Halloween Yard Haunts
Decorated Yards, Walk-Through Mazes, Performances & Other Amateur Attractions
Find More: Los Angeles Halloween Haunts Master List – Theme Park Halloween Attractions in Los Angeles – Halloween Haunted Houses & Hayrides in Los Angeles – Halloween Festivals & Community Haunts in Los Angeles – Los Angeles Halloween Haunts for Children – Halloween Parties & Costume Contests in Los Angeles – Halloween Horror Shows & Excursions in Los Angeles – 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. We learn of new haunts all the time, and they do not always get added to this list immediately, so be sure to check for new additions.
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.
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 YARD HAUNT - Halloween Skeleton Magic Show
4602 Morse Avenue, Sherman Oaks, CA 91432
Website: www.boneyisland.com
Click here to visit our page dedicated to the haunt.
DARK REALMS: AN AMERICAN HAUNT
537 Palm Dr., Brea, CA 92821
2012 Dates : October 5-6, 12-13, 19-20, 26-27 & 31
Hours: Typically, 7pm-10pm on weeknights and 7pm-11pm on weekends, with an early show for timid trick-or-treaters at 6:30pm
Tickets: $8 for General Admission or $15 for a front of the line pass.
Description: This is more of a “home haunt” than a “yard haunt” – it is not a decorated yard but a walk-through maze, with numerous scenes and actors, eager to have you for dinner. Although located in a private home, Dark Realms: An American Haunt charges for admission – raising money to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. This may be the last year, as the owners are moving, so check it out!
ETERNAL REST CEMETERY – Yard Haunt & Maze
414 Rose Avenue
Venice, California
Phone: (310) 755-1586
Website: www.venicehauntedhouse.com
E-Mail: Bunchastuf@aol.com
2012 DATES: October 27 and Halloween night, 7pm to approximately midnight
HOURS: Typically, from dusk (approximately 6:30pm) until the line of trick-or-treaters dwindles.
Updates: click here
PRICE: Free!
INFORMATION: This annual yard haunt is described as sporting a “Professional outdoor haunted Halloween environement” that may “be too scary for very young children.” Since3 2009, there has been a claustrophobic walk-through on the side of the house, with a cramped corridor marked by tight turns, leaving you no room to evade the creatures lurking within. It takes only a few minutes to get through, but it is very effective.
FALLEN ANGEL CEMETERY
23830 Berdon Street
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Contact: (818) 716-6659
2012 DATES & HOURS: October 19-31, dusk till 10:00pm (candy on Halloween night only)
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.
Find articles about Fallen Angel Cemetery here.
FOREST OF MIRRORS
6124 Lederer Ave, Woodland Hills, CA 91367-1329
Phone: 818-932-9491
Email: internet@pbergeron.com
Website: www.forestofmirrors.com
2012 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. That may not terribly terrifying when you read it, but in person the illusion is startling and remarkable.
Click here for our archive on this haunt.
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
2012 Dates: October 25-13
Hours: 7:30pm to 9:30pm
Admission: free, but donations are gladly accepted.
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
2012 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 COURTYARD
Villa Del Fuente
627 North Spaulding Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Webpage: www.villadelfuente.com
2012 Date: Halloween night
Hours: from dusk till the treats run out.
Description: Children of all ages are invited to enter the Haunted Villa’s inner courtyard for Halloween fun. Located in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles, a couple blocks from the intersection of Fairfax and Melrose, this amateur Halloween event offers a simple walk-through trick-or-treat experience with spooky atmosphere and candy.
THE HAUNTED DIARY
603 N. Las Palmas Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Website: www.thehaunteddiary.com
2012 Dates: Friday, October 27 and Wednesday, October 31st, 7:30pm-11:30pm
Admission: free, but donations are accepted.
Description: Formerly known simply as “Haunted Hollow,” this Halloween home haunt morphed into a sort of anthology in 2012: the connecting link is the “Haunted Diary,” which will open every Halloween to a new page, featuring a new theme.
