Halloween Yard Haunts
Decorated Yards, Walk-Through Mazes, Performances & Other Amateur Attractions
Find More: Halloween Haunts Master List – Theme Park Halloween Attractions – Halloween Haunted Houses – Community Halloween Haunts – Halloween Haunts for Children – Halloween Parties & Street Fairs – Halloween Tours & Performances – Halloween News – Halloween Photographs - Halloween Video
Halloween in Los Angeles is a very special time, when haunted house enthusiasts create elaborate Yard Haunts (or, in some cases Garage Haunts) in order to terrify appreciative trick-or-treaters just for the love of doing it. Below is a listing of these Halloween Yard Haunts in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. These neighbborhood home haunts usually feature houses and lawns decorated to resemble graveyards; some offer walk-through haunted mazes (although few if any actually allow you inside their house). Most are open on Halloween and one or two nights before or after. All are free and open to the public; some accept donations, either to off-set their costs or to benefit local charities. Although we categorize these Halloween attractions as “amateur” because they are non-profit, at least some are operated by industry veterans and feature professional-looking special effects.
Click here for the latest word on Amateur Halloween Events in Los Angeles.
Note: Halloween Haunts with hyper-linked names lead to their own pages with more specific information, reviews, photographs, and video.
Looking for other ways to spend Halloween in Los Angeles? Check out our listings for Theme Park Halloween Attractions, Halloween Haunted Houses, Community Halloween Haunts, Halloween Events for Children, and Halloween Parties, Street Fairs, and Graveyard Tours.
ADENMOOR MANOR – No Longer in Operation
5929 Adenmoor Avenue
Lakewood, CA 90713
2011 INFO: No haunt this year. Some of the proprietors of this home haunt have moved out of state. The remaining haunter may resume in Halloween 2012
Admission: Free
This is a yard haunt with a backyard maze in Lakewood, the town near Long Beach that houses the Horror on Frankel Street. This is the haunt’s second year with a full walk-through maze, which the owners estimate at approximately 1000 square feet. Guests are allowed to enter in groups of 6 or less, passing through twists and turns that prevent them from seeing what lies in wait ahead – but whatever it is, we are told that the monsters outnumber the humans. There is no particular theme, but the haunt avoids the usual cliches: clowns, aliens, pirates, toxic waste mutants and overly familiar movie characters (ie. like Jason, Freddy, and Leatherface) are nowhere to be seen.
ALIEN INFESTATION – No longer in Operation
2734 Annapolis Circle
San Bernadino, CA 92408
Website: www.alieninfestation.com
PRICE: Free
2011 DATE & TIMES: NONE
INFORMATION: Although it is a a bit out of our usual jurisdiciton, we included Alien Infestation in our listings because it was created by Ryan Carter, who contributes to one of our favorite professional Halloween haunted houses, the Old Town Haunt in Pasadena. The effects for Alien Infestation are created by Carter’s special effects company, Hall of Shadows.
DESCRIPTION: In 2009, Alien Infestation presented a scenario roughly akin to H.P Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space,”inviting you to tour the impact of a meteor strike on San Bernadino, which has adversely affected the local environment and creating mutant creatures of every description. According to the official website:
“The five minute walk-through takes guests through a variety of sets and mazes filled with elaborate props, mechanical effects, and good old fashioned human scares. Though blood and depictions of dismembered limbs are present, the gore is not excessive. There are no age restrictions on the event, but parents are cautioned against bringing children that are easily frightened by the dark, graphic images, or startling events. The scare factor can be reduced upon request, but this will not eliminate all of the frightening elements. Regretfully, wheelchair access is not available at this time.”
HISTORY: Making its debut in 2009, Alien Infestation replaced Ryan Carter’s previous yard haunt, Bayou of Blood.
THE BACKWOODS MAZE
1912 North Pepper Street
Burbank, CA 91505
Website: www.freewebs.com/halloweenhauntmazemaster.
Click here for our page devoted to the Backwoods Maze.
BONEY ISLAND – Halloween Yard Haunt – Back for 2011!
