Calvin Alagot'U4dTdqbzojEk0w9tqqpqu_OWa2LZgOIg'); });
Shrieks pierced the darkness at the Griffith Park Old Zoo in Los Angeles as hundreds gathered to get the crap scared out of them at the Great Horror Campout.
After the campout, campers shared their experiences. On June 9, @Wicked_Phoenix tweeted, “Thank you for the unbelievably awesome time!” and @_RyanTurek tweeted, “6:32am – Andy Dick is two tents down and talking loudly. I'm now fully awake. #greathorrorcampout.”
]
Ten Thirty One Productions, the same team that orchestrates the L.A. Halloween Haunted Hayride, started the Great Horror Campout last year, wanting to immerse campers in a world not as produced and polished as the hayride, says Melissa Carbone, Ten Thirty One president and CEO.
“We're going to submerge you in a horror-themed camping adventure,” says Carbone, “It's the first one of its kind in the United States.”
If you missed the Los Angeles campout on June 6 and 7, the Great Horror Campout is touring up and down the West Coast for the next two months, including stops in San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle and San Diego.
While there may have been some complaints about the first downtown L.A. campout in 2013, this year's campout was very well-received.
Unlike the first campout, this one was very much in the dark. It was more than dark – it was so dark that campers worried aloud about whether they should walk around alone in the creepy old zoo, whose fake rock habitats no longer house animals but gave everyone the creeps.
And while some complained about the food last year, this year's catering by Mud Hen Tavern had many campers going back for seconds. Others, of course, chewed big chunks of fake zombie body.
See also: A First Look at Susan Feniger's Mud Hen Tavern
Carbone says that she and fellow Ten Thirty One founder Allison Richards are interested in environmental attractions, “not just taking another walk through a maze and sending a cattle line of people through.”
For more information, visit www.greathorrorcampout.com.
Public Spectacle, L.A. Weekly's arts & culture blog, on Facebook and Twitter:
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.