Weird Fresno wants to hear your ghost stories!

So I want to share some ghost stories for Halloween, but not mine. It seems everyone has a ghost story or knows someone who has. And I want to hear them, but don't e-mail me. I want to hear the story in your own words and the emotions that came with your story.

So here's what I want to do. Whoever wants to share their story, call the Weird Fresno hotline at (559) 481-1057. From now until October 30 I will take any call and will compile all the stories together (I can download them as a .mp3 file) and upload it to YouTube and on Halloween post it and share it with everyone.

Can't wait to hear what you guys have to share.

Halloween attractions for 2013

I was recently asked what local Halloween events were going on in the Fresno area and I realized that it was time to update my list and figured this was a good time to do it. Some are new since the last time I did this and some are no longer around for whatever reason.

The Grove
Formerly known as Hobbs Grove, this popular haunted spot offers three different trips through the strange and weird. The forest, haunted house, and hayride are great for a good scare. The Grove is open Thursdays through Sundays up till November 2. The Grove is at 14265 E. Goodfellow Ave., Sanger, CA and can be reached at (559) 356-3958 You can find more information at www.hobbsgrove.com

No Surrender Laser Tag is doing a zombie apocalypse. There aren't many details, but you can contact them through their site at nosurrendertag.com

Haunted Fresno, which is located in downtown Fresno at 665 Fulton St, is open from 7 - midnight on Friday and Saturdays and Sundays it's open from 7 - 11. They can be reached at (559) 498-0960 or at hauntedfresno.com

Raisin Hell Ranch, located near Ave. 7 and Hwy 99 is open nightly at 7:00 all the way to Halloween. For ticket prices and directions you can check them out at raisinhellranch.com.

For those with children (and not a fan of getting the shit scared out of you) there's the cornfield maze and pumpkin patch out in Madera off of Hwy. 41. They are open until Halloween and you can either call them at (559) 530-0035 or go to their site at fresnocornmaze.com

Simonian Farms is doing a pumpkin patch and haunted caboose and it's every day from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm up to Halloween. They are also doing hayrides on the weekend from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more information call (559) 237-2294 or visit simonianfarms.com

Fresno Chaffee Zoo is doing their annual Zoo Boo this Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 26-27). For non-members it's $10-$12, members $8-$10, and children younger than 1 are free. The zoo can be reached at (559) 498-5910 or go to www.fresnochaffeezoo.org.

For more of an adult themed party, The Naughty Angels are doing their 5th annual Halloween party on Friday, Oct. 25 and the theme this year is Wizard of Oz. There will be three bands playing as well as a fashion show by the Angels. It's at Audie's Olympic and doors open at 9:00 pm and tickets are $5.

This is only a small sample of what's going on over Halloween weekend. Schools and churches will be doing their thing (I wonder if the churches would appreciate me linking to them? :D). If I missed anyting please comment and I will add it to the list. And for the love of God people, stop saying there is nothing to do in Fresno. Because there is.

Haunted attraction opens up at Sierra High School

With Halloween fast approaching, I've been asked for scary places to go? Though this place isn't haunted by any actual ghosts, it still does sound fun (and a bit creepy to be honest).

The place is called "The Farm" and is located across the street from Sierra High School up in Tollhouse. There are three seperate attractions to the The Farm and it starts off with a haunted hay ride in the Cattle Truch. From there you take a walk thru Catcher Creek. And if you are lucky enough to survive that you then have to make it through the haunted Rodeo Grounds.

Now The Farm only runs from October 28 - October 31, so get your tickets. This is the fifth year the FFA (Future Farmers of America) have put it on and I heard it's the best yet. The fun starts at 7:00 pm and tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children.

The address for Sierra High School is 33326 Lodge Road, Tollhouse, CA 93667. To get there you take Highway 168 to the stop sign at bottom of 4 Lane and continue for about another mile or so. The Farm is located at the Bert Weldon Memorial Farm, which is across the street from Sierra High School. For more information you can call Bo Hamilton at 855-8311 or e-mail sierrahauntedfarm@gmail.com.

All proceeds go to Sierra FFA, so it's for a good cause.