This wonderful skeleton carnival, just about the best way for families to spend Halloween in Los Angeles, is back in action.
Click its name to visit our page dedicated to the haunt.
CLUB HOUSE OF HORRORS
Presents “Reaper’s Scare”
1501 Palos Verdes Drive North, Harbor City, California 90710.
Email: youngtenda2387@aol.com
PRICE: Free but donations accepted to defray costs
2011 DATES & HOURS: TO BE ANNOUNCED, IF ANY (usually Halloween Night, October 31, 6:00pm to 11:00pm)
2010 THEME: Reaper’s Scare offers eight rooms filled with fear, but don’t expect return appearances by Freddy and Jason, who have been replaced by evil clowns and chainsaw-wielding scarecrows on a riotous rampage.
HISTORY: Located in the club house of a mobile home park, this amateur Halloween haunt made its debut in 2009 with “Movie Maniacs,” which promised “nine rooms for fright, all horror movie themed,” including Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, and Michael Myers .
CRESTFALLEN CEMETERY
9348 Cresta Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90035
Phone: (310) 968-5080
2011 Dates & Hours: October 31, approximately 6-9pm
Description: This amateur yard haunt provides a walk through a creepy cemetery, with an enclosed ramp featuring lots of animation and some live characters. The tone is family-friendly – more Disney’s Haunted Mansion than Knotts Scary Farm – with nothing too scary for young trick-or-treaters.
ETERNAL REST CEMETERY
414 Rose Avenue
Venice, California
Phone: (310) 755-1586
Website: www.venicehauntedhouse.com
E-Mail: Bunchastuf@aol.com
2011 DATES & HOURS (Updated): October 29 & 31, from dusk (approximately 6:30pm) until…? (Probably later on Saturday night than on Monday)
Updates: click here
PRICE: Free!
INFORMATION: This annual yard haunt is described as an “Professional outdoor haunted Halloween environement” that may “be too scary for very young children.” 2009 will feature a “small walk through area to the side of the house (not intended for kids) which is a winding walk through the dark hallways of the mortuary.”
FALLEN ANGEL CEMETERY
23830 Berdon Street
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Contact: (818) 716-6659
2011 DATES & HOURS: October 21-31, dusk till 10:00pm
INFORMATION: This amateur haunt takes a classic approach to Halloween – spooky, not gory – with lots of candy and fun for the kids. It consists of a decorated front yard with light and sound effects to create the impression of lightening, thunder, wind, and rain.
Check out their YouTube video.
FOREST OF MIRRORS
6124 Lederer Ave, Woodland Hills, CA 91367-1329
Phone: 818-932-9491
Email: internet@pbergeron.com
Website: www.forestofmirrors.com
2011 DATES & HOURS: October 31, 6:00pm to midnight
Description: Located in a house once owned by silent movie comedian Buster Keaton, this Halloween yard haunt features a cemetery that seems endlessly extended thanks to strategic use of mirrors.
Click here for our archive on this haunt.
FRIGHT GALLERY – No Longer In Operation
This Burbank yard haunt and amateur musical show offered a unique way to spend Halloween in Los Angeles – watching an all-singing, all-dancing spoof, performed on stage in a front yard decorated with tombstones. Click name for more information.
FRIGHTMARE - NO LONGER IN OPERATION
Reseda, CA 91335
NOTE: This Halloween haunted house was apparently a one-shot deal, when some ambitious haunters took advantage of a rare opportunity: being asked to house sit for a friend. With an empty house at their disposal, they turned it into an excellent walk-through haunted house.
FEATURES: This completely amateur effort was one of the best Los Angeles yard haunts in 2004. Not really a “Yard Haunt,” it actually took you through a house with seven rooms of bone-chilling fear that promised to “scare the yell out of you,” including a 3D maze. Unfortunately, since then the haunters have been unable to secure a suitable location. With no news of a revival, this goes down in Halloween haunt history as a memorable one-shot wonder.
