Spooky Season is Finally Back

Katelyn Ruggles

Along with the many mazes and scarers walking around, these events are filled with scary decorations throughout the whole park, as you can see right when you first walk into Knotts Scary Farm.

Katelyn Ruggles, Editor

With the events of the past two years, people were not able to enjoy the Halloween season like in the past. The ¨sweet tooths¨ were not able to go trick or treating and the adrenaline seekers were not able to get their frights at amusement parks, haunted houses, or scare mazes. However, thanks to the improvement of COVID cases we have seen recently, spooky season is here to stay this year. After a far too long break, there have been changes to a few of the Halloween festivities now that they’re back, so let’s take a look at all the new things people can experience this season. 

The two most popular things for people to take part in during the fall season are Knott’s Scary Farm and Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. Julian Lisboa (11) comments on these fright fests, saying that

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Within both these events, you can go on rides at the parks, walk through mazes with scarers, as well as scarers roaming around the park sneaking up on people at any and every moment. 

Knotts Scary Farm has made several changes this year regarding their horror days and the mazes in the park. Unlike previous years, Knotts Scary Farm is only open Thursday through Sundays, as opposed to every day of the week. However, to make up for the lack of days they are open, they added a new maze, scare zone, and many new shows. The most anticipated thing at Scary Farm would have to be their new maze, Mesmer, Sideshow of the Mind, a carnival inspired horror maze. Along with this new maze, there is a new scare zone called the Gor-ing 20s, homage to the roaring 20s, featuring new scarers and a new band. They also brought back The Hanging, a parody show of events that have happened throughout the years, as well a new digital illusions show called Carnaval du Grotesque and Invitation to Terror. 

Halloween Horror Nights is another fan favorite amongst the thrill seekers. Unlike Knotts Scary Farms, Halloween Horror Nights based their mazes on movies that have been made by Universal Studios. One of the most famous mazes at the park is their Texas Chain Massacre maze, being known as one of the scariest and most creative mazes they have this year. This maze is joined by many others based on movies, featuring Halloween, The Exorcist, The Purge, and many more. The Purge maze is a little different from the others as it is a drive through maze that takes place on the world famous Tram attraction at Universal Studios. The trip includes driving through scenes of the movie, as well as having scarers walk around while you are on the tram. Similar to Knotts Scary Farm, they also have scarers walking around the park, scaring people left and right. 

The lineup of scare festivities are looking to be one of the best in years. Scarers have waited two years for the moment to scare people again, and they are not holding back. With new mazes and scare zones, a day at Knotts Scary Farm and Holly Horror Nights will not have a single fright free moment, a dream for horror lovers, and a nightmare for scaredy cats.