Knott’s Scary Farm Sends Two Mazes Into The Fog At Midsummer Scream 2026

Post Summary

Knott’s Scary Farm is the longest-running horror event in Southern California. They had a panel at Midsummer Scream 2026 detailing some of their future plans but mainly focused on the two mazes that were leaving the event after the 2026 season. It was an emotional time with plenty of current and former Knotts scare actors in the building for the Saturday panel.

Origins: The Curse Of Calico Heads To The Mist

Origins: The Curse Of Calico was the first maze that they announced would be leaving the event after 2026. The fan-favorite maze tells the story of the Calico Ghost Town and the witch that plagues the townspeople. After that, the panel talked about some of the thought and love that went into the design of the maze and their favorite aspects of the maze. This was a hard one for the design team to send into the mist because its such a large part of the Knott’s Scary Farm experience. The Ghost Town is arguably the most important and visually striking area of the Knotts park.

For fans of this one, they have one season to go through and see the Green Witch take over the town once again. Here’s hoping we all get the Witch flying over us on the path. You can read about Origins: The Curse of Calico in our review of the 2025 event from last year.

The Chilling Chambers Has Its Last Run In 2026

In a more shocking development, Knott’s Scary Farm announced that The Chilling Chambers was making its final run in 2026. The maze was created for their 50th anniversary edition with nods to their history throughout including the guide, Sinister Seymour. This one might be the most intricate and involved maze that they’ve ever done with tombstones for every former maze in the event’s history. There are also areas and rooms of the maze that are featured from previous fan-favorite mazes.

This really was a treat to hear about the design and development of the maze because of how much attention to detail went into everything. I’ll be sad to see this one go, but you can read our review of the second year of the maze in our 2024.

A Small Announcement And An Announcement Of An Announcement

Not to make the entire panel a damper, Knott’s Scary Farm did announce that an icon from a maze that left last year, Mesmer, was colliding with the older maze Carnevil, to make a new maze for 2026. They brought out some of the clowns and new characters from the maze to show off for audiences. This sounds like an interesting idea for a new take on an old idea. Knott’s Scary Farm doesn’t feel like Scary Farm without some evil clowns running around.

A few of the new characters for Carnevil at Knott’s Scary Farm 2026. The barker, Mesmer, and the Clownmaker, the Queen of the Clowns. #MidsummerScream pic.twitter.com/4ANYeXCfMm

— Hunter Bolding (@HunterBVideo) August 8, 2026

I was elated that the decision-makers didn’t put Cinema Slasher on the chopping block because that’s one of the best haunted mazes that any of the theme parks have put on. As for the rest of Knott’s Halloween season, they had the announcement of the announcement about their Nightmares Revealed event on August 18th with the Boulet Brothers in attendance to host and have a live episode of their podcast.

They did put up a QR code for guests in attendance to buy tickets to the now sold-out event, but those did not work, which was incredibly disappointing.

We’ll make sure to keep you updated on all things Knott’s Scary Farm for the Halloween 2026 season.

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