The Outcast Penitentiary is a first-year home haunt, inspired by The 17th Door and located in Anaheim Hills. While it occupies a modest footprint, the intensity inside more than makes up for it. While not as intense as The 17th Door—there’s no electrical shocks or cockroaches inside—the effects would make Robbie Luther, creator of The 17th Door, proud. The Outcast Penitentiary creator, Thomas Cornwell, has circuit boards set up to control the sound and lighting, with some fantastic effects that kept the line wrapped around the block the entire time we were there. There’s even the green light that flashes in one minute intervals, alerting the cue to send the next batch of victims in.

While Cornwell was inside acting in his home haunt, we did speak to his mom who was keeping the line in order. Cornwell is only 16 years old, and he does almost everything by himself—apart from painting a few of the panels. “Right after football practice, he comes home to work on this. Then in the morning he’ll show me some new design—and I wonder if he even sleeps.” It’s clear that Cornwell has passion for his work and the haunted house that inspired him. While there is no narrative currently, the theming is apparent and impressive; Paula from The 17th Door would fit perfectly in the walls of Cornwell’s home haunt.

Haunting is a resource for immersive theater and horror fans in Los Angeles and across the world, promoting art and community. Want to help us reach even more people, and get some cool perks and experiences? For as little as $1 a month, you can join our Patreon and help us keep bringing content to life.

If you like the above article and want to find more like it, make sure to join our community. If Facebook is your favorite, follow us there and become a part of our groups for Immersive Horror fans and/or Immersive creators. We’re active on Instagram, posting evocative imagery and informative stories to promote our reviews and recollections; follow us there. You can even find us on twitter; click here to follow. For those who want to explore deeper, we have a vibrant Slack community with new event alerts and immediate ticket sale announcements; click here to join. And subscribe to our event calendar to get emails for all or specific events (look for the link right under the calendar)! Finally, we have a newsletter that comes out once a week; click here to sign up.

So however you like your news being delivered, we have something haunting for you.