Westbury, NY — Darkness Rising will open for seven nights, from October 23 through November 1, at Samanea New York Mall in Westbury, after the haunted house canceled its 2026 season in Copiague in September. Town of Babylon records released to HAN show a fire marshal issued the Copiague building a red notice sticker on August 24, and that the building has no certificate of occupancy for the change of use.
New Location, Dates, and Tickets
Darkness Rising is on the second floor of Samanea New York Mall, at 1500 Old Country Road in Westbury, with free parking in the mall’s garage, according to the haunt’s website. The haunt’s listing on LIHauntedHouses.com says the move brings it to Nassau County for the first time, from Copiague in Suffolk County. Other Long Island haunts are in my New York haunted house guide.
The haunt’s listing gives these seven nights and hours:
- Friday, October 23: 7 to 11 p.m.
- Saturday, October 24: 7 p.m. to midnight
- Sunday, October 25: 7 to 10:30 p.m.
- Thursday, October 29: 7 to 10:30 p.m.
- Friday, October 30: 7 p.m. to midnight
- Saturday, October 31: 7 p.m. to midnight
- Sunday, November 1: 7 to 10 p.m.
General admission is $32 with a timed entry. Flexible Entry, with no assigned time, is $37, and a Fast Pass is $42. The haunt’s ticket page lists those prices, and its site says tickets will also be sold at the door.
This year’s show is a single walk-through set in a research facility on Mars, with laboratories, industrial areas, and the wreck of a colony, the site says. It takes about 20 minutes, the recommended age is 12 and up, and actors do not touch guests. The season built in Copiague had two houses, Dead City and Twisted Tales: The Nightmare Realm.
The Town of Babylon’s Records
The Town of Babylon’s records for 800 Chettic Avenue in Copiague include three certificates of occupancy and two fire marshal reports, the last of them released to HAN on October 2. HAN’s request covered every certificate of occupancy on file, and permits, fire marshal inspection reports, and violation notices dated January 1, 2025, or later.
Issued location red “NOTICE” sticker. From exterior: Missing FDC sign, misc. storage + possible hazardous materials. Social media postings + advertisements detail expansive interior alterations.
Those are the remarks on a Division of Fire Prevention report dated August 24, which names the occupant as Darkness Rising Haunted Attraction. Its observations are marked as made from the exterior. Its line for a summons number is blank, and a note says the case was closed with a reference to a second report.
On September 2, the town determined there could be “no occupancy for change of use without town planning and zoning approval,” its Department of Public Safety told HAN in September. Town officials, including the Planning and Building Commissioner and the Chief Fire Marshal, met with the owner or tenant on September 3. A change of use starts in the Planning Department, goes to Zoning, and then goes to the Fire Marshal’s Office for safety compliance, the department said.
Permit voided / old PA permit left – any new PA bus. – to apply to planning + ZBA. Once approved – tenant to obtain PA from FM
The second report, dated September 9, carries those remarks. It lists the occupant as “360 Sports Ctr” and a second name, and it does not name Darkness Rising. The form is stamped “VOID” and “FILE.” The August 24 report carries a permit number, 2022-174, and neither report says who held that permit.
The Building Division’s three certificates are a 1951 certificate that lists the occupancy as a factory in an industrial zone, a 1958 certificate for an addition, and a 2015 certificate for roof work with a declared cost of $98,000. None names a haunted attraction or an assembly use, and the response includes no building permit application from 2025 or 2026. The Department of Public Safety told HAN in September that no permit applications or inspection requests had been filed for a haunted attraction or assembly use at the address in 2026.
Code Enforcement wrote one line on its copy of the request: “No C/O for change of use.”
The Owner’s Account
Kevin Baird, who started Darkness Rising as a backyard haunt in 2006, wrote on the haunt’s GoFundMe, created on September 10, that he discovered a problem with the building after signing the lease. He met with the town, he wrote, and was told the process “couldn’t be completed before November.” Because the haunt is a subtenant whose lease ends in November, he wrote, the season could not be postponed.
Baird told News12 Long Island in September that he had rented the Chettic Avenue space since 2019, that he had put about $100,000 into this year’s haunt, and that he hoped to bring Darkness Rising back in 2027 at a new location. HAN asked Darkness Rising to respond to the town’s account and has not received a reply.
The Fundraiser
The GoFundMe, called Save Darkness Rising Haunted House, has a $50,000 goal and had raised $11,068 from 153 donations as of October 3. Its text still described the 2026 season as canceled that day. Baird wrote on the campaign that more than $62,000 of his spending on rent, labor, and materials cannot be recovered, and that Darkness Rising has helped raise more than $250,000 for local charities.
Darkness Rising runs October 23 through November 1 at Samanea New York Mall, 1500 Old Country Road, Westbury. Tickets and updates are at darknessrisinghaunt.com.
First published September 12, 2026, as a report on the canceled season. Updated September 15 with the Town of Babylon’s response to HAN, and October 3 with the new location and the town’s records.
