offer something different from 2009’s Dark Carnival. Admission is free, but you can purchase a $2 Ghost Pass to avoid waiting in line.
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RAISE THE WOOF HAUNTED DOG HOUSE
Location: Smooth Sound Multimedia, 6828 Valjean Avenue, Van Nuys, CA (818) 779-1259
Date: Saturday, October 20, 7:30-11pm
Link out: Click here
Description: Pet Medical Center Chatoak, Raquel magro of Pinnacle Estate Properties, and David Lynn of Valley Park Realty present this fundraiser to benefit Angels in Fur Dog Rescue. This “Halloween Costume Party for You and Your Dog” features Lisa May and Nicole Alvarez from KROQ, singer-songwriter Christ Barrientos, and magicians Hector Rodriquez and Eli Tanenbaum – performing on stage and at your table. This may not be the most horrifying Halloween event in Los Angeles, but Raise the Woof Haunted Dog House supports a worthy cause. Tickets are $20 for single admission; $30 for double admission; $40 for family admission (up to 4).
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SCARIUM OF THE PACIFIC
Location: Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802 (562) 590-3100
Hours: October 20-21, 9am to 5:00pm
Website: Click here
Description: The Aquarium of the Pacific presents its annual Halloween event: a “family friendly adventure including the chance to meet thousands of creatures of the Pacific, frighteningly fun activities, and plenty of hands-on experiences to haunt your memory.” The aquarium offers you a chance to “Discover the creatures lurking in the depths of Pacific at the Scarium of the Pacific—a spooktacular educational Halloween event for the whole family. Enjoy special Halloween programs, including the annual children’s costume contest, the creepy coloring contest, magic shows, spooky storytelling, kooky crafts, eerie animals in the Great Hall, and much more.” The Scarium of the Pacific is included at no additional charge with General admission to the aquarium. Note: This Halloween, the aquarium is also offering its Halloween Family Sleepover 2012, which takes place next weekend.
