The 7 best haunted houses in Los Angeles

Far from those kid-friendly rides through a pumpkin patch, this hayride unleashes all sorts of demons and bogeys on Griffith Park. Like seemingly all pop culture horror experiences right now, this year’s Haunted Hayride will set the action in the mid-’80s in the ficticious town of Midnight Falls. The event’s various attractions will be centered around the jack-o’-lantern–filled Midnight Falls Town Square, with a creaky old funeral parlor set up in the Midnight Mortuary Haunted House and an open-air maze at Roadkill Ranch. You’ll also find a dozen spots to go trick-or-treating an three escape rooms.

Confront familiar foes at Universal Studios’ annual Halloween festivities, where big-budget scares meet iconic horror movie characters. Navigate multiple mazes and scare zones—this year’s themed attractions include the return of a Stranger Things maze plus ones based on Ghostbusters, Us, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Creepshow, House of 1000 Corpses, “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” and “Holidayz in Hell.”

Encounter free-roaming monsters, terrifying mazes—spanning themes like Paranormal Inc., Special Ops: Infected and Shadow Lands—and more haunting attractions at the OC theme park.

The only thing better than a haunted attraction is a haunted attraction on a giant boat. You’ll find all the usual horrors here—fog, mazes and countless monsters. What sets Dark Harbor apart is its use of its surroundings; the dark, cramped confines of the Queen Mary are already pretty spooky even without monsters—just be prepared to climb a lot of skinny staircases. Tip: Arrive early for the $20 “Happy Haunting Hour” from 6pm to 8pm, where you can calm your nerves with a spiked potion at a pair of tap rooms.

Annual haunted experience Creep L.A. is sending up social-media–driven experiences this year with Haus of Creep, a satirical and frightful take on the pop-ups that’ve consumed L.A. over the past couple of years. Across a 75-minute walkthrough filled with 20 characters, you’ll find out that art is alive and dangerous as a dozen nightmarish installations mix shocking scenes with “intimate scares”—in the past, these have been one-on-one scenes in which (un)lucky guests are plucked from their fellow attendees.

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group hosts a chilling series of vignettes. Armed with a shoddy flashlight to illuminate the their path, guests navigate a labyrinth of terror before enduring a series of shocking scenes that will unsettle even the most stoic of horror fans.

This homegrown haunt has been bringing thrill-seekers to Torrance since 1997. This driveway maze is low on gore but filled with hand-built props and effects—to give you a better idea, the haunted house’s creator describes himself as that guy on your block who always plans an over-the-top Halloween. You can visit the house (5112 Maricopa St) in groups of two to four, and best of all, it’s completely free.