The wicked witch of the West, AKA Rick Galiher welcomed an excited, overflow crowd into the main hall for the first major panel discussion at Scare LA. Eric Lynxwiler and Ted Dougherty entered the stage and began the presentation in typical historian fashion by going over the history of Knott’s Scary Farm. In 1973, the Knott family gave the vendors in the park one month to get a three day event up and running.
We learned that the first maze ever created was called the 10 Chilling Chambers. that featured, of course, 10 different rooms of spooky delights. The next year, with the Trail of Terror the park spent more money on a walk though whose highlights included mechanical stunts and fully built sets. The following year came Black Bart’s Trail. This led to things like Lair of the Vampire and Revenge of the Dead.
Then out of nowhere, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark stormed the stage. In her typical ribald fashion she mocked Lynxwiler and Dougherty for their stodgy presentation and reminded everyone how much work she had done, becoming everyone’s favorite ride in the park. Elvira then announced that she will return to the Ghoul Time Theatre with an all-new show. Elvira’s Dance Macabre will feature the same attributes as previous shows but will get swanky, creepy, and sexy.
Elvira bid the crowd adieu and Lynxwiler and Dougherty collected their wits as they had to announce two more guests. Creative Designers Jon Cooke and John Asperin arrived on the stage and they quickly announced a new chapter in the Infected saga. INFECTED: Black Ops will arrive at the park this fall with more intense scares and higher octane thrills in fighting against zombies.
After going through the history of Infected, they have moved the experience backstage and have built a new urban landscape they are calling Calico City. Guests will no longer need to make a reservation to experience the maze and a normal queue system will be used. Another fun tidbit is that, like all classic video games the attraction will include a boss man.
After that the Knott’s team thanked everyone for coming and departed. Below are videos of the presentation.
