Stone Mountain, GA — Netherworld has announced the two haunts for its 30th Season of Screams: Curse of the Collector and Beyond Oblivion: Legacy of Evil. The season opens September 18 and closes November 7.
Netherworld frames the season as a celebration of “the mythology that has defined NETHERWORLD for decades,” reuniting “legendary villains, towering creatures, monstrous battles and cinematic environments inspired by the attraction’s original storytelling.” The haunt was founded in 1997 by Billy Messina and Ben Armstrong, both film and television veterans, and has never run on licensed film properties.
Curse of the Collector
The Collector, described in the announcement as a “primordial soul-gathering entity,” has turned on the masters of the Netherworld and is trying to destroy the ancient gateway connecting their realm to ours.
Fighting alongside him are the Brotherhood’s Frankensteinian warriors, savage werewolves, the Halloween-loving Children of Autumn, and his own discarded Husks. Against him: gargoyles, gorgons, vampires, the Army of the Dead, and the towering Undying.
Named scenes include:
- The Invasion of the Gargoyles
- The Burrower Beneath
- The Colossal Undying
- The Crawling Eyes
- The Devastating Warbots
- The Night of the Gorgons
- The Halloween Treehouse of Horrors
- Jack the Pumpkin Eater
- The Library of the Lost
- The Vengeance of the Vampires
- The Arena of the Dead
- The Battle of the Titans
The scene names point at set-piece creature work rather than jump-scare corridors, which is consistent with what Netherworld builds: a gargoyle invasion, a colossal figure, an arena, and a titan battle are all sightline pieces.
Beyond Oblivion: Legacy of Evil
The second haunt continues the Oblivion story. Netherworld ran OBLIVION: RETURN OF THE MANGLER in 2025, and The Mangler returns again here for what the announcement calls his final experiment, “powered by the corrupting energy of Oblivion.”
The setting spans laboratories, slaughterhouses, swamps and abandoned towns. Captured cryptids are “processed into twisted food products” alongside mutant insects and cursed experiments. Netherworld describes it as the largest and most terrifying second attraction it has produced.
Named scenes include:
- The Slaughterhouse of the Cryptids
- The Hive
- Necrotech Labs
- Zombie Rampage
- The Haunted Harkness House
- Lost in the Forest
- Hunted by Bigfoot
- Madame Mystique’s House of Voodoo
- The Hospital of Horrors
- The Realm of the Render
- The Behemoth Boogeyman
- The Bottomless Pit of Doom
Every Season Has Added Another Chapter
Co-creator Ben Armstrong framed the season as a convergence of everything that came before it.
“Every season has added another chapter to the NETHERWORLD story,” Armstrong said. “This year, we’re bringing those chapters together, reviving legendary monsters and iconic moments while creating terrifying new experiences that continue to raise the bar.”
Co-creator Billy Messina addressed the obvious risk in a season built on callbacks, which is that newcomers get locked out of the joke.
“Since the beginning, we’ve challenged ourselves to create bigger, more immersive, and more cinematic haunted attractions,” Messina said. “This season is packed with Easter eggs aplenty for longtime fans, but you don’t need to be schooled in Netherworld history to enjoy it. Whether it’s your first visit or your thirtieth, be prepared for an unforgettable evening of entertainment.”
The chapters Armstrong refers to are real and tracked. Netherworld ran Rise of the Netherspawn in 2021, setting up a monster incursion, and The Undying Horror in 2022, with a faction called the Brotherhood of Rhomb fighting back. Armstrong told HAN in 2022 that he thinks of the whole run as a single campaign: “There’s this thing people heard about called Dungeons and Dragons. So, like 45 years ago, I was playing that game when it first came out. So, you could call this, you know, one of the biggest D&D campaigns ever.”
He was equally direct about the sourcing. “We don’t tend to follow trends of things like movies, we’re more based on literary sources, we’re based on mythology, and we just like to do things that other people don’t do,” he said. That is why a milestone season here reaches for gorgons and cryptids instead of a licensed film property.
Other 2026 Seasons Are Reaching Backward Too
Universal Orlando built Halloween Horror Nights 35 around its own history for its anniversary, with returning icons Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow appearing together for the first time and a scare zone, Sideshow of Decay, premised on opening a portal to the event’s past.
The nostalgia pull runs through Halloween retail as well. Michaels built six 2026 collections on nostalgia, and Monster Cereals returned for a 55th anniversary carrying the original Jim Henson puppet designs.
There is demand data underneath it. On Green Tagged in December we covered a travel report finding that 78 percent of Gen Z and Millennial travellers had recreated a childhood vacation or planned to, and concluded that guests were seeking “comfort, flexibility, and low-pressure nostalgia.”
What makes the 2026 haunt season interesting is that this is the opposite of how the seasons usually split. We argued on Green Tagged in June that Halloween and Christmas run on different engines: “Halloween needs novelty. Christmas needs tradition.” A 30th-anniversary season built from returning monsters, arriving the same year Universal fronts its own anniversary with returning icons, is Halloween borrowing Christmas’s playbook.
Halloween Midway and Food
The site also runs its Halloween Midway, with towering jack-o’-lantern displays, roaming monsters, themed photo opportunities, games and mini escape games. Netherworld also operates Escape the Netherworld, five year-round escape rooms, and the House of Creeps Monster Museum, both sold separately. Midway food includes:
- Dr. Octane’s Bizarre Beverages
- Zombie Rampage Energy Drink
- Cotton candy
- “Blood Bags”
- Gourmet popcorn, barbecue sandwiches, pretzels, nachos, mini donuts and vegan corndogs
Dates and Tickets
Netherworld’s 30th Season of Screams runs:
- September 18 and 19
- September 25 and 26
- October 2 through 4
- October 6 through 12
- Nightly, October 14 through November 1
- November 6 and 7, the final weekend
The announcement did not include ticket prices or nightly hours. Our Netherworld guide carries the full night-by-night calendar, ticket mechanics, age limits and venue policies, and we will update it when pricing posts.
Netherworld is at 1313 Netherworld Way, Stone Mountain, GA 30087. More information is at fearworld.com.
More Halloween 2026 Coverage From HAN
- Netherworld Haunted House: Dates, Tickets, and What to Know Before You Go
- When Do Haunted Houses Open in 2026?
- The Best and Scariest Haunted Houses in America: The Top Haunts List
- Halloween Horror Nights 2026 Orlando: Every House, Scare Zone, and Show
- Legendary Haunt Tour 2026: Dates, the Three Haunts, and Tickets
