By Charly SHELTON

Listen closely and you can still hear the collective intake of breath when Knott’s Scary Farm lifted the veil on its horror lineup for 2025 during Nightmares Revealed. The sold-out event, co-hosted this year by the Boulet Brothers alongside Jeff Tucker of the Knott’s Scary Farm creative team, serves as the annual harbinger of dread to announce the upcoming KSF offerings – but it felt less like a press event and more like a big party for haunt fans, who reveled in that first sniff of fog juice for the season and got a behind-the-scenes look at the granddaddy of all haunts. 

Two brand-new mazes have emerged from the mist for the 2025 event. First up: The Zoo, where a once-abandoned animal compound has been taken over by covert scientists tinkering with animal DNA and soldier templates. Imagine super-soldiers snarling in cages, a cross between man and animal – then imagine the lights going out at 11 p.m., plunging you into a flashlight-only maze where every shadow could be your foe. It’s two mazes in one and promises to be a standout piece of body horror.

The second new maze is Mary: The Haunting of Worth Home – Knott’s take on the Bloody Mary legend. Whisper her name in front of the mirror and step into the ruins of Worth Home where Mary, driven by rage and grief, seeks violent redemption. The mood is low-lit, familiar folklore twisted until your reflection becomes your worst enemy. Last year’s new maze was a take on the quintessential boogeyman legend, Eight Fingers Nine, and this was one of the best mazes Knott’s has ever done so expectations are high on this year’s classic legend redeux. 

Knott’s didn’t just tip its hat to new scares – it also announced send-offs for two cult classics. The Grimoire and Mesmer: Sideshow of the Mind will both vanish into the fog this year. For fans who’ve snuck through labyrinths of cursed tomes or gazed into the warped reflections of a twisted sideshow, this is your last dread-soaked hurrah.

But fear not because a collection of returning favorites will keep the scares grimly familiar. Widows, Eight Fingers Nine, Room 13, Cinema Slasher, Origins: The Curse of Calico, and The Chilling Chambers will be stalking their familiar haunts. And just outside those maze doors, the scare zones stay reliably sinister – Ghost Town Streets, Forsaken Lake, Carnevil, Gore-ing ’20s and The Gauntlet are all on deck to ambush unsuspecting visitors.

It may still be around 100° outside right now and the thought of breaking out a long black trench coat and goth cake makeup may sound like a prospect for the distant future, but Halloween events are starting to roll out. Mark your calendars for Sept. 18, opening day for Knott’s Scary Farm, and get ready for haunt season. 

For more information, visit Knotts.com. 

Scan the QR codes to see a lights-on walkthrough farewell of The Grimoire maze.