By Charly SHELTON

Knott’s Scary Farm is the granddaddy of all haunt events in Southern California and this year, its 51^st haunt season, continues the tradition of legendary mazes and spellbinding shows.

The 2024 season sees the introduction of two new mazes: “Eight Fingers Nine: The Boogeyman” and “Widows,” both offering some of the most creative, intense, and immersive experiences at the event this year.

First up is “Eight Fingers Nine: The Boogeyman.” This maze is set in an 18th-century colonial village haunted by a monstrous creature with an insatiable hunger for human flesh, starting with the fingers. The maze’s theme gives some weight and folklore to its boogeyman and from the moment you step inside you are transported to a world filled with dread and darkness. The atmosphere is one of constant tension, amplified by the maze’s use of shadows – with the edge of the forest never far off, and the dark creatures that lurk there only a breath away. What makes “Eight Fingers Nine” stand out is its ability to tap into a very primal fear: sleep. Specifically sleep paralysis. The Boogeyman eats his victims slowly as they’re frozen in sleep paralysis, awaking to find they’re being devoured one finger at a time. Many of the maze designers obviously had sleep paralysis and have seen terrifying visions during the experience. They used these visions to not only guide the themes and design of the maze, but also to populate the maze walls with terrifying drawings of nightmares they’ve seen. This is by far one of the best new mazes Knott’s has created in recent years, and it was a highlight of my visit.

The other standout is “Widows,” a maze that takes a more grounded horror and amplifies it. The premise is simple yet effective: guests walk through a decrepit nursing home that has been overrun by black widow spiders. What starts as an eerie exploration of an abandoned nursing home leads into the dark hiding spaces of legions of man-sized spiders. The maze is filled with incredibly detailed and grotesque scaractor masks and sets that make you feel like you’re walking through an actual nightmare. The use of tight corridors, cobwebs and scareactors positioned to lunge at you from unexpected places keeps you on edge from start to finish. But honestly, it’s the places where nothing jumps out that are the worst … the dark corners that you know you have to walk through, where all you hear in the darkness is the skittering of eight nimble legs. That’s the real tension of the maze. If you have even the slightest fear of spiders, this maze is going to haunt you long after you’ve left the park.

Outside of these two new mazes, Knott’s Scary Farm offers returning fan favorites like “Wax Works,” “Bloodline 1842,” and “The Chilling Chambers,” ensuring that there are a wide variety of experiences for both new and returning guests.

The park also continues to excel in creating immersive scare zones like Ghost Town Streets and The Gore-ing 20s, where the fog rolls in thick and monsters lurk around every corner.

Overall, Knott’s Scary Farm 2024 delivers in every way one would hope. With stellar new mazes, intense atmosphere and plenty of scares, it remains one of the top haunts in the country. Make sure to prioritize “Eight Fingers Nine” and “Widows” –they are not to be missed.

To see a full in-depth review of Knott’s Scary Farm, as well as peeks inside each house and scare zone, scan the QR code attached to this story.

Knott’s Scary Farm is on now on select nights through Nov. 2.