Welcome to the single largest project that Theme Park has ever undertaken, the TPA HAUNT VAULT. This page will serve as the world's largest public archive of Knott's Halloween Haunt media and history. It's going to be a tremendous labor of love that we will eventually ask your participation in with your own photos, etc. But for now - and the foreseeable future - we have a lot of spooky history to dig up on our own.

To understand fully what this project is all about, you should become a bit familiar with the unique partnership that Theme Park Adventure has forged with Knott's Berry Farm, its fans and the Haunt community in general...

TPA Founder Rick West began attending Knott's Halloween Haunt in 1981. Like countless fans everywhere, he instantly fell in love with the Halloween tradition, and has been attending the Scary Farm ever since. In 1994, Theme Park Adventure was founded, and Rick began taking a personal and editorial interest in not just the Haunt event itself - but the people behind it. We began working closely with Knott's Berry Farm year-round and each October, our focus on Halloween Haunt grew.

But the story was not always a bed of roses. Early on, former management at Knott's didn't understand the desire we had to do anything more than a general fluff piece or newspaper blurb on the event. And they certainly were not at all open to TPA connecting fans to the talent or folks behind the scenes. In 1995, Knott's General Manager, Terry Van Gorder sent us a black and white message - "Any member of the Knott's Halloween Haunt staff that you single out in an interview, article or otherwise in your publication will be severely reprimanded and/or terminated immediately."

The resistance of the Knott's leadership to showcase the men and women of Haunt was mind-boggling, to say the least. We spent the next years battling the Van Gorder philosophy, requesting over and over that the company re-think their strategy and celebrate its incredible staff rather than stifle and hide it away like some dirty secret. By the late '90s, it was apparent that Theme Park Adventure was not going away, and our roots had already grown deep in the Haunt family community, regardless of the threats by Van Gorder's team. We knew early on that the Haunt story was much bigger than any member of management and had developed a following that would eventually demand more media coverage of the annual event.

Eventually, things changed, and like all companies, so did the face of the management team. In 1997, a new GM walked into Ghost Town, signaling the end of Van Gorder's rule at Knott's. The new boss was Jack Falfas, and his arrival signaled a huge change not only internally for the Haunt team - but with regard to the media as well.

Theme Park Adventure was welcome for the first time to cross the "veil" and document the workings of Knott's Halloween Haunt from behind-the-scenes as well. Our cameras were invited in, our articles in our early publication The Brake Zone were welcomed and encouraged and our relationship with Knott's and its management team blossomed. Jack and his staff saw the importance in fan appreciation and embraced us with open arms.

Remember - this was the first time any fanzine took a serious interest in Halloween Haunt. It was new territory to everyone involved. While some were obviously perplexed by our extraordinary focus on all aspects of the annual event, the overall attitude within the Knott's organization was welcoming and appreciative of our support and coverage. For the next few years, we met more people within the Haunt community and sharpened our writing and photography skills. The Scary Farm is a hard beast to photograph - and back then, we didn't have digital equipment. For every decent picture we snapped at Haunt, there were many blurred, fogged-out and just plain bad photos that went into the trash. It was expensive, time-consuming and strangely enough, addicting. We were on the hunt to capture the history of Halloween Haunt with the best images possible. It became an obsession.

Years passed and technology changed. Theme Park Adventure expanded from print to online, becoming the Internet's very first theme park fan site, our first form being a BBS and eventually, the site that you've come to today. Back then, it was all new to us and everyone else. We scanned the first digital images of Halloween Haunt and posted them online. They were massive, clunky files that took minutes to scan and upload via a modem that was honestly, the size of a laptop computer! But, we did it - and TPA brought Halloween Haunt to the Internet. For the first time, fans from literally all over the world could see our full-color images from Knott's Scary Farm. It was a huge leap forward, into the digital age.

Soon after, we began experimenting with uploading video to the TPA site of Haunt. Back then, we were lucky to digitize a few moments here and there, storing everything on an endless pile of floppy discs. Some of the first TPA Haunt videos were a whopping 1.3 megs! Eventually, moments grew into minutes and we pushed the boundaries of bandwidth with some Haunt videos lasting up to five whole minutes!

Our relationship with Knott's grew over the years and we built a beautiful bridge between the fan community and the Haunt family. Our photography methods became more polished and our video shooting became better each season. We found our groove and let it rip. There were challenges, to be sure - the events of 9/11 rattled Knott's and for some time following, we were not permitted to shoot certain mazes or images due to Knott's being overly-sensitive to depicting images of carnage. New marketing personnel came and went, and each time, we had to explain ourselves and "convince" them that we were playing a vital role in connecting Haunt with the fan community.

