Happy nightmares, Angelenos. Sure, it's the middle of summer and Halloween is probably the furthest thing from your minds right now, but it's never too early to book (and build up the courage for) one of L.A.'s most popular and terrifying attractions: the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. The annual fright fest is making a horrifying return to Griffith Park starting Friday, September 29—and this year, it's coming with a nightmare-inducing clown theme.
With all the buzz and pure fear surrounding the forthcoming reboot of Stephen King's horror novel-turned-movie It along with American Horror Story's new cultish, killer-clown cast, it seems the haunting red-nosed character is—dare we say—trending. Los Angeles' special effects-packed hayride is no exception; this year, it will be crawling with more demonic clowns than you're mentally prepared for.
"Hayride fans have been asking us to bring back the Clown Tent finale for years. We just couldn't escape it. Once we started, we got so sucked into this rabbit hole of incredible clown content that we couldn't just do one finale scene," says Melissa Carbone, Ten Thirty One Productions CEO and founder of the Haunted Hayride, in a press release. "So we decided to take the number one fan favorite experience of our entire history and make it the entire 30 acre attraction."
The month-long event will bring back four reimagined and bone-chilling zones: the House of Shadows dark maze, the Haunted Hayride through the woods of Griffith Park, the Trick or Treat interactive neighborhood for door-to-door candy from ghoulish denizens, and Purgatory, the haunted village complete with food and drink vendors, a psychic and more. It's enough horror to keep you screaming in terror all night long (trust us, you can hear the distant screams all the way from the parking lot).
If you dare to enter the clown-filled attraction, the Haunted Hayride runs from September 29 through October 31. Head over to Griffith Park's Old Zoo with your bravest face on Sundays and Thursdays from 7pm to 10:30pm or Fridays and Saturdays from 7pm to midnight. To score a general admission pre-sale ticket ($44), VIP front-of-the-line pass ($62) or limited hayride-only pass ($35), book online here.
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