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Heritage Haunt exorcised – permanently

The Los Angeles Halloween Haunt Massacre continues with news that the Heritage Haunt in Newhall has closed its doors permanently. The announcement came via post on the haunt’s official Facebook page (text edited for clarity):

In January of this year (2015), A new Board of Directors for the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society was elected. The new Management is no longer is interested in having Heritage Haunt as a fundraiser. So heritage Haunt in any form has been permanently shut down.

The SCVHS believes that this fundraiser has been damaging to the NHR building, even though that is not true, and was based on people’s opinion that have no real understanding or expertise of what the house was before we cleaned it up, fixed it, and only installed/tied [in place] without damaging the structure. The facts were of no interest to the board, and the plan get rid of the people that produced the haunt was executed in January.

This was a sad day for so many people, the 1000’s of volunteers that helped produce the haunt and that volunteered for so many other projects around Heritage Junction. The story goes much deeper than this, and one day I will tell the story. For all those people that are calling, emailing and messaging, we appreciate your support and appreciate that you want to do something to save Heritage Haunt. Unfortunately, that is not possible; we already gave away or threw out much of what we used to put on the haunt, as we were ordered to remove everything Haunt-related in short notice. In addition, the people that made Heritage Haunt so good, have also gone, and are not willing to fight anymore to keep it alive.

This has been a bitter sweet pill for so many of us. I am thankful for being a part of such an amazing event with so many amazing and talented people. To all of our Volunteers, I say ‘Thank you so much for the incredible journey,’ and to our 1000’s of loyal patrons that came year after year, and to all of those people and businesses that donated so much, ‘Thank you, without you we could have never accomplished anything.’

RIP Heritage Haunt. We enjoyed the ride! We will always remember that we made so many good friends, so many great memories and accomplished what seemed to be impossible.

Sad news indeed. Heritage Haunt did not have the gloss of some larger Halloween attractions in Los Angeles, but it was a spooky favorite that benefited from its authentic atmosphere, courtesy of the old buildings preserved by the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society, in and around which the event was staged. You can read our enthusiastic response here.

Steve Biodrowski, Administrator

A graduate of USC film school, Steve Biodrowski has worked as a film critic, journalist, and editor at Movieline, Premiere, Le Cinephage, The Dark Side., Cinefantastique magazine, Fandom.com, and Cinescape Online. He is currently Managing Editor of Cinefantastique Online and owner-operator of Hollywood Gothique.