Solvang is making your worst nightmares come to life at the city’s Haunted House this weekend.
The annual haunted house this year has the theme of “Nightmares and Beyond” and is open Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Participants will be able to buy their tickets at the door, which will cost $15 for kids 12 and under, and $20 for adults.
Those who dare to enter will be guided through the haunted house in a 20-minute tour at the Solvang Festival Theater at 420 Second St.
The 6 p.m.-6:30 p.m. time is described as “kid-friendlier” by Parks and Recreation Director Jenny McClurg, with any tours past that time being for those who “like to get scared.”
“When it gets dark, it just changes things a lot, and then they start scaring,” McClurg said. “The chainsaws come out. The clowns, the animatronics all start working, the noisemakers and all of that.”
The haunted house is organized by the Parks and Recreation Department and run by volunteers, who registered about a month before the event. McClurg said over 75% of volunteers are returning from previous years, and signed a waiver to participate.
McClurg mentioned that the volunteers will be doing “pop-out scares,” and that the attraction doesn’t have any blood or gore.
“We design it so there are a lot of places that people don’t expect to see somebody, and then the other part is like a creepy scare, where you have a very creepy looking person just following you, and you can’t get away from them,” McClurg said.
The haunted house will also have a street fair, where Second Street will be closed off to have face painters, food, treats and drinks.
The haunted house was designed by Special Events Contractor and former Parks and Recreation Director Fred Lageman, who has been designing the event for 30 years. He described the backstage of the theater as an “old London downtown Jack the Ripper Christmas Emporium.”
“The backstage underground is phenomenal. This is a new concept we haven’t done before, where it’s an interior maze with no walls,” Lageman said. “And I think the church has been a big hit with people walking through, seeing the stained glass windows at night.”
Lageman said the theme for next year will be “clowns and cowboys.”
If you’re looking for an extra scare, Allan Hancock College is hosting a “Frightmare Forest” on Oct. 24, Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 from 7-10 p.m. at the Santa Maria Campus’s baseball and softball field.
The 3-acre haunted maze costs $15 per person and tickets serve as a fundraiser for the men’s basketball program. The college is located at 800 S College Dr.
