The best haunted houses in Los Angeles for Halloween scares

Confront familiar foes at Universal Studios’ annual Halloween festivities, where big-budget scares meet iconic horror movie characters. You’ll be able to navigate multiple scare zones and mazes, including ones based on A Quiet Place, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Insidious, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Weeknd, an all-female assembly of the classic Universal Monsters and a selection of creatures inspired by Latin American folklore. Go early in the season to cut down on wait times, or—if you can afford it—consider an express pass.

This interactive seasonal event combines elements of immersive theater with a more story-based approach to a walk-through haunted house. This year, it’ll take over the Stimson House, a recognizable red brick mansion built in 1891 in University Park. “The Red Castle,” which opens on September 20 and runs just past Halloween to November 3, puts you in the role of a possibly-superpowered asylum patient under the care of a spiraling psychologist who’s attempting to resurrect his deceased wife.

Annual haunted experience Creep L.A. makes its long-awaited return with this experience inspired by the CBS comedy Ghosts. Don’t let the tie-in fool you, though: The event promises a “chilling twist” on the sitcom, with an evening that plays out across to West Adams mansion. In the first you’ll find Ghosts photo ops and memorabilia, but the second has scares and ghost stories in store. The 18-plus experience runs for an hour, and as with Creep’s past events, this is a very intimate haunt, limited to 15 people at each of its shows.

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 (back for the first time since 2019) 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. The event’s 2024 return includes experiences set in the ship’s swimming pool, kitchen, engine room and staterooms.

Encounter free-roaming monsters, terrifying mazes—spanning themes like a twisted carnival and an alien-inhabited space station—a “boo-fet” dinner and all sorts of other haunted houses and attractions at the OC theme park.

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group hosts a chilling series of vignettes. Armed with a shoddy flashlight to illuminate their path, guests navigate a labyrinth of terror before enduring a series of shocking scenes (over the course of roughly 35 minutes) that will unsettle even the most stoic of horror fans.

Far from those kid-friendly rides through a pumpkin patch, this hayride unleashes all sorts of demons and bogeys on Griffith Park. Like so many pop culture horror experiences recently, this year’s Haunted Hayride once again rewinds the action to the mid-’80s in the ficticious town of Midnight Falls. The event—which this year adds escape games and a seance—will be centered around the jack-o’-lantern–filled Midnight Falls Town Square, where you’ll find axe throwing, water balloon-based paintball and the Hellbilly Halloween maze.