ALSO OF NOTE: Although free, the haunt did take donations. In 2004, all proceed went to benefit APLA (AIDS Project Los Angeles). Read about our 2004 Halloween Haunted House Odessey (including a trip to Frightmare, Grimmstone, Hallowed Haunting Grounds, Witch’s Castle, and other amateur haunts).
GHOSTS OF HALLOWEEN – No Longer in Operation
Website: www.ghostsofhalloween.com
Located in Pomona, not far from this Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, this is Halloween yard haunt used to include a walk-through maze with a few professional-looking gags; after 2009, it scaled back to a decorated yard, then gave up the ghost entirely. Click name for more information.
GRIMMSTONE CEMETERY – No Longer in Operation
This Van Nuys yard haunt, formerly one of the best in Los Angeles, is no longer in operation. Halloween in Los Angeles will never be the same! Click name for more information.
HALLOWED HAUNTING GROUNDS* - No Longer in Operation
This Studio City yard haunt, now deceased, was the best amateur Halloween event in Los Angeles for over thirty years. Click name for more information.
HALLOWEEN GRAVEYARD
On Katherine Avenue, between Riverside Drive & Huston Street
Sherman Okas, CA
Website: halloweengraveyardsite.com
DATE & HOURS: Usually the last week of October, from dust till…?
ADMISSION: Free
DESCRIPTION: This small-scale amateur yard haunt features 13 gravesites, moving skeletons, bats, ghosts, fog, lighting and sound effects. There are no monsters to scare trick-or-treaters, making the Halloween Graveyard very kid-friendly.
HANOVER HALL: The October Country
1016 Beechwood Street
Camarillo, CA 93010
2011 Dates & Hours: Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays from Oct. 7 to 31
Hours: 7:30-10pm
Admission: free, but a $1-donation is suggested.
The manager of this yard haunt promises something different: less gore and more atmosphere, in the tradition of classic haunted house tales, with an emphasis on whimsy and fun. There are no scare actors, just atmospheric displays of ghosts, goblins, and witches. All of this is contained in a small structure to create the enclosed “dark ride” feel that one associates with the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.
HART STREET HAUNT
19521 Hart St. in Reseda
2011 DATES & HOURS: Decorations are typically up by the first week of October; monsters haunt the sidewalk outside the yard only on Halloween night, from dusk till the trick-or-treaters disappear.
ADMISSION & PARKING: Free – but parking is difficult. This is a neighborhood that loves Halloween, and the curbs are crowded with cars.
DESCRIPTION: This yard haunt is situated in a Los Angeles neighborhood overflowing with Halloween spirit; many houses are decorated, and the sidewalks overflow with trick-or-treaters. The yard itself is loaded with mannequins of all shapes and sizes, many of them showing mechanical motions. There is no walk-through maze, but you do have to maneuver along a walkway between some fences to get to the front door for candy; the escape route takes you past a upright coffin that – surprise! – turns out to be occupied. As if that were not horror enough, a handful of monsters – a werewolf, Michael Myers, and others – lurk around the sidewalk, inflicting fear on unwary travelers.
HAUNTED GARAGE – On Hiatus
3432 Karen Ave
Long Beach, CA 90808
DATE & HOURS: NONE. In 2010, the official website stated that the haunt was going dark that year, with a promise to return. As of October 2011, the website was offline.The Haunt proprietor hopes to resume in 2012.
ADMISSION: Free, but there was a suggested donation of $3
DESCRIPTION: Haunted Garage puts on a different theme each Halloween. The 2008 version conflated the Faust legend with an insane asylum, for “Dr. Uphir’s Sanitorium.”
HAUNTED HOUSE ON PUNTA DEL ESTE STREET
2125 Punta Del Este St. in Hacienda Heights, CA
2011 Date: Halloween night only
Hours: 6-10pm
This Halloween yard haunt, in existence for ten years, starts as a maze in the front yard, wraps around the house, through the garage, and then an additional maze is built on the end. The scares are reportedly too intense for younger children; however, if a child enters, the monsters are alerted on a radio to tone down their act.
