There are more than 500 square miles of city surrounding UCLA’s campus, which takes up a minuscule fraction of that mileage. For such a big place, Los Angeles at times seems impossible to navigate. But don’t let size steer you away from your sense of adventure and curiosity. Each week this quarter, follow columnist Maryrose Kulick as she takes you to a new and affordable L.A. destination, to help you explore the city you call home.
Greeted by a pyramid of jack-o’-lanterns, we walked into the bustling festivities.
So far so good. Everything was fine.
But then a cold breath met the back of my neck – a high-pitched scream erupted from my throat, and I knew we had crossed the threshold to our doom.
The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, now in its sixth year of terror-inducing Halloween celebration, returns to the Old L.A. Zoo at Griffith Park. If you’re a scare-seeker looking for something to do on Halloween, this is an option a little more suitable for a college budget than the standard theme park horror nights. And it may hold just the right amount of horror, haunts and thrills to satisfy your need for fear.
For some reason, whenever Halloween comes around, my confidence is boosted a little too high, and I can’t seem to stay away from the ghoulish festivities of the holiday – as long as the creepy actors at said festivities aren’t allowed to touch me.
Luckily, this is the case at the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, although they did get dangerously close.
With the general admission pass, you get free range of the area called Purgatory, which includes many carnival-like attractions such as a carousal where you can ride skeletal horses backward, a pumpkin carving station and “Death Row” – a tent full of torture devises and medieval execution practices. It’s Halloween – why not pretend you’re about to get beheaded by a guillotine for a new profile pic?
In addition, performances take place periodically throughout the night. The Macabre Theater allows civilians to act out scenes from iconic horror films like “Psycho.” Across the way, the Street Drum Corps performs a percussion set that’s loud, upbeat and really gets you pumped up as you wait in line for the main attraction: the hayride. Here’s where it gets scary.
After waiting in line for a while, my group was ushered into a chain-linked fence enclosure. Outside, a sinister-looking man in a cloak paced like he was stalking his prey, while a woman shouted hayride rules through a megaphone. Then, like herded animals, we were released from our creepy cage and allowed to take our seats in a hay-filled trailer pulled by a tractor. Here is where you need to prepare a plan of action: Sit on the edge of the trailer if you want the most thrilling, horrifying experience, and sit in the middle if you want to laugh as you watch your friends nearly wet themselves from terror.
I was dumb. I sat on the edge.
For the next 25 minutes, we sat in torturous anticipation as the tractor slowly pulled us along the path. My head did as close to a 360-degree turn as it could as I tried to get a clear viewpoint on every angle of my surroundings. There was no escaping the hayride, though. With each stop, ghouls, monsters, clowns and other creepy things would run around the trailer, screaming in our faces and getting as close as they possibly could without actually making contact. Sometimes they would just stand there, staring at me, wearing those dreadful, expressionless masks as I cowered and attempted to take shelter in my friend’s lap.
(Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
The range of emotion on this ride was actually pretty incredible. I’d say about 75 percent of the time, I was scared out of my wits. The other 25 percent, I was either laughing at myself or in awe of the very theatrical sets along our journey. At one point during the ride, three actors dressed as bird-like creatures were standing on tall poles and swaying back and forth, swooping down over our heads – an impressive bit of ingenuity.
Thankfully, there is a 100 percent survival rate for the hayride, so no need to fear for your life completely. Perhaps it’ll get you warmed up for the mazes they offer as well, though the hayride provided enough scares for me.
So this Halloween, take a break from those looming midterms and find something even more haunting as you ride in a trailer full of hay.