Win free VIP passes to the Screamup Tweetup

Halloween is nearly upon us and it looks like Weird Fresno was able to get a couple of treats early this year. The Fresno Beehive has asked me to give away a pair of free VIP passes for their Screamup Tweetup happening this Thursday, Oct. 21, at the Fright Night Scream Park in Clovis at 7:00 pm (there’s a pre-tweetup at Rio Grill at Sierra Vista Mall beginning at 5:30 pm).

In order to be entered to win you must leave a comment telling me the scariest thing that has ever happened to you. Pretty simple huh? Just make sure to leave an e-mail address so I can contact you to let you know that you won. Deadline for entries will be Wednesday, Oct. 20th at 3 p.m.

Even if you don’t win, all is not lost. For the tweetup, the folks over at the Fright Night Scream Up have a special deal going on (presumably to get more victims). Individual attractions are $5 (regularly $10) and the VIP passes, which get you into all the attractions, are $20 (regularly $35). To be able to attend the tweetup and be eligible for the deals, you must RSVP to @FresnoBeehive via Twitter to be added to the guest list. For more information, you can see the original post here.

I will definitely be there for this event. Hopefully none of the inhabitants there will try to kill me this time. But we all know they will.

Win passes to the Fright Night Scream Park in Clovis

As I had mentioned on Monday, I was able to grab a couple of free passes for one attraction at the Fright Night Scream Park in Clovis (you can choose which attraction you want to go to) and these are good for the entire time the park is open this year.

Last year I had asked people to leave comments telling me what their favorite horror movie was. This year I thought I would do something different and since this site is moving more towards urban legends and such and not just the paranormal, I would love for people to tell me their favorite urban legend. Does not have to be local, but if it is that would be great.

The first six people that post their favorite urban legends and a way to for me to contact them will win the passes. Please don’t put your entire e-mail address, just put your user name then at then the provider then dot com. If I was posting it would read as “weirdfresno at gmail dot com. I don’t want anyone getting spammed if they post their actual e-mail address.

And remember if you don’t win the tickets, the Fresno Beehive is having their screamup on October 21 and ticket prices will $5 per attraction (remember you have to follow them on Twitter to RSVP). I will definitely be going to that, though not to sure if the ghouls there will be happy to see me so if you see my corpse in one of the attractions, that’s probably why.

The return to the Fright Night Scream Park

Remember how I had mentioned all the strange phone calls I had been receiving for the past week or so on the Weird Fresno hotline? A woman kept calling me and leaving cryptic messages about how she needed my help, but wouldn’t say what she needed exactly. Curiosity got the best of me and I finally called her back. Little did I know what a huge mistake I was making.

The woman had said she needed help with a haunting and that she wanted to meet me in Clovis. She gave me an address that was at the intersection of Shaw and Clovis Avenues. It should have rung a bell with me, but I blame the lack of sleep (created by 2:00 am phone calls from said woman) for me not picking up on things sooner. When I got there I realized the error in judgement I had made. I was at the Fright Night Scream Park.

A place I had promised myself that I would never visit again.

I was already there, so I grabbed my camera that I always keep in my car and walked towards the entrance. I was hoping this was still someone who needed my help, but at this point my gut feeling was that it was a trap. As I approached the front doors, they opened and out walked a pretty young, pale woman. She said she and the other “residents” were expecting me and was glad their little trick worked. At this point I knew I was screwed.

She beckoned for me to follow her in and she wanted to show me the upgrades they had made to the locale, stating that she was for sure certain that I would meet my demise there and join their ranks as one of the undead. Boy do I know how to piss someone off or what?

The first attraction we went to was Psychosis 3D. I figured if I could get through the creepy clowns right away then I’d be able to handle anything. You think I would have learned by now, but no. The clowns were way worse than last year, and of course they remembered me (Rule #31: never piss off a clown). I was able to shoot a bit of video; I apologize for the shaky footage as I was running for my life.

After that little sunshine filled trip to the crazy farm, my guide grabbed me and dragged me to the Necropolis. She told me it had been “revamped” and laughed. To me this pretty much meant I was screwed. Even worse was that this was where my guide “lived” and said she wanted me to join her there. I’ll be honest and was tempted as like I said she was pretty cute, but I avoided temptation and declined her offer. Which was probably a good thing.

