50 years ago, Knott’s Scary Farm started a cultural phenomenon with its first Halloween Haunt. Yesterday, October 26th was the actual 50th anniversary! 5 decades later, Haunt is a standard throughout the world. While others create wonderfully produced scare mazes, Scary Farm continues to outshine everyone with its scare zones. Rife with bizarre, misshapen, and grotesque monsters, Scary Farm’s scare zones are tried and true attractions in themselves.
In an attempt to augment the classic Haunt, Knott’s took a bit of a gamble on new interactive technology this year. Other parks in Southern California have their own interactive tech— Disneyland’s MagicBand+ and Universal Studios Hollywood’s Power-Up Band. Knott’s created their own version specifically for Scary Farm this year in the form of the $40 Interactive Lantern (which, spoiler alert, sold out early in the season). Did the lantern enhance the classic Scary Farm experience or become distracting? How does it compare to experiences created by the other parks? What might we expect from the technology in the future? The answers lie in the scare zones— let’s begin with the original, Ghost Town Streets.
A forewarning— As a fun way to evoke an extra level of nostalgia, I’ve included some photos of the monsters I shot on black and white 35mm film that may elicit some wistfulness for the early days of Knott’s Scary Farm (much like the color film in our Scary Farm entertainment article)
Ghost Town Streets
The classic and scariest of them all 50 years running, Ghost Town Streets not only has its own story but also interlinking stories with mazes and shows. It all revolves around Sarah Marshall who, upon being sentenced to death by hanging for witchcraft, morphs into the Green Witch and curses all those who accused her. She now wanders the entirety of Scary Farm, but in Ghost Town Streets, the Green Witch walks around checking upon her cursed pets.
The monsters who roam Ghost Town Streets were once the townsfolk of Calico, now eternally cursed to roam as hideous beings with a thirst for blood. The Green Witch takes pleasure in reminding them of their predicament and torturing them for her own sadistic pleasure.
Origins: The Curse of Calico, The Grimoire, 2021’s Invitation to Terror, and The Hanging all possess a different element of Sarah Marshall’s (and thus Ghost Town Streets’) story.
This all serves as a single interconnected story for the town of Calico and its unfortunate inhabitants. Take a trip into the evil fog and find some of the scariest, yet cleverly designed monsters around.
All have been ghoulishly twisted by the Green Witch.
Many have become half-man-half-beast hybrids of the dark.
While some are beyond description.
You never know what might be lurking in the shadows…
…They may just come sliding out of it.
It’s quite a lot of fun watching the sliders work— sparks flying and screaming ensuing.
These ghouls are quite masterful at their craft. You never even see them coming.
If you dare enter the fog-shrouded streets of Ghost Town, watch your back; the monsters come quick.
In addition to the commotion of Ghost Town Streets, two park displays come to life when approached with an interactive lantern. Above the Ice Cream shop, there’s a huge animatronic reaper (or Steve, as the monsters called him). He’s easy to miss and has a very narrow activation range. In fact, many of the monsters, including Sarah Marshall herself, were pointing guests to the correct spot to activate “Steve.”
Sometimes “Steve” wouldn’t activate and the monsters would walk by and yell “Steve, wake up!” and lament that “Steve doesn’t want to wake up.”
Walk by the spiders near the entrance to The Grimoire, and you’re in for a fright.
Let’s leave the terrors of Calico and enter a land with some gothic showmanship.
Forsaken Lake
Beneath Silver Bullet, gothic creatures emerge from the murky waters looking for unsuspecting victims to drag back to a watery grave. The waterlogged monsters of Forsaken Lake take on an esoteric quality, often being less scary but incredibly creepy.
There’s a level of showmanship throughout Forsaken Lake that culminates in a procession multiple times a night. All of the diabolic inhabitants of the lake march down Mission Row in a ghostly display.
“The forsaken souls of the lake shall bow down to death’s grip no more!”
While regular processions commit a body to the grave, a Forsaken Lake procession rises one from its resting place in the muck and mire of the lake. As expected, they emerge quite confused and scared:
Compared to other scare zones where the monsters hide in shadows, it’s quite wonderful to see them all collected in one spot for the procession…
Forsaken Lake has a special lantern light activation just for the area where the procession takes place, although I found that many of the shows around Scary Farm don’t utilize it. Dr. Cleaver Returns, though, has some rather clever usage throughout.
For example, every time Dr. Cleaver would do the running gag “THE SPEEEEELLLLL,” the lanterns would join in with the on-stage green strobing. I thought it might be distracting, but it was actually a great addition. Later in the show, Cleaver would jokingly tell the audience to get their lanterns ready for THE SPEEEEELLLLL!
By the way, if you’re interested in more about Scary Farm live entertainment, check out our article below:
Knott’s Scary Farm 50th Anniversary Entertainment – Masterfully Macabre!
Forsaken Lake is also home to an easy-to-miss activation— a spooky coffin with a crying widow. Once again, the monsters in the scare zone are keen on the display and will walk by and make comments. One approached me and exclaimed “I don’t know why she’s crying! Look how many flowers I gave her!”
Nearby in Fiesta Village, the lantern activates the cauldrons around Jaguar. Fitting that they’re surrounded by the bones of Aztec sacrifice.
Interactive Lantern – Enhancing or Distracting?
