During most of the year, Lake Elsinore’s Diamond Stadium plays host to the sports fans in the community.  Once a year though the park is transformed into a hive of horror fans and haunted houses.  Field of Screams is about to begin its 8th year of scares and we were there as the first flats were unloaded from their dormancy, behind the jumbotron in outfield.  Yesterday the haunted scenery and spooky props were pulled out from their mouldering crypts, out into the light of day, and readied for scares.

Every year, Creative Directors, Jeremy Ball, Zachary Ball, and Jon Parry attempt to rise from the humble beginnings of this homegrown horror to bring something new and exciting to the field.  This year most everything will be included with the general admission aside from one small uncharge experience that features new, interactive elements sure to surprise guests.  We don’t want to blow the surprise but if you experienced the wonderful Vault of Darkness at ScareLA you have an idea of what is coming.
 

Jon Parry, during the build.

Jeromy Ball, mid-build.

We asked the creative leaders of the project why here?  Why Elsinore?  It seems that the idea of spooking up the ball field was the brainchild of Bruce Kessman.  Pulling out some black plastic sheets and the office staff, Kessman created a slapdash walkthrough that did fine but had plenty of room to grow.  Enter Willy May of Scream Team productions.  May was responsible for developing the successful haunt, Toxic Terror for Lake Elsinore Diamond Stadium and the haunt grew from there.

For the past three years Jeremy, Zachary, and Jon have continued to grow the independent haunt into a crowd favorite that people return to year after year.  Using a team of 8 make up artists and up to 75 actors, the haunt has earned non-profit organization status by benefiting CAUSE for Kids.  This also allows all involved to count the time  toward any school credits for community service. It’s a pretty sweet gig overall.

This year the mazes will include 5 walk throughs, Exorcism Reborn, Cannibal Island 3D, Holidays of Horror, House of Nightmares, Roadkill Cafe.  Why should the average haunt goer drive all the way out to Lake Elsinore to enjoy this haunt?  The creators didn’t skip a beat in explaining that they make the experience as personal as possible.  No conga line mazes here, they are fierce crowd pacers, letting only 6 people at a time through the maze and spacing the experiences out to every 45 seconds.  Of course, coming out to benefit CAUSE for kids doesn’t hurt either.