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Two premier haunted house experiences are returning to San Benito County this Halloween season to satisfy local thrills-and-chills aficionados.
Olivia Wood’s Hollister Scares will once again fill the auditorium at the Veterans’ Memorial Building, and after a year’s hiatus, Eric Garthwait’s Scare Company will offer Miner’s Revenge at Bolado Park.
Hollister Scares will open first, timed to coincide with the Hollister Downtown Association’s Farmers Market. Last year, Wood put the haunted house together in just three days to benefit the Vet’s Building, drawing from her vast collection of Halloween decorations and animatronic figures.
Open for only two days and with little time to publicize her work, Wood said she still drew 600 people.
With the experience she gained, Wood began earlier this year, spending two weeks expanding the number of rooms in her maze and adding new acquisitions and decorations borrowed from fellow collectors.
Like last year, Wood is covering all the expenses this year and getting the work done with help from an army of volunteers.
“I was not sure if I was going to do it again,” she said. “I had to take off from work—I didn’t even have vacation time. I’m going to be in the red, but I enjoy doing it for the community. People are excited about it, and I like that it brings people inside who might not know this building exists.”
With more time to plan this year, Wood said she has improved the flow through the many rooms, added more electronics, and has developed a stronger theme by recreating popular movie scenes to target younger visitors.
“The movie ‘Obsession’ has reached a lot of them,” she said. “For some reason, they love this movie. I’m recreating a couple of those things in hopes of making it more relatable to them.”
In the meantime, Wood said, don’t be surprised if you see Pennywise roaming Hollister, complete with a red balloon.
“I am going to be adding a lot more actors this year,” she said. “That’s a big one for me. They are ultimately who bring everything to life. I can put together the most amazing haunted house, but without the actors, it means nothing. No one’s going to relate to it.”
Wood is also sensitive to younger visitors, who will be given flashlights that will alert the actors to be more entertaining than scary.
“We cater to everyone, no matter their age,” she said. “If a younger person wants to come see us, we adjust our performance accordingly. And we have exits throughout so they can leave if they get scared.”
As was the case last year, Wood is again donating the proceeds from the haunted house to the Vets’ Memorial Building.
“Obviously, I do charge admission,” she said. “But when people pay, the money stays here. It’s all out of my pocket, and to me, it’s worth it when I see people coming in and enjoying themselves, having a great time with their family.”
Eric Garthwait’s Miner’s Revenge extends a lifetime of devotion to building bigger and better scares, which began at 13 years old with one he built at his grandparents’ house.
“I saw my first haunted house when I was 10,” he said. “I got the bug, and I love it. It’s a way to express my art. Other holidays kind of define their storylines. Halloween is the only holiday that you can actually build a different world every year.”
Garthwait began developing haunted houses seriously in 2018, using a single-car garage and driveway off Brennan Way. The 325 square feet he had to work with left him yearning to expand his projects in a way that better matched his imagination. After approaching three venues, Bolado Park offered the only positive response.
“We came out in June and looked over the place,” he said. “It was in their off-season, and we decided that the Art & Photography building would be the easiest to excavate, clear out and clean, so I could get the keys sooner.”
From there, Garthwait measured every inch and feature of the space: 3,000 square feet, almost 10 times larger than anything he had built before. He designed the layout in custom AI-assisted CAD maze software he created and began building at home.
“I discovered that the dimensions weren’t 100 percent accurate,” Garthwait said. “But I also left room for tolerances, so I could shift things a little bit more when I was here full-time. It’s much bigger than I ever anticipated, which is a good thing.”
As he walked around the site, Garthwait took in the rustic, historic feel and came up with the maze’s theme.
“The building looks like a mine entrance, and my brain just started working from there,” he said. “You get lowered into the mine on a simulated lift that actually crashes into the caverns. And you start seeing what happened to the miners who were buried there.”
Figure there will be spiders and spider webs, decayed creatures popping out of nowhere, a little bit of crawling into the unknown, and lots and lots of fog, along with a buzzing electrical panel which, Garthwait said, “scares the living hell out of people.”
“It’s immersive storytelling,” he said. “You’re going through that storyline physically, so you’re part of the story now. The art is making the sets, combined with a story that’s being written as you walk through.”
Garthwait sees Miner’s Revenge as a trial balloon for what he calls the big picture, turning Bolado Park into “Scare Park” annually.
“I want this to be the place to go at Halloween, where you can have multiple attractions and shows outside of just one haunted house,” he said. “This is such a great landscape for my vision, and I think the community is ready for it. And the only way to do that is to do it.”
Hollister Scares
Oct. 14, 16, 17, 21, 23, 24, 28, 30, and 31, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
General admission: $20
Children 5 and under and veterans with ID: free
Hollister Veterans’ Memorial Building, 649 San Benito Street, Hollister
Tickets available through Eventbrite
The Scare Company Miner’s Revenge
Oct. 16, 17, 23, 30, and Nov. 1: 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Oct. 24 and 31: Kids Day No-Scare, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Main Show 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
General admission: $20. Kids Day: $15. Free parking.
Bolado Park, 9000 Airline Highway, Tres Pinos
Tickets available through The Scare Company
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