Gather ’round, kiddies, and let me spin you a tale of the Dark Ages of Halloween, a time when there were no theme parks doing any Halloween events whatsoever, a time when the scare options (a local church basement haunted house, or the Campus Life group, or that neighborly weirdo down the block) were scattered and paltry and somewhat amateurish.

And then…and then…the glorious year 1973 arrived, and Knott’s Berry Farm officially became Knott’s Scary Farm to unleash the Halloween Haunt upon an unsuspecting world.  An entire theme park decorated as spook central, monsters hiding in the rides and stalking the streets to startle you, a witch hanging at midnight, and to top it all off: local horror movie host Sinister Seymour will be performing live in the big theater!

I was lucky enough to be there back in 1973, and my 10-year-old heart could barely stand it.  Here’s young me getting scared by a monster somewhere in Ghost Town:


Ted Dougherty, author of the authoritative book about the event Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt: A Picture History was on hand at Midsummer Scream this year to host a tribute to the premiere theme park Halloween event, and I was there, too!

The theater darkened, music and a howling wind set the mood, and suddenly on the screen: there was Seymour (actor Larry Vincent)! Infamous horror movie host from the 70s and icon of the first two Haunts, in a radio commercial (I assume) for the very first Haunt from 1973, accompanied by stills and video of Seymour in action. This is something that I have never heard before, and it thrilled me to no end.  Ted introduced some amazing longtime employees of Knott’s: John Waite, who worked on the Log Ride and Mine Ride, Diana Kirchen Kelly, who portrayed the original Green Witch, and Julie Owens, who started as a regular employee and ended up Director of Live Entertainment.

From L to R: John Waite, Diana Kirchen Kelly, Julie Owens, Ted Dougherty

John Waite spoke about working under Bud Hurlbut and how the first Haunt was organized–which is to say, it wasn’t. Bud told him to go over to Independence Hall and find out what this new staff meeting was all about.  The Knott family had gathered all the different department heads (food, merchandise, rides, etc.) and informed them that they would be a doing a park-wide Halloween event, and that each department was responsible for decorating their own areas. When he got back from the meeting, he told Bud and Bud responded with, “Well, what are you going to do?” John had no idea.

And the rest of the park was in a similar pickle. Nobody had ever done this before, so this was a very scattered and unfocused year, but it made up for it with genuine enthusiasm from all those involved.  They decorated with cardboard skeletons and papier-mâché ghosts and had a blast.


Diana Kirchen Kelly gave us a taste of what she did as the very first Green Witch in Calico, cackling wildly and taunting all of us, and the audience ate it up. She explained that she was part of the “Market Street Monster Massacre” where stunt men, dressed as monsters, raised hell on Market Street in Calico, and then shot at Diana, who was up on the roof of the building nearby. Usually, a stunt man would do a high fall from there, but Diana didn’t, instead cursing the town and laughing at the shooting monsters.

Julie Owens described her first Haunt experience as Spidora, a sideshow attraction with the head of a woman and the body of a huge spider. She had to crouch down to make the effect work, which was a tad uncomfortable. She joked that she thinks she only got that job because she had very long hair then.

From L to R: Brian McGee, Del Langdale, Todd Stubbler, Ted Dougherty

Ted then rotated in a new set of panelists: Brian McGee, original “Haunt Crew” member, Del Langdale, former Head of Park Decor, and Todd Stubbler, former Haunt monster and sliding innovator. Ted and Brian gave us some insights into how the park began to have a unified “look”, and how the decorating department worked with the Haunt crew in order to achieve this look.  Todd Stubbler reminisced about the early days of sliding, which evolved from some Ghost Town monsters literally throwing themselves to the ground in front of guests as a scare tactic.

He mentioned monsters sliding around on their bare costumes, with some bringing carpet-laying kneepads to do it. Todd searched around and found hard plastic skateboard pads that allowed for longer, more comfortable slides.  He also showed us his first set of “slider gloves:” work gloves with metal washers and tabs glued to it to protect the slider’s hands.  It took a while for him to convince the hardware employee that he did indeed want to glue metal to leather gloves, but the results speak for themselves.

From L to R: Larry McCauley, Todd Faux, Jon Cooke, and Ted Dougherty

Ted then brought out Larry McCauley, Haunt’s first official Maze Designer, and Todd Faux, former Entertainment Design Manager, and Jon Cooke, current Design Specialist (Special Ops: Infected, Paranormal Inc., and Shadowlands).  

