Knott's Scary Farm Unveils New Mazes and Shows for 53rd Season

Concept art of the Unearthed haunted maze during Knott’s Scary Farm at Knott’s Berry Farm. (Courtesy of Knott’s)

By Brady MacDonald \| bmacdonald@scng.com

PUBLISHED: August 18, 2026 at 8:15 PM PDT \| UPDATED: August 19, 2026 at 9:44 AM PDT

Trinity Player

Listen now

Listen to this article now

English

Deutsch

Français

Español

中文

Italiano

10

10

1.0x

0.50.60.70.80.91.01.11.21.31.41.51.61.71.81.92.0

1.0x

**Powered by** Trinity Audio

00:00

04:10

**Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...**

Two new Knott’s Scary Farm haunted mazes will take visitors into a world of murderous cartoon characters and on an archaeological dig that unearths an ancient evil when the granddaddy of all Halloween events returns to the Buena Park theme park.

Knott’s Scary Farm will add the new Inked and Unearthed haunted mazes along with the new “Voodoo Bayou’s Edge” and “Occultum” shows for the Halloween 2026 season.

Knott’s announced the new additions during the “ Nightmares Revealed” event on Tuesday, Aug. 18 that previewed the 10 mazes, five scare zones, three shows and more than 1,000 monsters coming to Scary Farm 2026.

Sign up for our Park Life newsletter and find out what’s new and interesting every week at Southern California’s theme parks. Subscribe here.

_**ALSO SEE:**_ Take a ride on Knott’s Montezooma coaster — See the video

The 53rd season of the after hours, separate admission event kicks off on Sept. 17 and runs on select nights through Oct. 31 at Knott’s Berry Farm.

Concept art of the Inked haunted maze during Knott’s Scary Farm at Knott’s Berry Farm. (Courtesy of Knott’s)

The new Inked maze will take visitors into the 1930s cartoon world of Morbid Studios run by washed-up studio head Mortimer Morbid.

Blood becomes ink and imagination becomes reality while Mortimer is working on a final Halloween television special where his murderous cartoon characters come to life and pull viewers into their twisted world.

_**ALSO SEE:**_ Knott’s Berry Farm closes loophole on unlimited dining pass

The Inked maze will be created by Knott’s Scary Farm creative designer Daniel Miller, who worked on the Zoo maze in 2025.

The new Inked maze will be located under the Xcelerator coaster.

Concept art of the Unearthed haunted maze during Knott’s Scary Farm at Knott’s Berry Farm. (Courtesy of Knott’s)

The new Unearthed maze will take visitors on a perilous journey through an excavation site where the discovery of ancient tablets has awakened a malevolent force from a forgotten age.

A search and rescue team responding to a distress signal at the excavation site must battle an ancient evil unearthed by the archaeological dig.

_**ALSO SEE:**_ Knott’s Berry Farm closes 4 attractions during busy summer season

The Unearthed maze will be designed by Knott’s Scary Farm creative designer Jon Asperin, who worked on the Bloody Mary maze in 2025.

The new Unearthed maze will be located at the former Mystery Lodge attraction.

A scene from Mary: Haunting of Worth Home maze at Knott’s Scary Farm in Buena Park, CA, on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Eight haunted mazes will return in 2026:

- Mary: The Haunting of Worth Home

- The Zoo

- Widows

- Eight Fingers Nine: The Boogeyman

- Chilling Chambers

- Cinema Slasher

- Room 13

- Origins: The Curse of Calico

The Origins and Chilling Chambers mazes will be retired after the 2026 season of Knott’s Scary Farm.

Concept art of the “Voodoo Bayou’s Edge” show during Knott’s Scary Farm at Knott’s Berry Farm. (Courtesy of Knott’s)

The new “Voodoo Bayou’s Edge” show on the Calico Mine Stage will feature drums and dancers amid smoke and fire effects.

Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau will guide the audience through a haunted cemetery and into an underworld of spirits who rule over fertility, healing and death.

Concept art of the “Occultum” magic show during Knott’s Scary Farm at Knott’s Berry Farm. (Courtesy of Knott’s)

The new “Occultum” show in the recently refurbished Bird Cage Theatre will feature magicians from the Magic Castle private club in Hollywood that also serves as the headquarters for the Academy of Magical Arts.

_**ALSO SEE:**_ Knott’s Berry Farm slashes 2027 season pass prices by 50%

“ The Hanging” comedy and stunt show will return to the Wagon Camp Theater for another year of pop culture parody and satire.

The Knott’s creative team will also update the CarnEvil scare zone with a new backstory where carnival sideshow characters take over the Boardwalk area of the park.

The Carnevil scare zone at Knott’s Scary Farm. (Courtesy of Knott’s Berry Farm)

The new CarnEvil backstory brings Mesmer the Hypnotist and his carnival curiosities to the scare zone typically overrun with crazed clowns.

Mesmer: Sideshow of the Mind was a haunted maze from 2021 to 2025 during Knott’s Scary Farm.

_**ALSO SEE:**_ I joined a killer clown cult at Six Flags Fright Fest

The four other returning scare zones include:

- Ghost Town Streets

- Forsaken Lake

- Gore-ing 20’s

- The Gauntlet

The Nightmares Revealed preview event featured a panel discussion on the new Inked and Unearthed mazes, walk-throughs of the Room 13 and Widows mazes with the lights on, monster makeup demonstrations and a Scary Farm wardrobe display.

### Share this:

- Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

- Share on X (Opens in new window)X

- Share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Reddit

- Print (Opens in new window)Print

- Click to share a free article with a friend

###### GIFT THIS ARTICLE

###### What is article sharing?

Subscribers are entitled to 10 gift sharing articles each month. These can be shared with friends and family who are not subscribers.

Subscribe now! or Sign in to your account.

Share Button Disabled

Subscribe Log in

Cancel

## More in Knott's Berry Farm

-

-

-

-

- 2026

- August

- 18

Close