“Take my advice,” a nine-or-ten year old girl says. “Just make sure you survive.” She guards the front entrance of Terror on Laura Street Haunt— and when the group in front of us hasn’t exited yet, she leans forward, showing off a red tail attached to her jumpsuit. “I’m Gwen, but today, I’m a devil! I just got back from a birthday party—and I had pizza. Did you know, I’ve had pizza every night this week?” Her charm is infectious, and we enjoy our short banter—but when the group before us runs out the exit, screaming (and losing their hat), the girl smiles, “Now, do me a favor and don’t die.”

Terror on Laura Street Haunt is a 20+ year operating home haunt in La Habra, California from creator Alex Burkhardt that expertly uses the space of a single garage to send guests through tight hallways packed to the brim with details and scare actors. This home haunt creates well designed hallways with numerous masks and dummies hidden within the walls, so that when the scares do come (and there’s a lot)—they are fully unexpected, often arising from the third or fourth dummy you come across. The experience should last anywhere from three to five minutes, depending on how scared you are, but we took a little longer to appreciate all the details.

While all rooms or hallways snake back and forth to make the haunt feel much larger than it actually is, each area is themed differently to force audiences to face a plethora of phobias that they may harbor. From a classic Victorian manor with dozens of arms outstretching from the walls, a fireplace, and a suit of armor; to a living a doll room with floating candles and ventriloquist dummies; to a catacomb lined with skulls and the undead; a final clown area lined by ticket booths, evil jack in the boxes, and neon messages warning you not to look at them—there’s tons of scares to be had.

While the hallways are too narrow to actually fit an actor in it with the guests, the scares always come from inlets or cutouts in the wall façade. The actors will often speak lines to you, startling guests, or use auditory scares in the form of a jingle of a can to scare you. The scares here work exceptionally well because it’s never clear what mask or face or hand or suit of armor hides human flesh underneath. “Beware the clowns” is a common theme we heard, making us only more anxious to when the clown room finally came.

Further, the details here are enough to engage someone’s fear response just from the close proximity you are in with the objects in the room. While most haunts offer rooms filled with items, giving scare actors space to move, run, and startle audiences, the small hallway spaces here don’t give audiences the opportunity to create space between themselves and the scares. Further, the dolls, the clowns, and the hands will all be within reach—so the dread is ever present. If this was a longer haunt, the fear might be overpowering (even in a claustrophobia manner), but it’s never too much in the short timeframe you are in Terror on Laura Street Haunt.

Terror on Laura Street Haunt is a fantastic work of passion that creates some excellent scares through the use of small switchback passages and clever misdirection and ambiguity. While only operating in a garage, it feels longer than some experiences that wrap around homes. We loved the themes—and props used here are expertly done, making this feel realistic and frightening. The love and passion here is clearly shown, with numerous actors spread across the winding path, creating numerous scares. Just do yourself a favor and beware of the clowns.

For more information about Terror on Laura Street Haunt, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages. For information about similar events, check out our Event Calendar.

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