Kansas City, MO — Edge of Hell and The Beast are cutting their 2026 calendar from 23 nights to 13, all of them in October, and operator Full Moon Productions is citing September heat. The two West Bottoms haunts opened September 12 last year. This year they did not open until Friday, October 2, and the company said in a September 4 release that it was moving the whole season later rather than putting costumed performers and guests through another hot start. Edge of Hell, which the company bills as the oldest continuously operating haunted attraction in the United States, opened in 1975, and The Beast followed in 1991.
The 13 Nights
The two Historic West Bottoms haunts opened Friday, October 2 and run on these nights:
- October 2 and 3 (Friday and Saturday)
- October 9 and 10 (Friday and Saturday)
- October 15 to 17 (Thursday through Saturday)
- October 22 to 24 (Thursday through Saturday)
- October 29 to 31 (Thursday through Saturday)
That is five weekends, with Thursdays added on the last three. Per the release, “The schedule includes several weeknights with the addition of Thursdays, giving haunt fans more opportunities to experience two of the country’s most acclaimed haunted attractions.” Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, so the season closes on Halloween night itself.
Opening Weekend: Boo in the Bottoms, October 2 to 4
The haunts opened on the West Bottoms’ First Friday Weekend, and the district put a daytime Halloween festival around opening weekend: Boo in the Bottoms, Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4, with more than 30 stores, restaurants, and venues across the 13-block district open, most from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
- Haunt characters: costumed cast members roam the district for photos from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.
- “Thriller” dance lesson: free instruction led by D3 Stepper, Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Fire pits and the Full Moon Street Bar: s’mores and seasonal drinks, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. all three days.
- KC Collectors Spooky Plant Sale: Saturday, October 3, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with plant vendors, Halloween items, candy, costumes, and collectibles.
- Trick-or-treating: kids in costume can trick-or-treat at participating stores.
“Boo in the Bottoms is when we kick off Halloween Kansas City-style,” said Arnett-Bequeaith, who is also the district’s spokesperson. “Come down during the day and get into some good trouble.”
The daytime events don’t include the haunts. Tickets for Edge of Hell and The Beast are sold separately on their websites, and the check-in details are below.
Why October: The Heat
Full Moon Productions says haunt season in Kansas City once began as early as August, moved to September when August got too hot for performers in costume and guests in line, and is now moving to October because September temperatures keep climbing.
“Maybe 13 isn’t unlucky after all. We’re packing 52 years of fear into 13 October nights—cooler temperatures, darker nights and that unmistakable feeling that Halloween is getting closer,” said Amber Arnett-Bequeaith, spokesperson for Beast and Edge of Hell and widely known as the Queen of Haunts.
In early September, the National Weather Service had Kansas City under an Extreme Heat Warning through 8 p.m. Tuesday, September 8, with a forecast high of 100 degrees on Saturday, September 5 and again on Tuesday, and heat index values as high as 106. KCTV5 meteorologist Melissa Meeder wrote at the time that Kansas City was having its hottest first week of September since 1960, with an average high of 96, and its hottest opening nine days of September since 1947. Last year’s season opened September 12. Whether October stays the plan in a cooler year, the company did not say.
What Changed From 2025
Last year’s 51st-season calendar, per the company’s September 2025 release, ran every Friday and Saturday from September 12 through November 1 plus five October Thursdays and two Sundays: 23 nights across 51 days. This year’s 13 fit inside 30 days, about 43 percent fewer nights. The six September nights are gone, opening night moves back nearly three weeks, Sundays drop off the schedule, and three Thursdays survive from last year’s five.
Last year’s release also pitched early September as the connoisseur’s window, when “smaller crowds mean more jump scares, fresher surprises.” That option no longer exists. Whatever demand the two haunts drew across 23 nights now has 13 nights to land in, which makes the timed-entry system, in place since 2025, the thing to watch. If the late-October Saturdays fill their time slots, the three Thursdays are the relief valve.
One other change sits in the fine print. The 2025 release described Full Moon Productions as operating three haunts, with Macabre Cinema alongside The Beast and Edge of Hell. The 2026 release lists two, and Macabre Cinema is not mentioned. The company has not said what that means for the movie-set haunt at 1222 W. 12th St., and its website carries no 2026 information.
Tickets, Prices, and Check-In
Tickets are on sale at kcbeast.com and edgeofhell.com. On Friday, October 9, a ticket for one haunt was $40 plus a $5 service fee, and a ticket for both was $66 plus a $3 fee, before tax. VIP entry was $55 for one haunt and $88 for both. Tickets are for one-hour entry windows from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. Dates and prices for 11 haunted attractions across the state are in my Missouri haunted houses guide.
Both haunts check guests in at a central waiver station at 1300 W. 13th St., and the operators ask guests to arrive an hour before their scheduled entry time. Edge of Hell is at 1300 W. 12th St. and The Beast at 1401 W. 13th St., both in the West Bottoms off the 12th Street Bridge. The company’s Festival of the Full Moon street party runs on the West Bottoms streets during haunt season and on First Friday weekends.
Elsewhere in Kansas City, Worlds of Fun Halloween Haunt runs select nights through October 31, with six haunted mazes included with admission.
The Rest of the Season Is Stretching the Other Way
Edge of Hell is compressing while nearly everything around it is expanding. Hershey’s State of the Season report this summer called Halloween a season spanning a third of the year rather than a single day, and the calendar agrees. Halloween Horror Nights Orlando opened August 28, the earliest start in its history, most haunted houses open between September 11 and the first weekend of October, and a growing number of independent haunts now run into mid-November. The 1975 haunt now opens at the very back of that window and closes on Halloween night.
The demand side is the reason a 13-night season can work. HAN’s read this summer was that guests are still paying to go out and choosing cheaper formats when they do, and a haunt ticket sits much closer to a movie ticket than to a theme park vacation. A shorter calendar bets that the same crowd shows up on the nights offered, and for these two haunts that crowd is generational.
“Fifty-two seasons, good night almighty, that’s a lot of scares,” said Arnett-Bequeaith. “We have people who first came through Edge of Hell as kids and are now bringing their grandkids. That’s the whole kit and caboodle right there – generations of Kansas Citians growing up with us. A lot has changed since we first opened the doors, and we’ve changed right along with it. Today’s thrill-seekers want bigger, bolder, and crazier, so after 52 years, we’re still stirring the cauldron and finding new ways to make Kansas City scream.”
The heat is the part that reaches beyond Kansas City. Full Moon Productions has now moved its opening month twice, out of August and out of September, and the mid-September opening wave that most independent haunts rely on sits in the same weather. Edge of Hell and The Beast now appear in the October table of our haunted house opening dates guide, alongside every other confirmed 2026 date.