Although the 2012 presentation is titled “The Haunted Diary presents Haunted Hollow,” the proprietor promises all new frights unlike anything seen in previous years. Haunted Hollow 2012 takes Los Angeles Halloween fans back to 1974 to experience the terror and mystery of the Halloween night when the Dent family massacred the townspeople of Paxton and then disappeared, never to be seen again.
The Haunted Diary promises a “classic, vintage Halloween feel” that will recreate a 1970s small town. Trick-or-Treaters will first pass through cornfields and a swamp on the outskirts. Next, they will enter the village of Paxton and encounter the victims, before proceeding inside the Dent residence and the Paxton School house.
The experience is not recommended for younger children. The front yard will be decorated (and perhaps populated with live monsters), with candy available for children too timid to enter the haunt.
HAUNTED GARAGE – Back for 2012?
3432 Karen Ave
Long Beach, CA 90808
DATE & HOURS: To Be Announced. After going dark for Halloween 2010 and 2011, the proprietor has promised that the Haunted Garage will again be open for Halloween 2012.
ADMISSION: Free, but there was a suggested donation of $3
DESCRIPTION: In the past, The Haunted Garage has put on a different theme each Halloween. For example, 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
2012 Date: Halloween night only
Hours: 6-10pm
For 2012, this yard haunt in the Hacienda Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles promises their biggest and scariest Halloween ever, in celebration of their 10th anniversary. Starting in the front yard, a walk-through labyrinth 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
2012 Dates & Hours: To Be Announced. Typically, one or two nights, including October 31, 7pm-10pm
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 here for more information.
THE HAUNTING
Anaheim, CA (address revealed one week prior to Halloween)
Website: Click here
2012 Dates: Halloween night, from dusk till 10pm.
After a last-minute cancellation for Halloween 2011, The Haunting in Anaheim is resurrected for its 15th anniversary 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
2012 Dates & Hours: October 30 & 31 (Halloween night) from dusk till…?
An elaborate yard haunt loaded with custom-made props and decorations. Quite a bit of fun, with a short walk-through maze haunted by monsters of various shapes and sizes, depending on the year’s theme.
Mishap Manor
HOLLYWOOD HAUNTER Presents
Haunt on Garden Street
Location: 1547 Garden St., Glendale 91201
Website: Click here
Contact: mishapmanor@gmail.com
Dates & Hours: Halloween night, sundown to 11pm
Description: Formerly known as Mishap Manor, this family-friendly yard haunt got a makeover and a new name for Halloween 2012, razing its decrepit haunted house to make room for a cemetery with a pair of mausoleums. All of the props are home-made, enhanced with lighting and sound effects. For the courageous trick-or-treater, this is a 150-foot walk-through crypt.
Dates & Hours: Typically, the haunt’s walk-through mausoleum is open Halloween night. Before then, the yard can be viewed through the end of the month, with lights on, until 9:00pm every night.
Hollywood Haunter Updates: click here
Mishap Manor Archive: click here.
THE 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 here 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 here for more information.
THE 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 here for more information.
MARY AND MARC DOTEN’S SPOOK 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 2013.
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
2012 Dates & Hours: October 1-31, from dusk till 11pm
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….
MURDER MANOR
5311 Acacia Avenue
Garden Grove, CA 92845
Website: ocmurdermanor.webs.com
Dates: Usually, Halloween Night 7pm-midnight
Description: Every Halloween, this old Victorian estate transforms into Murder Manor, beckoning guests to travel once again down the haunted hallways, where horrific events from long ago return to life.
The Murder Manor haunt is free but donations are encouraged.
NIGHTMARE JUNCTION - Out of Operation for 2012
2220 Chandler Blvd Burbank, CA
NOTE: We are moving this gruesomely good yard maze to our Graveyard of Lost Halloween Haunts. It was out of operation for 2007, 2008, and 2009, then resurrected briefly in 2010. It disappeared again in 2011, and remains closed for 2012.
2012 DATES & HOURS: None.
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.
