The World’s Largest Haunted House returns to Gilroy this year, inviting daring guests and Halloween enthusiasts to brave its ghoulish graveyard and dozen-plus rooms of fright and fear.
Created by Gilroy couple Alicia Juarez and Oscar Garcia, the haunted house is located at 8630 San Ysidro Avenue for the second year in a row. Also for the second year, the haunted house offers a roller rink that is guarded by a giant skeleton covered in pieces of disco ball mirror.
Guests can enjoy the hauntings or the roller rink or both, and many already have since opening for the season on Oct. 4.
Now experts at creating spooky and interactive attractions, Juarez and Garcia have operated their haunted house at different locations “off and on” in Gilroy and South County since 2006.
But the original World’s Largest Haunted House dates back to the 1980s, when Garcia’s family began the annual effort at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. As a child, Garcia used to help his uncles build and operate the haunted house after school.
Since then, Garcia has always wanted to carry on the tradition, and has been able to do so in Gilroy in recent years. He said the concept of the World’s Largest Haunted House centers on a commitment to being “very old school.”
“There are no animatronics; it’s all live actors,” said Garcia, clarifying that about 15 people perform as characters when the haunted house is open to guests.
The creative couple and their crew also make all the attraction’s props from scratch. Upon entering the 25,000-square-foot World’s Largest Haunted House, guests first step through a spooky graveyard covered with skulls and inhabited by living dead and other creatures.
Next is a classic “haunted maze” that includes 13 rooms, each with a different theme designed to evoke fear and trepidation—such as a haunted church hall; a creepy clown room; a Freddy Krueger suite; a chainsaw room (with realistic audio accompaniment); and a spooky swamp.
Loud noises welcome patrons to each room, and actors dressed in frightful costumes jump out of coffins, gravesites and dark corners screaming or wielding realistic looking weapons at guests passing by.
Juarez and Garcia remain busy in the fall and year-round with full-time jobs as well. They run the World’s Largest Haunted House as their way to bring enjoyment and entertainment to their family, friends and strangers.
“We do it mainly for the community, for the kids, so they have something to do,” Juarez said.
The World’s Largest Haunted House is open 7-11pm on Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 26; 7-10pm Sundays through Oct. 27; and on Halloween night (Oct. 31) from 6:30-11:30pm. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit worldslargesthauntedhouse.net/.
