Fairbrook Manor 2023

Fairbrook Manor is a favorite of ours, a local home haunt in the Los Altos neighborhood, doing what they do to support the Long Beach Rescue Mission. But while Fairbrook Manor 2023 only wanted to support a great cause, the city of Long Beach shut them down early in their run, citing a lack of permits for a ticketed event—despite no tickets needed (only charitable donations allowed). The community banded together with creator, Robert Duck, and they were able to convince the city of their mistake—allowing the home haunt to continue as a “house party”. With recommendations on street parking and abiding by noise concerns, Fairbrook Manor 2023 survives another year, bringing their expert design, vibrant aesthetics, and creepy kids to the Long Beach area.

Fairbrook Manor 2023 is a walkthrough home haunt in the Long Beach area themed around orphan children in the early 1900’s depression era. The haunt is draped in vibrant colors that hang in the fog. Children of all ages volunteer at the haunt, wearing time-period-accurate clothes and stalking guests with eerie precision. The home haunt itself is only five minute long, but with numerous switch backs, twists, and turns, the actors find numerous ways to scare from the most unsuspected places. You will scream and you will jump at Fairbrook Manor 2023—just make sure you are not forced to stay as one of the many child ghosts.

Fairbrook Manor 2023, now in its fourth year, returns to continue the fictional story of Victoria Fairbrook, who lost her husband James and her two kids in a tragic drowning accident in the lake behind their residence during the early 1900’s. As madness and grief took control of Victoria’s mind and heart, she began to kidnap local children, luring them in with sweets, toys, dolls, as well as freedom from bedtimes and baths. But these children could not fill the void of her own loss—so Victoria filled the wine with cyanide, killing the housekeepers and herself, leaving the children to die slowly. The intense emotion brings all their souls back each October to appear in the mist and welcome new children into the manor.

The children are incredible in scaring in Fairbrook Manor 2023. Numerous times did we see a girl bend backwards onto all fours and crawl towards unsuspecting audiences. Many times, we were scared as an actor we thought we passed reemerged through a broken slat in the wall to scream and elicit an equal response from us. And even in line, the actors were always there, appearing behind us, in front of us, and all around to jumpscare whenever we looked down at our phones or assumed we were safe. But it’s not just the scares that are impressive; some of the most memorable moments were the small moments that reinforced the lore of Fairbrook Manor 2023. Upon stepping into the back of the manor, we came across the lake in which her children had drown. A boy, less than a decade old, playfully swam in the green-lit fog. A girl held a younger girl in her arms, blood on her face, as she cursed us with words dripped in venom: “You killed her… you killed her.” These moments weren’t a jump scare, but knowing the backstory, they haunted us longer than any scream in the dark could. They were formed from a world that felt real in those moments, and still feel real as I turn out the lights for a restless slumber.

We’d love to see Fairbrook Manor maintain their heart and remain on the land Victoria and James Fairbrook bought up in Long Beach over one hundred years ago. So please, if you attend, respect Fairbrook Manor 2023 and their parking recommendations and respect the noise levels when in the street before the haunt. While next year is the five-year anniversary, we’d love to see the home haunt expand in a natural way and not be forced into a commercial setting that would change their dynamic. Fairbrook Manor is something special, in that it brings a community together—not just to keep it open—but to create charity for a great cause, to give Long Beach USD junior and high school kids a creative outlet, and to produce a damn good haunted house every Halloween season.

For more information on Fairbrook Manor, check out their Instagram. For information about similar events, check out our Event Calendar.

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