Calico Maze, Wax Works, “Puppet Up!” Announced for Knott’s Scary Farm 2019 at Knott’s Berry Farm

It’s almost time to return to the fog… Knott’s Scary Farm, Southern California’s premiere theme park Halloween event, returns in September with more chills and thrills than ever before. And tonight at its home in Knott’s Berry Farm, fans and media gathered for the annual Scary Farm Announcement Event, where we learned about the new mazes and shows coming to this year’s haunt.

Master of “scare-emonies” Jeff Tucker took the stage for a Knott’s Scary Farm Announcement Event that was showier than usual, with multiple musical performances and video interview packets in lieu of maze designers actually taking the stage. Still, it was a very entertaining evening of reveals, laughs, and of course scares in “America’s First Theme Park.”

Watch Knott’s Scary Farm Announcement Event 2019 at Knott’s Berry Farm:

The announcement that has the most buzz coming out of this event is undoubtedly “Origins: The Curse of Calico,” which extends the Knott’s Ghost Town mythology into a new maze, the Ghost Town Streets scare zone, and even into the long-running “The Hanging” show on the Calico Mine Stage. Personally, I can’t express how excited I am to see the citizens and locales of Calico more thoroughly built into a Scary Farm experience.

The other new maze announced was “Wax Works,” set within “an abandoned wax museum in which Dr. Augustus Scratch has crafted his latest masterpieces.” Guests will have to “take a closer look at gruesome works of art or become the newest masterpiece.” Creepy.

Returning mazes include “The Depths,” “Dark Entities,” the fan-favorite abandoned-carnival-themed “Dark Ride,” “Pumpkin Eater,” “Paranormal Inc.,” and (for its final year) the interactive zombie shooter “Special Ops: Infected.” The returning scare zones (in addition to Ghost Town Streets) are “CarnEvil,” “Forsaken Lake,” and “The Hollow.”

Plus, fans of ribald improvisational humor will enjoy Brian Henson’s “Puppet Up!: Uncensored” in the Charles M. Schulz Theatre, during which audience members can throw out suggestions and hilarious puppeteers work them into a no-holds-barred comedy sketch show. It’s entirely made up on the spot, and features some adorable– but intended for adults only– puppets. I’ve seen this show on a few occasions at other venues and it is definitely worth checking out.

Knott’s Scary Farm begins Thursday, September 19 and runs on select nights through Saturday, November 2 at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. For more information, be sure to visit Knott’s official website.

Mike Celestino
Mike serves as Laughing Place's lead Southern California reporter, Editorial Director for Star Wars content, and host of the weekly "Who's the Bossk?" Star Wars podcast. He's been fascinated by Disney theme parks and storytelling in general all his life and resides in Burbank, California with his beloved wife and cats.