Southern California’s oldest haunt returns Sept. 17 for its 53rd season with 10 mazes, and two longtime favorites are running their final year before they come out for good.
Knott’s Scary Farm opens Thursday.
The 53rd season of the original theme park haunt runs 26 nights from Sept. 17 through Halloween at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, and two of its mazes are not coming back after this year.
What’s new at Knott’s Scary Farm in 2026?
Two mazes, two shows and a rebuilt scare zone.
Unearthed drops you into an excavation site with a search-and-rescue team, days after a distress signal went out. Ancient tablets have woken something up.
Inked is the one animation fans will want. A washed-up 1930s cartoonist named Mortimer Morbid, formerly of Morbid Studios, figures out that when blood becomes ink, imagination becomes real. His cartoon characters come off the cel and start hunting guests, with a vintage rubber-hose look running through the whole maze.
That brings the total to 10 mazes.
CarnEVIL, one of the park’s five scare zones, has been reimagined. Two new shows join the returning fan favorite, The Hanging.
Which Knott’s Scary Farm mazes are ending?
Origins: The Curse of Calico and The Chilling Chambers.
Knott’s confirmed at Midsummer Scream on Aug. 8 that 2026 is the final season for both, then locked it in at the full lineup reveal.
Origins is the loss that will sting for regulars, since it ties directly into the Calico ghost town theming that makes Knott’s Knott’s rather than a generic haunt. If it is on your list, this fall is the only time left.
When is Knott’s Scary Farm open in 2026?
Select nights, Thursday through Sunday, from Sept. 17 through Oct. 31.
The only skipped night in that pattern is Sunday, Sept. 20. After that it runs every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through October, closing on Halloween night.
Gates open at 7 p.m. Closing is 1 a.m. on Thursdays and Sundays, 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
A note on the dates, because a few published calendars circulating right now list fewer nights than the event actually runs and skip the first week of October entirely. The event is 26 nights. Anything showing 22 is missing a week.
How much are Knott’s Scary Farm tickets?
Single nights start at $65 online and climb toward $89 depending on the date. Fridays cost more than Thursdays, and Saturdays in October cost the most.
The Scary Farm Pass is $164 and covers every event night.
Knott’s Berry Farm passholders get a discount on single nights, and the cheapest dates sell through first, which is the usual arithmetic on separately ticketed haunts.
Is Knott’s Scary Farm appropriate for kids?
Knott’s says no for anyone under 13, and anyone 15 or younger needs a chaperone.
This is not a soft recommendation. The event puts more than 1,000 costumed monsters across all 160 acres of the park, with fog machines running and scare actors working the walkways between mazes. There is no quiet corner.
Families with younger kids are better served by the park’s daytime Halloween programming.
Knott’s has been doing this since 1973, which makes the haunt older than most of the people who come to it. Eighteen more nights after Thursday, and then Origins goes away.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Haunted Attraction Network (September 2026), the 26-night count, the operating pattern, ticket pricing, the age guidance and the Nightmares Revealed details
Laughing Place (August 2026), the Inked and Unearthed descriptions and the event dates
Knott’s Berry Farm press release (Aug. 20, 2026), the confirmed lineup
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