More than 120 Southern California homes are opening as Halloween attractions this October, from skeletons on the front lawn to backyard mazes with live scare actors. The SoCal Haunt List counts 127 home haunts across the region so far this year, and only one of them lists an admission price. Here’s how the scene breaks down, and the home haunts I’d drive for.
Southern California’s Home Haunts by the Numbers
A home haunt is a Halloween attraction someone builds at their own house, usually open only a few nights a year. The SoCal Haunt List, where haunt owners post the listings themselves, has 127 of them for 2026 so far:
- 70 yard displays
- 47 walk-throughs
- 10 haunted shows
Another 15 listings are paid attractions and theater shows, which I haven’t counted here. Only one of the 127 home haunts lists an admission price, $10, and 107 are listed as fine for all ages.
The list files each haunt under the area its owner picks:
| Area | Home haunts listed |
| San Fernando Valley | 36 |
| Santa Clarita and beyond | 24 |
| Inland Empire | 21 |
| Orange County | 18 |
| Los Angeles | 16 |
| Simi Valley | 9 |
| San Gabriel Valley | 3 |
By city, Santa Clarita has the most, with 13, and Burbank is next with 11. Five more are in San Diego County, filed under other areas. The list itself started in 2013 as a homemade flyer of nine houses.
How to Visit a Home Haunt
These are people’s homes, and most open for a few hours on a few nights. You can see yard displays from the sidewalk whenever they’re lit. Walk-throughs have a line and a set window, and most of the ones below open at 7 p.m.
Check the dates before you go. Three of the walk-throughs below, Rotten Apple 907, Terror on Laura Street, and Hellizondo Haunt, are open only four nights each, all on the last two weekends of October.
Park like a neighbor. The Gershon Dungeon, an Orange County home haunt, asks visitors on its site to “be considerate of neighbors when parking on street” and to “pickup trash!”
Bring a donation. Most home haunts are free, and some pass donations to charity. Rotten Apple 907 gives 100% of its donations to a charity, and Gothic Hills Cemetery asks for non-perishable food or pet supplies.
Home Haunts Worth the Drive in 2026
Every detail below comes from the haunt’s website or ticket page.
San Fernando Valley and Burbank
Rotten Apple 907: Twisted Yuletide (Burbank). Rotten Apple 907 has built a new themed haunt at its Burbank home most years since at least 2003, and this year Halloween Town throws a Christmas party in Twisted Yuletide. The haunt started as a child’s birthday party, and the Meyer family and a crew of volunteers now build it. It welcomed more than 4,000 people in 2021. It’s free, and all donations go to a charity, currently the Volunteers of Burbank Animal Shelter. It’s open October 24, 25, 30, and 31. I covered its 2017 haunt, The Portal, and filmed its 2022 walk-through:
Burbank’s other home haunts, including Circus of Nightmares, the Buena Vista Haunt, and the Wicked of Oz house, are in my 2025 Halloween night video at the top of this page.
Hellizondo Haunt: The Rift: 1906 (Canoga Park). Hellizondo sets its walk-through on a wrecked San Francisco wharf after the 1906 earthquake, where “something ancient has awakened” from a rift under the bay. It’s free, with live actors, strobe lights, fog, and music, and new scenes this year. It’s open October 24, 25, 30, and 31, 7 to 10 p.m., at 21024 Arminta Street. The haunt spent 13 years in Simi Valley before moving to Canoga Park in 2020.
Spooky Hollows: The Cult of Mr. Sticky (Van Nuys). The Cult of Mr. Sticky is a 15-minute haunted show you watch from the sidewalk, and its makers stress that it is not a walk-through. It runs on a loop from 7 to 10 p.m., with a five-minute break between shows, on October 23, 24, 25, 30, and 31 and November 1, at 16418 Gilmore Street. The crew behind it has been haunting together for more than two decades.
Santa Clarita and Beyond
Santa Clarita has more home haunts on the list than any other city. Beware the Dark Realm opens my 2025 video, the year its walk-through was a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.
In 2021, I talked with the builders of two Santa Clarita home haunts, Coffinwood Cemetery and Somber Cemetery, for a podcast episode on home haunting.
My 2024 Halloween night tour covers two of Santa Clarita’s walk-throughs, Beware the Dark Realm and Nightmare on Linda Vista Street, plus four more across the Los Angeles area:
Orange County
Haunted Mansion Haunt (Trabuco Canyon). For its 20th anniversary, this home turns into Disney’s Haunted Mansion with a scarier edge. Its site promises Madame Leota, the Singing Busts, the Hitchhiking Ghosts, full-size jumping animatronics, and former Knott’s Scary Farm actors. It’s aimed at adults and teens, but for families with little ones, its actors “maintain the fun and friendly atmosphere this attraction is known for.” It’s free, with reservations on Eventbrite, on 22 nights from October 3 through November 1, 7 to 9 p.m. (9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays), at 28322 Millwood Road.
Terror on Laura Street (La Habra). This walk-through is open four nights, October 23, 24, 30, and 31, starting at 7 p.m., and it stays open “as long as we have a line.” Its owners say they want to break their attendance record this year.
Inland Empire
Gothic Hills Cemetery (Riverside). Gothic Hills is a haunted cemetery and pumpkin patch run by the Gothic Hills Foundation, which its team formed to give back to the community through the free event. You can see it from the street every night from 6 to 10 p.m., October 1 through November 2, and walk through it Thursdays through Sundays, except Saturday, October 24. It’s free, and it asks for non-perishable food or pet supplies for its charity partners. It has moved this year, to 11109 Middleborough Road. It won Best Animated Prop and Best Static Prop at the 2019 Home Haunter Awards.
Los Angeles, Simi Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, and San Diego
The list has 16 home haunts filed under Los Angeles, 9 under Simi Valley, and 3 under the San Gabriel Valley, plus five in San Diego County. You can find all of them, with dates and a map, on the SoCal Haunt List.
Ticketed Haunted Houses Nearby
For paid haunted houses, see my Los Angeles haunted houses guide, my Haunted Houses in California 2026 guide, my San Diego haunted houses guide, and my list of when every haunted house opens. For home haunting beyond Southern California, see my story on the Epic Home Haunts documentary.
Where These Numbers Come From
The counts in this story come from the SoCal Haunt List, which home haunter and content creator Derek Young started in 2013 and Midsummer Scream sponsors. Haunt owners submit the listings themselves, and its map has every haunt with dates and hours. The counts are as of September 28, and new listings were still being added that day. Details on each haunt above come from that haunt’s website or ticket page.