THE HAUNTED SHACK
5112 Maricopa Street Torrance, CA 90503
Contact: info@thehauntedshack.com
Website: www.thehauntedshack.com
2011 DATES & HOURS: October 29 & 31, 7-10pm (no show on Sunday, October 30)
ADMISSION & PARKING: ALWAYS FREE
Updates: Click here.
INFORMATION: In operation since 1997, the Haunted Shack has grown into a single effects-filled, 1500-square-foot walk-through maze that takes 3-4 minutes to walk through. The look of the maze changes from year to year, depending on the theme (2005 was killer klowns, for example). The amateur haunt was closed in 2007 due to time contraints but reopened for 2008, and has been going strong ever since. The theme for 2001: Dia De Los Muertos.
THE HAUNT WITH NO NAME…YET
Website: click here
An atmospheric amateur yard haunt in Tarzana – one of the best ways to enjoy Halloween in Los Angeles. Click name for more information.
THE HAUNTING
Anaheim, CA (address revealed one week prior to Halloween)
Website: Click here
2011 Date: Halloween Night, 6-10pm UPDATE: Apparently, The Haunting in Anaheim was cancelled for 2011. A message on their website states:
Due to unforeseen circumstances this year’s “The Haunting” will not be in operation.
We hope to see all of our dying guests in 2012.
Description: This amateur haunt, which features a walk-through maze, has been scaring Anaheim residents for 13 unlucky years. The Que Line will close promptly at 10pm. No charge for admission.
THE HELIZONDO HAUNT
2134 Elizondo Avenue
Simi Valley, CA 93065
Weblog: hellizondohaunt.com/blog
2011 Dates & Hours: October 30 & 31 (Halloween night) from dusk till…?
An elaborate yard haunt loaded with custom-made props and decorations.
HORROR ON FRANKEL STREET - Halloween Yard & Garage Haunt
Website: www.facebook.com/horroronfrankelst
Cool combination of yard haunt and garage haunt in the Lakewood area of Los Angeles. Click name for more information.
THE HOUSE AT HAUNTED HILL
Website: www.houseathauntedhill.com
A great amateur Halloween attraction with a dramatic presentation, telling a story through narration, music, and professional-quality special effects, in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles. More than a decorated yard – it’s a haunted house extravaganza. Click name for more information.
HOUSE OF RESTLESS SPIRITS
Website: www.houseofrestlessspirits.com
Tremendously spooky haunted house in Santa Monica, west of Los Angeles, near the ocean, featuring incredible special effects. Both the front yard and the back yard are haunted; plus there are numerous manifestations peeking out the windows of the house. Click name for more information.
THE INFECTED – No Longer in Operation
1401 N. Buena Vista, Burbank, CA 91505
Info: (818) 681-5605
DATES & HOURS: None
2008 DESCRIPTION: Previously known as “Massacre Manor,” this amateur Halloween haunt features a walk-through back yard path that portrays what happens when an urgent care medical facility is over-run by an infectious disease (shades of QUARANTINE).
INFORMATION: Free but accepts donations. Children under 10 should have an adult with them.
JACKSON MANOR – No Longer in Operation
Very nice yard haunt in Burbank, located in the San Vernando Valley area of Los Angeles, sometimes featuring a walk-through maze. Click name for more information.
MARY AND MARC DOTEN’S SPOOKY HOUSE
1785 E. Orange Grove Boulevard Pasadena, CA 91104
DATES & HOURS: Starts at dusk on Halloween night of odd-numbered years. For those of you who flunked math, this means there should be a haunt in 2011.
DESCRIPTION: An expansive Halloween yard haunted loaded with tombstones and decorative lights. A few sound effects enhance the cemetery feel, but the tone is mostly jokey (with gravestone markers for Bush and Michael Bolton). Passing through an arch, you take the long walk toward the house, accompanied by a silent figure in a gas mask. The front of the house is even more elaborately decorated with bones, an angle skeleton, and wafts of fog. The costumes proprietors guard the door, scaring those who look strong enough to take it but receiving the children amiably enough. Before you take your candy and leave, don’t forget to glance through the front door: the inside of the house is just as haunted as the outside, including some lovely miniature pieces above the fireplace mantle.