The Knott’s Scary Farm Interactive Lantern is rather interesting tech that’s being utilized in a way that’s unique in comparison to the interactive accessories other parks in the region offer. At the most basic, it’s different colored lights and strobing, but then things like the park displays create fun little easter eggs.
Perhaps this has to do with Knott’s approach of making it a carryable accessory instead of a wearable. In comparison, Universal’s Power-Up bands only activate things when tapped and Disneyland’s MagicBand+ does activate activities and lights up for shows, but only on your wrist. While the lantern does get tiresome to carry at times (I ended up attaching it to my hip with a carabiner when not in use), it opens up avenues for roleplay in a way I hadn’t seen at Knott’s Scary Farm before. Roleplay is something that Knott’s does well, of course, as evidenced by their annual Ghost Town Alive experience each summer:
Knott’s Summertime Comes Alive with Food, Music & Entertainment!
I’m not sure if roleplay was a primary consideration, but Knott’s must’ve directed the scare actors on how to react to an onslaught of guests walking around with easy-to-spot light sources. I initially figured it would make those guests a target, but in fact, that was the controversial No-Boo Necklace. While the monsters won’t scare No-Boo wearers, they will heckle them endlessly— which is perhaps almost worse. Conversely, the monsters often interact in fun and imaginative ways with lantern holders.
Many acted playfully toward my lantern. Others will ask for you to change the color. Walking through Ghost Town, monsters would accost me to change my lantern to flashing red. In the Gore-ing 20s, the residents would tell me my “elixir box” was broken and that it needed to be changed to green. The Conductor asked to see mine, and he blew into it while simultaneously changing the color. A neat trick.
It certainly makes for a great photo prop, of course.
The Knott’s Scary Farm Interactive Lantern is decidedly less distracting and more of an enhancement than I initially anticipated. My primary fear would be that it would render mazes too bright, but I found that mazes utilized it for augmenting when desired, and would remotely dim lanterns when they’d be disturbing. The additional interaction from the scare actors is a bonus, sealing the fact that the lanterns truly have the most potential not for mazes, but for scare zones.
Here are some highlights from carrying the lantern around Scary Farm:
The lantern comes with a QR code (that’s easily lost) that includes a map of where to use it. Keep that guide handy. There are even a few activations in the Legacy Haunt Store & Museum outside the park.
Make sure to check out the video of the store in our article, which includes a look at the awesome lantern activation of Sarah Marshall cursing all the Calico townsfolk!
Knott’s Scary Farm 50th Anniversary: Legacy Haunt Store & Museum!
The three remaining scare zones do not have much in the way of interactivity, but I’d like to briefly venture into them with the lens of what Knott’s could do in the future.
The Gauntlet
Shrouded in darkness, traverse the hallowed grounds of The Gauntlet and come face to face with maniacal jesters, brutal barbarians, and lawless peasants all filled with a fresh appetite for terror. A returning favorite from Scary Farm’s past, The Gauntlet balances its medieval frights with hauntingly beautiful costume design.
This is perhaps the darkest scare zone in the park, too dark in fact for my film camera.
The Gauntlet received some prop installation upgrades over the course of the season, but an interactive display could be transformative. Perhaps a fire-breathing dragon? Or even something as simple as a special lighting pattern when the King and Queen of the realm approach you.
CarnEvil
The freak show is on full display at the Knott’s Boardwalk as ferocious clowns take over CarnEvil. The bands of killer clowns play tricks on unsuspecting passersby— a very entertaining place to people-watch.
I was surprised that despite the addition of quite a few new decorations around CarnEvil this year, none of them are interactive. Certainly, there’s precedent for a working clown jack-in-the-box since the area is filled with them.
Gore-ing ’20s
Step back into the prohibition decade as it takes over Memory Lane, transforming the area into the Gore-ing ’20s. A delightfully atmospheric scare zone, the Gore-ing ’20s is filled with gangsters, glitzy drunks, aggressive protestors, and the greenish glow of the Devil’s Elixir.
Throughout the evening, the Gore-ing ’20s spring to life with performances by the Blind Tiger Red Hot Jazz Band.
With all the Devil’s Elixir filling the Gore-ing 20s with green radiance, it’s a no-brainer that the interactive lanterns should too be green. Indeed, a synchronized animation with the band would enhance the atmosphere in the area.
As the end of 50th Knott’s Scary Farm season fast approaches, we’re left wondering what Knott’s might do next. Of course, we’re curious how they top the incredibly high bar set by the entire Haunt this year— live entertainment, mazes, and scare zones pushed the experience forward while paying tribute to what made it iconic over the years. Yet, all the theme parks seem to think interactive tech is the future.
What might Knott’s utilize the tech for next? Let us know in the comments down below, and please share any of your Knott’s Scary Farm stories from the past 50 years! Additionally, the scary folks in this article are notoriously difficult to photograph, so if you enjoyed the article, please share it with your friends (and enemies), it’ll help with the development costs of the 35mm film (who knew outdated photo technology would be so expensive?).
If you’re looking for more Knott’s Berry Farm Halloween reading:
https://www.micechat.com/365380-knotts-scary-farm-guide-2023/
Knott’s Scary Farm 50th Anniversary Entertainment – Masterfully Macabre!
Knott’s Scary Farm 50th Anniversary: Legacy Haunt Store & Museum!
