Heritage Haunt
Halloween Haunted House
CLOSED FOR 2011.
Hart Park – Heritage Junction
24101 San Fernando Road, Newhall, CA 91322
Website: www.scvhaunt.com
Want to enjoy a genuine haunted Halloween in Los Angeles? Check out Heritage Haunt, a seasonal attraction set in an allegedly haunted house.
HERITAGE HAUNT UPDATE: After a disappointing Halloween 2010, the rumor was that the Heritage Haunt would not return, because of behind-the-scenes difficulties over permits and permissions (which put the kibosh on the attraction’s highlight, the wonderfully atmospheric haunted Newhall Ranch House). In 2011, many of the crew moved on to a new Halloween event: Horror Valley High School, in Santa Clarita. However, Heritage Haunt did not slip quietly into the grave; instead, it promises to return in 2012 – on a smaller scale, closer to its previous incarnations, and best of all – with the Newhall Ranch House once again the centerpiece.
HERITAGE HAUNT DATES: To Be Announced
HERITAGE HAUNT HOURS: To Be Announced
HERITAGE HAUNT TICKETS: To Be Announced
HERITAGE HAUNT DISCOUNTS: To Be Announced
HERITAGE HAUNT PARKING: free
HERITAGE HAUNT ARCHIVAL INFORMATION:
A smattering of hillside tombstones at Heritage Haunt
2010 HERITAGE HAUNT FEATURES: This Halloween event offered numerous attractions
- Skeleton Seance in the Newhall Ranch House, formerly the haunted house attraction highlight of Heritage Haunt. NOTE: There is no walk-through haunted house in 2010. There is only one room with an animatronic skeleton performing a seance.
- The Hayride of Nightmares: This takes advantage of the rural location, which is dark and spooky all on its own.
- Indian Trails: a scare zone.
- Chewy’s Pirate Cove: an expanded scare zone from last year.
- Graveyard: another scare zone, this one centered around some authentic old western homes and a school house that form a dark little cul-de-sac, from which escape is difficult, if not impossible…
OTHER HERITAGE HAUNT EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Old Town Newhall, Hart Park, and Heritage Junction offer Halloween events that you can enjoy while visiting Heritage Haunt.
- “Alice in Scaryland” – a ballet performed by New World Dance Productions
- Murphy’s Saloon: if you are too timid to brave the haunt yourself, you can watch your terrified friends on closed circuit television as they walk through the haunt.
- Live bands at the Saugus Train Station.
PUMPKIN & BLUE GRASS FESTIVAL: This family friendly event takes place on October 23, from 10:00am to 3:00pm. Before the event a parade begins in Newhall at 9:00am and winds its way to Heritage Junction. Entertainment includes:
- Pumpkin Carving Contest
- Desperado’s Haunted Hayride: tour the junction and its haunted woods by daylight
- Creatures of the Night: Placerita Nature Center show
- Creepy Bug Show
- MUD Makeup show: learn to do pro-style Halloween makeup
- American Paranormal Research Association – Ghost Hunters Show
- New World Dance: “Alice in Scaryland”
- Showdown Production: a Halloween-themed show
- Hart Park Animals: see the critters that roam the park, including horses deer buffalo, ducks, and sheep
*A NIGHT IN HERITAGE JUNCTION: This special event took place on October 22-23, hosted by the American Paranormal Research Association. For $60, you get Heritage Haunt VIP – back stage tours; dinner & continental breakfast; a picture in the graveyard with the A.P.R.A.; and an all-night paranormal investigation of Heritage Junction.
HERITAGE HAUNT BACKGROUND: This Halloween attraction has some of the authentic feel of the old Haunted Vineyard; it is situated in a “real” house, cleverly exploiting the legends of the ghost purpotedly residing there. Put on by the Santa Clarita Historical Society, the Heritage Haunted House has been maintained to preserves the history of the local area, which was both a mining community and later the location for filming early silent cowboy movies starring William S. Hart.
PAST HERITAGE HAUNTS: Based on actual legends of the old Western mining community in the area, the 2008 incarnation of the annual Halloween attraction was titled “Curse of the Ghoul Mine. With an eerie soundtrack, there is more emphasis on making your skin crawl than on making you jump out of your skin – although there is some of that as well, accomplished both by actors in makeup and by mechanical pops that pop up like malevolent Jack-in-the-Boxes. The 2009 expanded edition was themed “Nightmares of Newhall.”
NOTE: We group Heritage Haunt along side professional haunted house attractions because they charge admission and the event is of similiar quality; however, this is a non-profit event, staffed by volunteers, benefitting the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society.