MOURNING ROSE MANOR
5250 Aurelia St., Simi Valley
Website: mourningrosemanor.webs.com
Updates: click here
DESCRIPTION: The ghosts of times long past are already stirring and waiting for their chance to walk among you. Will you come and greet them? They’re always looking for company. Come stay a while…a long while….
NIGHTMARE JUNCTION - Back in Operation for 2010
2220 Chandler Blvd Burbank, CA
NOTE: We had written this gruesomely good yard haunt maze off, since it had been out of operation for 2007, 2008, and 2009, but to our surprise, the owners resurrected it for 2010. Hopefully, it will be back for 2011.
2011 DATES & HOURS: To Be Announced, if any.
ADMISSION & PARKING: FREE
FEATURES: This residential yard haunt and walk-through maze, situated on a sidestreet intersection in a quiet neighborhood, was made up to look like a torture chamber, complete with dismembered bodies strung up above the fence that surrounds the property, plus various torture racks and other menacing devices. The grounds are patrolled by a hooded executioner, who pulls a cord to drop the guillotine on a dummy victim. Enterting the main gate leads you into a short, temporary maze structure, with a couple of gory scenes inside. A local attraction, this extravagant amateur effort can be very busy on Halloween night, unless you arrive very early. Although gruesome, the all tone is somewhat over-the-top and tongue-in-cheek, so this is proabably okay for all except the very youngest kids.
THE PIRATE CAVE
Nifty nautically-themed yard haunt located in Northridge, in the west San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. A gret way for kids to enjoy Halloween in Los Angeles. Click name for more information.
PIRATES OF EVERGREEN – No Longer in Operation
1730 North Evergreen Street
Burbank, California
2011 UPDATE: After putting his pirate playground on hiatus for 2010, the owner of this yard haunt moved to Oregon.
INFORMATION: This pirate-themed yard haunt and party took place on Halloween Night. The bulk of the display was up the night before, if you wanted to drive by and take a look, but the real fun flowed on October 31, when the yard was populated by pirates enjoying the festivities. The pirate-party grew so popular that it inspired neighbors to join in the Halloween fun, creating several other impressive displays nearby.
REALM OF TERROR – No Longer in Operation
23125 Eriel Ave. Torrance CA, 90505
Website: www.therealmofterror.com
Email: information@therealmofterror.com
2011 Date & Hours: None announced. In the past, on Halloween night – from dusk till…?
INFORMATION: This Halloween yard haunt began in 2000, offering walk-through mazes, which grew in size and complexity each year. Unfortunately, in 2007 time considerations forced a switch to a simpler haunt, minus the maze – which was again the case in 2008. 2009 saw no haunt at all, with a promise to return in 2010 – which never materialized. Proprietor Daniel Wassenberg has expressed hopes that he and his comrades will eventually resume haunting and perhaps get back to a more elaborate version of the haunt.
ROTTEN APPLE 907
Website: www.rottenapple907.com
More than just a decorated yard, this amatuer Halloween haunt features a walk-through maze with a different theme every year, located in Burbank, in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. Click name for more information.
SOUTH BAY MAZEMASTER
17019 Casimir Avene, Torrance, CA
Near Crenshaw and Artesia
Website: www.myspace.com/torrancemaze
2011 DATES & HOURS: UNKNOWN, IF ANY. This haunt was on hiatus in 2010, and its owner has not contacted us about resuming for 2011. (In past years, this amateur attraction was usually open the last few days of October, from 6-9pm.)
Price: Free but accepts $2 donations. For $20, six “victims” receive a “Zoom to Doom” pass that gets them to the front of the line.
2009 DETAILS: “Depths of Doom,” (originally announced as “Carniverous Cavern”) offered a 70-yard walk through “Haunted Mind Shaft” with black lights, strobes, fog machines, music and monsters. The proprietor promised that the “mind-blowing sights and sounds will send you out of this world!”