Almost 17 years have come and gone now, and our humble beginnings seem a lifetime away. We've snapped thousands of images, have hundreds of pictures yet to be scanned to share with you, and shot countless hours of video - from scare zones to maze flow-throughs. It's been an incredible, turbulent journey that has had great moments and crushing blows. Yet, we wouldn't change anything. It's been a hell of a ride, and we are honored to have been the first in print, first online and first in blazing the trail that so many have traveled and do so now with social media and their own fan sites.

This page will change, as the TPA site will be changing this year. The object is to begin somewhere with the assemblage of the largest public Knott's Halloween Haunt archives in existence. And so... it begins right here. Right now.

Located on the Stage Coach Lawn, Alien Attack was a fan favorite, featuring gory visuals, creepy (and cheesy) alien visitors and some Halloween Haunt staples - a "cold room" and spinning vortex tunnel. The maze also featured nice visual and audio effects, including music by Jean Michel Jarre, which can be heard at the beginning of this video outside the maze.

This was one of Theme Park Adventure's first flow-through shoots ever, as is evident by our amateur shooting ability! Many of the monsters don't quite know what's going on or how to reach to our camera coming through with its blazing bright light; many just stood there and squinted at us!

Another observation that fans will make is that not all of the monsters wore eye black back then - and certainly no talent in the mazes had access to contact lenses. Those things would come later - and would become part of the "usual" Haunt monster get-up.

Shortly after we began shooting monsters and mazes at the Scary Farm, Theme Park Adventure began creating music videos to accompany our coverage of Knott's Halloween Haunt. They rapidly became some of the most popular videos we've ever done. This video in particular, is arguably one of our best ever; some even say it is their favorite TPA music video from Haunt of all time. It's called Magic in the Make-up, and is set to No Doubt's Magic's in the Make-up, which is a perfect match, and is also fitting, as Gwen Stefani's grandfather worked for years in security at Knott's Berry Farm - it all is interconnected in a cool Scary Farm kind of way!

This video was shot in Warehouse P, which is the home of Halloween Haunt's Make-up and Wardrobe departments. There are many shots of legendary Knott's monsters in this video - long-time fans and older monsters will recognize many friends; some are still working the event, but most have moved on. One of our favorite shots is at approximately 1:19; it's of Mel Smith, who ran the Make-up department and was an incredible person, who was taken from us much too soon. The significance of the final shot of the video is from what was called the "Wall of Fame". The Frankenstein's Monster prosthetic was worn by a gentleman named George Case, who was also taken from everyone much, much too soon. No talent has ever resumed that specific role at Haunt out of respect for George.

And so, understand that a whole lot of love goes along with this video, as we celebrate the men and women - the true heart and soul of Halloween Haunt.

After the departure of Dominion of the Dead, the vampire maze at Knott's Scary Farm found a new home in Camp Snoopy. Unfortunately, the new vampire maze, Gothic Graveyard, was thrown together at the last minute with a miniscule budget and even less time. Haunt designers frantically pieced together what they could from the Dominion sets and created an awkward, strange layout/footprint in the elevated rocky terrain of Camp Snoopy. Even stranger was the utilization of the suspension bridge that once hung high above the area; this not only posed a threat to guests when inevitably, people would be too enthusiastic, swinging and bouncing it, making for a dangerous scenario. Truly, a lawsuit and/or accident waiting to happen. The inclusion of the bridge also made it impossible for Haunt guests in wheelchairs or elderly guests to enjoy the maze at all, as there was no bypass route.

With a few props placed, a lot of fog, and a handful of talent, Gothic Graveyard was likely the low point for the vampire mazes at Halloween Haunt. It opened to less than favorable reviews/response by fans and fellow monsters alike. And so, it only lasted one year at Halloween Haunt before designers re-designed it for the 2001 season and beyond.

The haunting "Host of Seraphim" music plays in the last portion of the maze, however, it is a far cry from the majesty of Dominion of the Dead.

The tag at the very end of this video is a somewhat candid shot of Sandy Graham, our dear friend who played the Queen for decades at Haunt. It's a wonderful clip of her working it only like she could - and at the very end, you can even hear her kiss TPA's Rick West on the cheek! It's a sweet moment with Sandy that we are thrilled to share with all of her friends and fans all these years later!

HORRORWOOD HOTEL 2000

In 2000, the Horrorwood Hotel was already a huge success with fans, and was one of the must-see mazes at Knott's Halloween Haunt. Considered "haunt stew", this maze featured many iconic movie monsters and scenes, from A Nightmare on Elm Street to The Silence of the Lambs and Hellraiser.

Located in the Dance Hall in Ghost Town, this Scary Farm maze was very nicely designed and put together, with great show lighting and a soundtrack that was a wonderful mix of famous music as well as sound bytes from the various films.