A NIGHTMARE ON LEAF STREET
1253 S Leaf Avenue, West Covina CA, 91791
Website: www.facebook.com/nightmareonleafstreet
2012 Dates & Hours: To Be Announced.
This amateur yard haunt bills itself as the “scariest Halloween experience in the San Gabriel Valley.” Making its debut in 2010, the walk-through maze featured scares inspired by the Freddy Kruger films, along with Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, and other icons of fright – all of it in 3-D. The proprietors claim to be in it for the long haul (”We plan to do House Haunts till we’re old”) and hope to achieve nationwide recognition for their work. Also, they will haunt your Halloween party for you – as long as it takes place at least 2 weeks before Halloween night, giving them time to set up their own event.
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.
SPIDER-LIGHTS AT CATALINA
806 Catalina St
Burbank, CA 91505
2012 Dates & Hours: October 27-31. Much of the display will be on view the weekend of October 20; full set-up should be ready by October 27. Candy is distributed October 31 from 6-10pm
Admission: Free
Description: This is a charming kid-friendly haunt in Burbank, which seems to be the “Yard Haunt Central” area of Los Angeles. 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.
SPOOKY HOLLOW
17449 Burbank Boulevard
Encino CA
Dates & Hours: October 29, 30 & 31st, 7PM to 10PM
Link out: Click here
This new Halloween yard haunt makes its debut in Los Angeles for October 2012. The proprietor (whose Imagineerie company provides effects for professional Halloween theme park attractions) offers this description:
Spooky Hollow is a yard haunt put together by a (partially) mad man to satiate his need to share his love of Halloween. It is an elaborate yard display of a grave yard, a witches lair and a toxic waste dump featuring “off the shelf” animated figures, video illusions and perhaps a few surprises. There will be some costumed “creatures”, but they are there to greet visitors, not scare them. This display, while creepy, is otherwise family friendly.* This is Spooky Hollow’s first year. If all goes well, the plan is to morph and grow the event over the coming years into a completely unique and engaging event rivaling large haunts and theme parks in show quality.
*UPDATE: Regarding the term “family friendly,” the owner clarifies: although there are no “in your face” jump-scares, Spooky Hollow could be a bit frightening for some small children, with creepy atmospheric effects and some gruesome props and decor.
SPYDRHILL CEMETARY
1522 w 222nd Street, Torrance, California 90501
Facebook page: click here
Contact: spydrhill@sbcglobal.net
2012 Date: TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR Halloween night, 6:30pm – 10pm (later if there is still an audience to entertain). None. Unfortunately, this amateur Halloween yard haunt was cancelled due to lack of funds; the proprietor set up a Kickstarter account but was unable to attract enough investors in time. Too bad: Spydrhill had been haunting its Torrance neighborhood for ten years, and the stills look really good. Now we may never get a chance to see it in person
Location: 1522 w 222nd Street, Torrance, California 90501
Description: Spydrhill offered three fright-filled rooms: Cobweb Alley, Clowns of Chaos, and Spydrhill Cemetary. Guests who dared to enter would find themselves in a once-beautiful town now overrun by arachnids. If you make it through the winding maze, candy will be your reward.
Admission was free, but donations were accepted to offset cost.
Note: Spydrhill Cemetary is seeking donations to fund this year’s haunt. If you are interested in helping out, contact spydrhill@sbcglobal.net, or go to the Halloween haunt’s Kickstart page.
THE 13th GATE ASYLUM
1798 Avenida Navidad
Camarillo, CA 92780
Website: www.the13thgateasylum.com
Email: info@the13thGateAsylum.com
2012 DATES: To Be Announced. Typically, Halloween Night Only
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 WHITECLIFF ROAD HAUNTED MANOR
Formerly the Van Noord Street Haunted House
1077 Whitecliff Road Thousand Oaks, CA (818) 681-3750
Website: whitecliffhaunt.tripod.com
2012 DATES & HOURS: Halloween night, dusk till….
2012 UPDATE: Once a fairly elaborate yard haunt with a walk-through maze, Whitecliff Manor has been reduced to a front-yard display.
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. After moving to Thousand Oaks, the haunt expanded its 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. Due to time constraints, the maze was abandoned in 2007, then resurrected for 2008, then abandoned again – this time, apparently, for good. After taking a year off to visit other haunts in 2009, the proprietors returned for 2010, then sat out 2011 again. Their website indicated that, from then on, they would no longer be doing an elaborate home haunt, just a decorated yard.
