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Welcome to My Nightmare  was Alice Cooper’s first solo album,  released in 1975. The record’s songs such as Devil’s Food, The Black Widow, Only Women Bleed and Escape, form a journey through the nightmares of a child named Steven. Nightmares are terrifying dreams in which the dreamer experiences feelings of helplessness, extreme anxiety, sorrow, etc. If you summarized California’s Halloween haunted houses, nightmares would describe what they’re mostly about.

For instance, San Diego’s largest scare attraction, The Scream Zone at Del Mar Fairgrounds, beckons on its website, “Welcome to Your Nightmare.” Indeed.

Halloween haunted houses are wildly popular but face their own nightmares to survive. From acquiring permits to affordable venue space with ample parking, these indie productions can come back to haunt fans year after year — or just cease be. Scary!

California Haunted House Attractions

APPLE VALLEY: All Saints Lunatic Asylum — a real facility that closed its doors years ago.

ATASCADERO: The Haunt

BURBANK: Rotten Apple 907

CORONA: Coffin Creek

DEL MAR: The Scream Zone

FAIR OAKS: Cemetarium Haunted House

FULLERTON: Sinister Pointe Mist

IRVINE: The Legend of Boot Hill

LAKE ELSINORE: Field of Screams

LOS ANGELES: Haunted Hayride

MOSS BEACH: Haunted House of Moss Beach

OJAI: Boccali Ranch Haunted Hayrides

PLEASANTON: Pirates of Emerson

RANCHO CORDOVA: Heartstoppers Haunted House

SACRAMENTO: Scream Park

SAN DIEGO: The Haunted Hotel in Mission Valley | Haunted Trail Disturbance in Balboa Park

SAN JOSE: Dead Time Dreams

SAN LEANDRO: Fear Overload

THOUSAND OAKS: Reign of Terror (ROT)

TORRANCE: The Haunted Shack