Larry McCauley kind of fell into designing after working in the big theater on lighting and sets. He was drawing funny (and only slightly offensive) cartoons making fun of the shows and sets, and someone suggested he go ahead and design the maze going into the Auto Race area, called Return of the Dead.  This maze was huge, fully a half mile (or even more) in length, and Larry really fought to use up all the space, reasoning that the anticipation of what’s coming up next will sustain guests throughout the long walk.

Todd Faux was asked about the management side of things, particularly back when Knott’s did a couple of mazes based on new movies: The Grudge 2 and Quarantine. These mazes were a new step for Knott’s since they felt they had to follow the storyline of the movies and not just create something original.  In Quarantine, this meant that they had to construct two apartment lobbies, one for the introduction where a fireman falls to his death, and a second one for later in the movie when the characters are back in the lobby and it’s overrun with zombies (spoiler alert!).

Jon Cooke came to Haunt as a guest and fell in love with the event. The very next year he applied to be a monster, and then worked carpentry after that, and quickly moved up the ranks to Talent Captain, and now Maze Designer.  Jon praised the other panelists for laying an amazing foundation of maze guidelines and traditions that can be built upon today to make mazes more and more incredible.  That kind of willingness to push the envelope resulted in Jon’s first attraction that used up the entire 6 acres of Camp Snoopy, the first person shooter zombie adventure, Infected.

From L to R: Ed Alonzo, Vickie Yahn, Ken Parks, Ted Dougherty

 

The final panel group was then introduced: Ed Alonzo, the Misfit of Magic, Vickie Yahn, who portrayed the witch in the first midnight hanging, and Ken Parks, The Hanging writer, Dr. Cleaver actor, and the current Vice President of Entertainment at Knott’s.  Ed spoke about how grateful he was to have worked at many different venues at Knott’s (and other Cedar Fair parks) and expressed his hope to be back at the Farm soon (never fear, though; you can still catch him this year up in Santa Clara at Great America’s Halloween Haunt). He told a hilarious story about trying to perform in the Wagon Camp (where the stunt show is) with its spongy and springy stunt floor. During the “Sawing a Woman in Half” trick, the prop hit a bump and spilled the assistant out of the box and onto the floor. He thought his career was over!

Vickie gave an amazingly detailed description of the first witch hanging, where she was paraded down the streets of Calico in a wooden cart as other monsters and guests taunted her. She was then led up the steps of the gallows, had her crimes read out loud, and then was prepared for hanging. She had been proclaiming her innocence up until the moment the switch was thrown and she was hanged. Suddenly the entire gallows goes up in flames, the witch disappears, and a black raven (well…a pigeon) flies off to much evil laughter. She joked about how uncomfortable and painful the harness she had to wear was, but said she loved performing.

Ken rounded out the discussion with some insight into the current Hangings, which are focused on satire and pop culture icons, including how they narrow down the list of events or people that annoyed society throughout the year. He made clear that it’s not just one person that creates the show; there are many many people who contribute jokes and ad-libs as the process goes along. He joked that every year people complain that this year’s Hanging isn’t as good as last year’s, so he’s sure 2017’s won’t be any good either.

In between each new panel, they showed short videos with tons of photos and clips of the Haunt’s 45-year history. My words, however, can’t do this event justice, so I’ve linked to HorrorBuzz’s video of the entire presentation below. You owe it to yourself to watch and enjoy. See you in 52 days, Haunt fans!

HorrorBuzz Live Stream Midsummer Scream 2017 Knotts Scary Farm 45th Anniversary Panel

 


This Halloween Season we are hitting haunts hard by offering readers all of the access, perks, and scares. Introducing the HorrorBuzz Passport to Fear! This year there are four destinations including Knott’s Berry Farm, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, Six Flags Fright Fest, and a special night at the Winchester Mystery House on Friday, October 13th! 

       

The Passport to Fear events are one-night, special ticketed meet-ups at the best haunts in southern California. We take you behind the scenes, introduce you to the creators of the haunted attractions you love, and march you to the front of the line. It’s a guided tour of terror sold only by HorrorBuzz. 

Tickets to the four events are on sale NOW  here on the site.

About the Author

Mike Hansen has worked as a teacher, a writer, an actor, and a haunt monster, and has been a horror fan ever since he was a young child. Sinister Seymour is his personal savior, and he swears by the undulating tentacles of Lord Cthulhu that he will reach the end of his Netflix list. Someday.