As the spooky month of October approaches, you may find yourself seeking some extra scares besides just Halloween night. You can only get so scared with cardboard bat cutouts and motion activated skeleton hands in candy bowls. 

Knott’s Scary Farm has much to offer in the way of spooks from the 9 different mazes, 4 different scare zones with actors sneaking around to scare you, 4 different shows, and also scare actors on the park’s Timber Mountain Log Ride. 

Below are ratings of 7 of the 9 mazes at Knott’s Scary Farm based on scare factor, jumpscares, theming and entertainment. 

7. Dark Ride

The Dark Ride maze is located in the Carn-EVIL scare zone of the park. The theme is slightly hard to decipher. From clowns to dragons to creepy dolls, there was really no consistency in this maze. The jumpscares were hardly scary at all, and the actors themselves were underwhelming. However, we did enjoy laughing at the clowns on this maze, so it did provide some entertainment. But if your goal is to get scared, I’d skip this one. 

6. Pumpkin Eater

Pumpkin Eater is an interesting concept for a maze located in Camp Snoopy. You walk through a corn maze and at one point the inside of a pumpkin while the voice of a small child sings “Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater.”. Not really the scariest thing you’re gonna find at the park. The jumpscares on the other hand were decent, especially in the corn maze. Overall, it was quite entertaining, but once again, not that scary. 

5. Dark Entities

Dark Entities is located in the backlot of the park.. It’s set on a spaceship where aliens have escaped. But the aforementioned aliens were not scary whatsoever. They were rather cheap animatronics with fake blood scattered around. However, the spaceship setting itself was quite atmospheric and the theme was very consistent. The jumpscares were mediocre, and kind of hit or miss every time. It was moderately entertaining. It’s worth going through, but not worth a long wait.  

4. Shadow Lands

Shadow Lands is  located towards the back of the Xcelerator roller coaster  and is based in ancient Japan. The jumpscares were pretty effective, and the actors themselves were really quite scary. The theme flowed well, and was pretty consistent. However, Shadow Lands wasn’t the most entertaining, and it didn’t stand out to me as much as  some of the others. 

3. Origins: The Curse of Calico

Origins encompasses the theme of Scary Farm for Halloween 2019. Located in Ghost Town, it follows the story of a woman named Sarah Marshall who cursed the town of Calico. The theme was very immersive, with the queue and all the elements inside the maze flowing and connecting well. The jumpscares were effective, and there was a variety of them throughout the maze. The actors themselves were on the scarier side in comparison to the other mazes, and overall it provided chilling entertainment. It was the best maze to start out with, as it’s wasn’t too aggressive, but still set a good example for the rest of the night. 

2. Special Ops: Infected

Special Ops: Infected was the most fun of the mazes, and it’s located over by the Rapids. This maze is unique from all the others, as you get to interact with the actors themselves. Set in a zombie outbreak, you and your group arm up and shoot the zombies yourself in a laser tag style game. The jumpscares weren’t that effective on their own, but that’s mostly due to the interactive elements. The actors weren’t that scary, but then again, I focused much more on shooting everything that moved rather than how the actors looked.  This maze gets incredibly long lines, however it is worth the wait, because you get to take part in the scaring.

1. The Depths

The Depths was by far the scariest maze at Knott’s Scary Farm. It was the only maze where I really got scared, as the darkness of it really enveloped me and I felt like something could jump out closer than predictable. It was set in a mix of ocean and caverns full of sea monsters and zombie miners. The jumpscares, especially in one room where a combination of fog and light made it look like you were walking through water, were incredibly shocking. The characters weren’t actually that scary, but their timing thoroughly spooked me. The line is long, but the shock factor makes The Depths the scariest maze at Knott’s Scary Farm.