Ferris Haunt 2023

I scan my badge on the card reader, and with a pleasant beep of acceptance and the whoosh of the steel door, the laboratory opens in front of me. Live wires hang down from the ceiling and tables are filled with a series of monitors, sweep circuit analyzers, and radio receivers. The door slides shut, and the room comes to life: tubes pulse a vibrant orange and yellow as if blood is now flowing through their electric veins. The monitor illuminates showcasing a doctor wearing goggles atop his head. “Welcome to the Garden Grove Research Institute,” he states, “and this is the system we have developed to allow interdimensional travel.” Garden Grove Research Institute was brought to life by Ferris Haunt 2023 .

We discovered Ferris Haunt last year and were blown away by the passion of father-son team, Liam and Oliver, combined with the gorgeous set design, technological prowess, and quality scares. The massive saloon and cemetery brought to life in 2022 has now been replaced by the Garden Grove Research Institute, a five-room facility in the front yard of Liam’s residential home in Garden Grove, CA. This five-minute home haunt experience boarders on the threshold between haunted house and immersive horror experience. Participants engage with their surroundings, watch scenes unfold, until they are transported to another dimension—and face the unknown creatures of this strange dimension. There is no contact and the scares come from clever mechanical movements of monsters and Oliver moving from room to room to jump-scare.

Ferris Haunt 2023 combines strong technical savviness with a narrative hook and strong scares to make this a truly memorable experience. Most haunts simply focus on a given theme, providing little to no emotional investment in the experience, and while Ferris Haunt 2023 does not fully lean into the immersive theater side, they provide just enough to give us a reason to be scared. This immersion in the Garden Grove Research Institute and the world beyond it helps us play a part and suspend our disbelief far easier than a traditional haunted house.

A standout of Ferris Haunt 2023 is the expert use of technology to world-build. From the keycard that opens the doors to the various videos playing both inside and outside the home haunt, these are small touches that just elevate the experience and heighten the immersion. Further, the lights come to live, directing attention as scenes unfold, and just plain make things feel sci-fi. Finally, as the other dimension opens—there’s a scare involving a large tentacled monster that moves on its own (all mechanically driven). It reminds me of the sea-creature from Pirate’s Cave so many years back, and I’d love to see these kind of home-build animatronic scares expand in future years.

Ultimately, Ferris Haunt 2023 is an exceptional home haunt that is both full of heart and is an impressive showcase of the power of this father and son team. We love how passionate Oliver is in his scares and how this provides an opportunity to Liam and his son to connect each Halloween season. The Garden Grove Research Institute and the world they’ve created is enough to sustain many more years of haunts—but as the Western Saloon faded in a year—so might the interdimensional endeavors of the GGRI. We’d be happy with a new theme or a further exploration of the dimension we ended up in—because we know Ferris Haunt will surprise us, amaze us, and leave us wanting more.

If you find yourself in another Dimension after visiting the GGRI, please check out Mystic Terror which is only a few minutes-drive from Ferris Haunt 2023. For more information on Ferris Haunt, check out their Instagram and Facebook pages. For information about similar events, check out our Event Calendar.

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