HISTORY: Like Rotten Apple 907 and Horror on Frankel Street, this amateur Halloween attraction changes theme form year to year. Usually located in the Torrance area of Los Angeles, this haunted Halloween maze moved to 513 N Guadalupe Ave in Redondo Beach for 2008; that year’s theme was “Hell Shire Farms.”
SPIDER-LIGHTS AT CATALINA
806 Catalina St
Burbank, CA 91505
2011 Dates & Hours: October 29 & 30 (full lights and decorations) & 31 (candy distribution 6-10pm)
Admission: Free
Description: This is a kid-friendly haunt that can be viewed from street. It is also safe to walk through, with lights and decorations but nothing too scary for young trick-or-treaters. Almost all decorations are in place a night or two before Halloween, with many on display up to a week previously.
THE 13th GATE ASYLUM
1798 Avenida Navidad
Camarillo, CA 92780
Website: www.the13thgateasylum.com
Email: info@the13thGateAsylum.com
2011 DATES: Halloween Night Only
2011 HOURS:
- 6-7pm: Child’s Play/Chicken Hour (no scaring)
- 7:30-10:30pm: Fair Game (anything goes)
ADMISSION & PARKING: FREE. Donations accepted.
2011 INFORMATION: This year’s presentation is titled Nightmares.” ”
BACKGROUND: The haunt features thirty cast member. The theme changes and thes walk-through maze is reconfigured every year. 2009’s theme was Carn-Evil (yup, killer klowns). 2010 offered “The Haunted Forest.”
THE TUSTIN HAUNT
13151 Brittany Woods Drive Tustin, CA 92780
See listing under Community Halloween Haunts
REVELES HAUNTS – No Longer in California
8146 Campbell Avenue
Riverside, CA 92503
Website: www.revelshaunts.com
Dates: None in Southern California
Information: After three years of haunting Riverside (including 2010’s Werewolves in Wonderland), this home haunt picked up stakes and moved to Wisconsin. Its website is still active, and the haunt lives on in its new location. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.
THE WHITECLIFF ROAD HAUNTED MANOR
Formerly the Van Noord Street Haunted House
1077 Whitecliff Road Thousand Oaks, CA (818) 681-3750
Website: whitecliffhaunt.tripod.com
2011 DATES & HOURS: NONE – the haunt will be closed this year but promises to return in 2012.
ADMISSION & PARKING: FREE. However, the haunt has in the past accepted charitable donations (for Make-a-Wish Foundation in 2006, for example).
NEWS FOR 2010: For their 16th year of operation, the Whitecliff Road Haunted Manor promises to resurrect their walk-through maze, although due to time constraints it will not be as long as in past years.
NEWS FOR 2009: The walk-through maze was not in operation this year. The proprietors are taking a year off to visit other Halloween haunts, but they do expect to decorate their yard.
NEWS FOR 2008: After putting on a down-sized version of the haunt (without maze) for 2007, Whitecliff Manor promised to return to its full glory in 2008 with “lots of new things and an awesome tunnel.” The haunt accepted donations for the local elementary school and gave away SAW 5 promotional items on their preview nights (the 24th and 25th).
NEWS FOR 2007: Due to time constraints, the haunt did not offer their walk through maze. They do promised “a large display with a few surprises to scare you.”
HISTORY: At their previous location on Van Noord Street in Los Angeles, this amateur Halloween yard haunt (put on by some genuine Halloween enthusiasts) featured a front yard decorated as a pet cemetery and a short, walk-through tunnel with some nice black-light decorations and a brief, surprise scare at the end. Since then, they have moved to their current location, expanded their pet cemetery, and added an electric chair and a haunted foyer with a dead butler to guide guests through a 42-foot walk-through maze.
WITCH’S CASTLE - No Longer in Operation
A spooky, fun, kid-friendly yard haunt in Studio City – once among the best ways for families to spend Halloween in Los Angeles. Click name for more information.