Still a bit "unpolished", our flow-through of this maze definitely caught some talent off-guard, and you can see that they are not quite sure what - if anything - to do for our camera. Others get right into it - which is great! A funny moment (to us, anyway) is coming upon a tech crew member fixing a light - way to kill the mood! Why we didn't think to stop and re-shoot that, is anyone's guess. It all goes into the learning curve, doesn't it?

A handful of Haunt's most famous talent/monsters today once called the halls of Horrorwood "home" - now, the Hotel is a distant memory, but luckily, it lives on now in the TPA Haunt Vault!

CARNIVAL OF CARNIVOROUS CLOWNS 2000

Following a strong tradition of clown-themed mazes at Knott's Halloween Haunt, Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns (C3) was unleashed on fans in 2000, signaling perhaps the single largest maze ever at the Scary Farm. Located adjacent to the old Windjammer coaster, C3 took the Halloween Haunt experience to a whole new level - the maze went on and on... and on... and on... and on... and on. This opened up a whole new can of worms for Haunt designers and monsters alike - because we all rapidly found that when the maze was fully-staffed and rockin', it was amazing. However, when people were on break or the C3 team had a poor showing of talent, the maze's enormous size absolutely worked against it, and it was downright void of monsters for what seemed an eternity.

This flow-through gives fans a first-hand look at the sheer size of the maze, length-wise. It also unfortunately does nicely illustrate what happened when not a huge amount of talent was present to support the maze's needs. Some of Haunt's legendary talent came from C3 - and this is where it all began, kids.

In an odd, rare instance, the video ends abruptly in what we believe was the final scene of the maze. Uncharacteristically, we opted at the time to not go back with a fresh tape and finish shooting the maze through the exit; it just... ends! The final room was so choked with fog, there was little to see anyway - however, it is perhaps the only Theme Park Adventure Haunt maze flow through that ever ended this way! What a difference a decade has made in the way we shoot Haunt!

Enjoy - here is C3 - in all of its horrific clown glory!

DEAD MAN'S WHARF 2000

Set in the iconic Haunted Shack of Knott's Berry Farm, Dead Man's Wharf was a very popular maze, based on a seaside town being terrorized by a maniacal serial killer, a la I Know What You Did Last Summer.

This flow-through marks the last Haunt maze ever in The Haunted Shack and thus, is the last flow-through video we ever shot inside the Shack. No doubt, Knott's fans will watch this video several times - for the Scary Farm elements and then to look beyond the characters and Haunt props - to the classic old attraction it was set into.

The video is far from perfect - you can easily hear the talent captain shouting to all of the monsters that they are being filmed. And there are several cross-fades that keen observers will notice. Fear not - you haven't missed any part of the maze, simply our camera running into people in front of us, which we didn't want included in the flow-through. And, at one point, you will see an impatient group run around us - they bypassed our escort and ran right into our shot. Ironically, in this one case, it actually lends itself historically to the video, as you can easily see the slanted path folks had to navigate, which would have otherwise, been fairly hard to make out without people in the shot.

Toward the end of the video, you will see a fantastic monster - a female laughing and looking very demonic/crazed. She is brilliant, and this was one of the first maze monsters we ever encountered with contact lenses - a detail that has stood out in our memory for all these years. We don't know who she is, but God bless her - she was wonderful!

In 2000, a brand new Halloween Haunt maze footprint was created backstage, behind Mystery Lodge. It was a massive space, and has been home to some of Knott's Scary Farm's largest mazes to date, from Voodoo Witch Project to 13 Axe Murder Manor and currently, Terror of London.

Haunt fans will rejoice that they now have access to this one-year-only maze from Haunt's past. The only bummer about this flow-through is that the talent was for the most part, awful. And we're not talking awkward - we're talking folks acting like they'd never seen a video camera bad. The very few monsters that actually did try to do a good job for the video are completely overshadowed by the talent standing around talking, staring stupidly at the camera or literally covering their eyes until we passed. It was honestly, very hard to edit this video and leave so much of that in. However, we opted to leave it in simply because the maze itself was really neat to look at in its entirety and the fact that this is the only year that Voodoo Witch Project existed at Halloween Haunt.

In the years to come, Voodoo became Blood Bayou, which was much the same idea as Voodoo, but with some improvements along the way.

For now, sit back and enjoy our first journey into the foggy darkness of Voodoo Witch Project - a trip through Knott's Scary Farm history and a fairly unforgiving look at talent not acting like they usually do now for us (thank God). At the same time, we give huge props and thanks to those who did try in the midst of the disastrous performance (or lack thereof) of their colleagues...

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