After that little excursion through hell we went to what was now called Quarantine. Last year it had been called Desecration, but apparently some sort of virus outbreak had occurred and now they were all zombie cannibals. Oh good, I thought, cause regular cannibals aren’t bad enough. What I find humorous about this was the glee my guide had for trying to have me meet my demise. You’d think I’d somehow wronged her. But no, she just didn’t like me. This bit of video I shot proves that.

We finally got out of there and the Asylum was last on her list of places to kill me. And unlike my guide from last year, she went in there with me (I liked her, she had gumption). Yeah this was even more bat shit crazy than last year. I don’t want to give anything away, but whoever decorated that place has some serious issues. A little Prozac might help, just a suggestion is all. I was able to get some footage of the attraction, but the “guests” there weren’t too happy about this.

As I left the Asylum I head something that terrified me . Somehow the Fresno Beehive has teamed up with the Fright Night Scream Park to do a tweet up (or screamup as they called it). The event is on October 21, at 7:00 pm and ticket prices are half off what they normally are. But you have to RSVP to @FresnoBeehive to be on the list and follow @FrightNightSP (even the undead are on Twitter it seems). For more info I’m linking the page to the Beehive’s blog. Apparently there’s a pre-tweetup going on at Rio Grill in Sierra Vista Mall starting at 5:30. Most likely I will go as I want to see what the hell is going on. Well that and I want to see if the offer to join my now former guide there as a resident is still good or not. Hey, I can’t help it. As I said, she was cute and spoke with an accent.

And somehow I was able to make it through all four attractions yet again. I’d like to say it was because of my guile, wit, and charm. But we all know it was due to sheer luck. As I was walking out of the attraction (ok running like a scared little girl) I saw a familiar looking gentleman.

As an old school Michael Jackson fan I was glad to see him working again. Mr. Jackson was generous enough to give me several free one attraction passes to the Fright Night Scream Park (I don’t think this are good for the screamup as that’s a different event). I’ll be posting something mid week regarding giving away the passes. So stay tuned.

Storm Wrecks Popular Corn Maze Haunt

I had posted last week about several Halloween attractions in the Fresno area, including the haunted corn maze Raisin Hell.  Unfortunately due to a severe storm that hit the valley on Tuesday, the maze won't be open this year as most of if it was destroyed.  KMPH 26 reports on this.



MADERA - These are spine tingling scenes from last October at the "Raisin Hell Ranch" in Madera County.  But the attraction won't host any terrified guests.
In fact the only horror these cornstalks witnessed this year was the look on workers' faces when they arrived in the morning, to find their maze destroyed.

"This was just a devastating thing to have happen," Darren Schmall said.

Darren Schmall runs the "Raisin Hell Ranch" and he's been growing the corn since August.
It was all destroyed Tuesday in a day of very heavy rain.  In addition to a corn maze, the ranch was supposed to feature two separate haunts, the Chupacabra Haunt and the Demonic Scarecrows.

60 people were hired and ready to scare the bejeepers out of thrill seekers, but:
"Because we're not going to open, all those folks are out of a job," Schmall said.
The operators have 10 thousand free passes and 150 thousand coupons floating around to attract people; they're now worthless.

Darren Schmall says he considers 2009 a practice year for his team of ghouls.  "Next year we'll be back and be bigger and better than ever," he said.

The owners are also involved with Cobb ranch corn maze and pumpkin patch.
They're urging people to head out there this year for some Halloween fun.

Original story can be found here.

Win passes to the Fright Night Scream Park in Clovis

When I went to the Fright Night Scream Park last week, there were two things I was able to get come away from that place with. One was my life and the other were four pairs of passes to one of the attractions there. Since I'm such a giving person I thought I would give them away to people who post a comment on this blog post (or is it that I was able to escape by telling the zombies I would send eight people in my place? You'll never know...).

But there's a catch. You have to tell me what your favorite scary movie is and why.

Winners will be chosen randomly, but please make sure log in so I have a way to contact you that you have won. The tickets are good for any from Oct. 16- Oct 31, except Fridays and Saturdays. For days they are open and where they are located, you can click here.

Update. The contest is now over. Thank you to everyone who commentated and the winners will be recieving an e-mail from me.

Halloween attractions in the Fresno area

Someone had asked me the other night what Halloween activities were there to do in Fresno during October. Besides knowing of a few attractions, I didn't really know. I checked around but didn't find anything listed, so I decided to make one of my own. After spending some time on Google, this is what I found.

