Strange and Unusual Haunts
The weird and unique haunted houses of Halloween
Ahh… Halloween season.
The month of October means the month of beautiful Halloween fun, and with that comes exciting haunts. While there’s practically a haunt for every horror fan out there, there’s also some that have proven themselves quite strange.
From talk show hosts to Disneyland (yes, DISNEY), these are some of the strangest haunts that have ever been introduced to the public.
Hong Kong Disneyland: The Nightmare Experiment
Unlike other Disney parks, Hong Kong Disneyland pushes the boundaries of their Halloween event. While other Disney properties focus on family friendly fun, Hong Kong Disneyland crafts haunted houses.
Similar to Halloween Horror Nights over at their competitor parks, the Haunted Halloween event is made up of haunts you would typically never find in any other Disney park.
While they have had multiple houses throughout the years, I specifically want to focus on one specific theme they did. In 2016, Hong Kong Disneyland introduced the world to The Nightmare Experiment, where Disney characters were twisted into more “nightmare-ish” versions of themselves.
From the Mad Hatter being locked in a padded room to Pinocchio being chained up and forced to perform, the haunt provided a disturbing glimpse into what Disney could do for a more intense Halloween event.
Is it weird Disney did haunted houses? Yes. Were they interesting and creative? Also yes.
Halloween Horror Nights: Islands of Fear
Perhaps one of the most iconic events known for their haunts is Halloween Horror Nights. The event has not only given us exciting haunts, but also amazing original characters now known as Icons.
In 2002, however, Universal Florida decided to make a big change by moving HHN to Islands of Adventure. Throughout the park was multiple houses and scare zones that represented each land.
Some lands, like Seuss Landing and Toon Lagoon, opted out of the more intense scares. Seuss Landing went with “Boo-Ville,” which was basically just an empty land with creepy music. Meanwhile, Toon Lagoon had silly clowns and camouflage scares.
Other lands, like the amazing Marvel Super Hero Island, went full out. Maximum Carnage, the house of the hour, featured a hellbent Carnage going on a rampage. The story was supposedly meant to be that Carnage and the rest of the villains murdered all the heroes. Apparently, there had been some sort of depiction of the dead heroes in the house, which by no surprise, pissed Marvel off.
As you can imagine, the dead heroes part was removed.
Over in Jurassic Park, Universal took advantage of the sci-fi horror based IP, creating a rather creepy haunt for the area. Called JP Project Evilution, the haunt involved a rogue scientist creating dinosaur/human hybrids. What was particularly unique about this haunt—other than the dinosaurs, of course—was that most of it was outside. The haunt took place in the closed down Triceratops Encounter attraction, so most of the maze was filled with leafy plants.
While Islands of Fear didn’t work out, it would be nice to see haunts based on more creative IPs such as what we saw in 2002. Jurassic Park is already perfect for haunts, and Universal would benefit greatly from thinking even more outside the box.
Jimmy Fallon’s Tonightmares in New York
So, this year is weird.
Like, really weird.
2024 marks the first time Jimmy Fallon opened his own haunted house. Yes, you heard that correctly: Jimmy Fallon has his own haunted house.
Named Jimmy Fallon’s Tonightmares in New York, the haunt is located in the Rockefeller Center. It’s based on Fallon’s nightmares, where you go through ten different rooms of his greatest fears. Admittedly, it’s actually really well done. Shocking, I know, but the costumes and set design in this haunt are glorious.
There’s a reason for that though.
Jimmy Fallon had help from the Halloween Horror Night team to create the house, which is why it looks so good. While some of the scares are a bit weak, other aspects like the werewolf costume shine brightly.
As good as it presents itself, it doesn’t hide the fact that this idea is just plain weird. Out of anyone, Jimmy Fallon is the last person anybody thinks of when it comes to haunts… but he isn’t the first celebrity to do it.
The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare and Nightmare Trilogy
Halloween Horror Nights has worked with artists before, such as Rob Zombie for his own scare zone. This one, though, is different in that they granted The Weeknd to have his own haunted house. Not just once, but twice!
After Hours Nightmare was based on The Weeknd’s fourth studio album After Hours. Considering the album was heavily inspired by 80s horror, it only made sense for Universal to let The Weeknd let loose and find a different outlet for his creativity.
The haunt features rooms with different songs from the album, each scare representing the song’s overall theme. The haunt was seemingly a hit, as this year, HHN over in Universal Hollywood has given The Weeknd another house.
This time, it’s based on his latest three albums: After Hours, Dawn FM, and his upcoming album Hurry Up Tomorrow. The haunt is named The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy, and hosts some impressive animatronics and costume design. Not only that, but it feels somewhat inspired by classic films like Hellraiser or Saw. The haunt personifies money with an evil demon, shows a baby Abel ripping out of The Weeknd like a facehugger, and some really sick set design in general.
All in all, I think the gamble on a musician like The Weeknd paid off for HHN.
Shaqtoberfest
The best for last… right?
This one isn’t exactly a haunt, but rather an entire Halloween event. You see, there’s ship called the Queen Mary—you might’ve heard of it. It’s known to be extremely haunted, and even hosts a hotel inside so you can hang out with the ghosts.
You may be wondering what the ship has to do with Shaq, or why Shaq has his own Halloween event. Honestly, I can’t really answer that, but damn is it funny.
Shaqtoberfest is an event full of haunts, bars, live entertainment, and even a carnival! It seems like a playground for horror-loving adults, but with an extra flair of Shaq. When I say there’s flair, I mean there’s flair.
Like… there’s literally a giant head of Shaq. I believe he even DJs some nights there.
Unfortunately, there won’t be any Shaqtoberfest this year, but it is set to return in 2025 at a new location. So… I think I have a new bucket list item. I gotta go to Shaqtoberfest at least once.
I’m sure there’s plenty of weird and unusual haunts around the world, but I wanted to dive into just a few.
Are there any weird haunts you know of?
I love that even Shaq has his own Halloween event!