Get haunted: Quick, go find something scary before Christmas takes over 

For $10, you can wait in a very long line—maybe pop over to Whiskey and June or Camozzi’s for a drink in teams while you rotate holding a spot—watch some ghost-faced creepy people prowl around a parking lot, head in to The Haunt for a quick scare, and it’ll be over before you know it! 

That’s one way to spend a Friday night: In bed before midnight with dreams of bloodied skeletons and butcher knives dancing in your head—fleeing from the ghastly ghoul who jumped you from behind, making you run screaming down the hallway into the next room, where dimly lit faces loomed and loud slamming assaulted your ears. You never knew who was waiting for you, constantly pushing forward with a body tensed in apprehension and a shout waiting in your throat. 

Ooh! It’s so fun. 

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• FACE YOUR FEARS: The Grimsley Haunt in Santa Maria presents the House of Fears this year, an interactive haunted maze filled with actors and spooky attractions.

Yes, it’s Halloween season, and it’s almost over, but I for one, wish it would last through Thanksgiving. The various haunts that pepper the Central Coast in October have one last hurrah to celebrate before being pushed aside for turkey, pumpkin pies, and pilgrims. I suggest you do what I did and find a haunted house, corn maze, and/or abandoned cemetery where you can get the crap scared out of you. 

Lucky for you—and me—there are still at least a few nights left for this to happen. 

There’s the spot I went: The Haunt in Atascadero, which runs Oct. 28 and 29 from 7 to 11 p.m. and Oct. 30 and 31 from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person and $35 for a family four-pack. New this year at The Haunt is a Nightmare Asylum; tickets are sold separately for the same price. Rumor is it will sell out, so get your tickets before you go! Check out midstatescare.com for more information.

Here are a few others:

• Nightmare on Main Street in Templeton, running Oct. 28 through 31 from 7 to 11 p.m. in a 120-year-old abandoned house at 99 S. Main St.! Tickets are $10 per person and rumor is the line to enter is extremely long, so get there early. There’s also an early tour, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 28 and 29 for $3 per person. Find more info at nightmareonmain.com. 

• Brookshire Farms and the Cal Poly Crops Club will present a Haunted Corn Maze on Oct. 28 and 29 from 7:30 to 11 p.m. for $15. It’s a fundraiser for the club! Hours and days could change depending on the weather, so be sure to check in via Facebook to be certain: @CalPolyCropsClub and/or @BrookshireFarmatLaFamiliaRanch. The maze will be located at 4747 Los Osos Valley Road. 

• The Grimsley Haunt House of Fears in Santa Maria, running Oct. 28 through 31 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Elks Rodeo Grounds, Gate 1, 4040 S. Highway 101, exit Santa Maria Way. Tickets are $12 for 3,500 square-feet of “pure terror!” Youth 8 and younger are $5. This one is also subject to the weather. Go to grimsleyhaunt.com or elksrec.com for more, or find @GrimsleyHaunt on Facebook.

• Frightmare Forest, a 3-acre haunted forest maze at the Allan Hancock College baseball and softball complex, 800 S. College Drive in Santa Maria, from 6:30 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 28 and 29. Tickets are $10 and proceeds benefit Hancock men’s and women’s basketball programs. Find @AHCfrightmareforest on Facebook for more info.

Editor Camillia Lanham is ready for more scary business at [email protected].