Hobbs Grove.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with Hobbs, since it's been around the longest. But for those who aren't, it's located outside of Sanger on 24 acres. There are a haunted house, haunted forest, and a haunted hayride attractions as well as a midway with live music, food and drinks, and several vendors. Hobbs is open from Oct. 9 - Oct. 31 (Closed Oct. 12, 13, 19, 20 & 26.) and the gates open at 5:30 pm. Tickets run from between $10 - $12.50 (depending on the attraction), but there is a discount if you buy combos. For more information on Hobb's and how to get there you can go here.

Fright Night Scream Park

I had recently mentioned this attraction last week. This one is located in Clovis at the Sierra Vista Mall behind Target. There are four attractions here, the Necropolis, the Psychosis 3d, the Desecration, and the Asylum. For more information and directions you can go here.

Raisin Hell Ranch

Raisin Hell Ranch is located north of Fresno in Madera County on Ave. 7, just as you pass the San Joaquin River on Highway 99. There are three attractions there, the Scarecrow's Revenge, the Fresno Monster's Blackout Maze, and the Chupacabra Feast. Raisin Hell Ranch is open from Oct. 17 to Oct. 31. Gates open at 7:00 pm and tickets are $15 for one attraction, $25 for two, and $30 for three. For more information and directions you can go here.

Haunted Fresno

Haunted Fresno is located in downtown Fresno on Fulton. It has five attractions, the Fortress of Fear, the House of Zombies, the Last Ride, the Museum of Oddities, and the Seance. It's open from Oct. 15 - Oct. 18 and Oct. 22 - Oct. 31. Hours are 7-11pm on weekdays and 7pm to 12:00 am on weekends. Museum of Oddities costs $5, the Seance costs $10, Fortress of Fear and House of Zombies is @20 and there is a combo ticket for the Fortress of Fear, House of Zombies, and the seance for $25. For more information and directions you can go here.

Corn Maze at Cobb's Ranch

The corn maze at Cobb's is open from October 10th thru Halloween and their hours are 6-9pm M-F and 11am-9pm Saturday and Sunday. Ticket prices are $10 for adults (12 and up) and $8 for kids (4-11, kids 3 and under are free). Directions and more information on the maze can be found here.

Update.  

I found out about another new Halloween haunt and wanted to pass it on.  Sierra FFA presents "The Farm".  The 320 acre working Ag Farm is the background for a night you will not forget.  You will start with a hayride through the Farms Haunted Forest, on thru the Implement shed, Barn and last but not least the Feed Mill.

They are open four nights only.  Oct. 28-30, dark until 9pm and Oct 31, dark until 11 pm.  Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for 17 and under.  All proceeds will go to the Sierra Future Farmers of America.  To get there, take Hwy. 168 from Fresno to the stop sign (at the bottom of the 4 lane), continue thru on Lodge Road about a mile.  It is located at the Bert Weldon Memorial Farm (across from Sierra High School).  The address is 33326 Lodge Road, Tollhouse, CA.

I was told by the proprietors that this is an extremely scary haunt and is not recommended for younger children, people with heart conditions, or pregnant women.  Parental discretion is strongly advised.

For those who aren't interested in things jumping out at you, but still may want to get scared there are those ghost walks in the Tower District and in Old Town Clovis. Both tours are historical in nature with a focus on the paranormal. Each stop on the tour is at a location that is reported to actually be haunted. The guide discusses the history of the place as well as the paranormal activity that has occurred there. Tours are from 7:30 – 9:30 PM and start the first weekend of October and run through the middle of November. Please note that the tours are for those 18 and over. For reservations you can e-mail them at nightfalltours@yahoo.com.

These are all that I could find that are happening in Fresno area. If anyone knows of anything else, please let me know and I'll add them to the list.

The dead, killer clowns, cannibals, and the insane take over abandoned building in Clovis for Halloween.

As I had mentioned last week, something weird (even more than usual) was going on in the Fresno area. We had zombie protesters at the Shaw and Blackstone intersection. While I was there I discovered where these undead ruffians were staying while they were in the area. It turns out that they had taken over an abandoned building behind the Target in Sierra Vista Mall. Apparently even the dead are attracted to Clovis way of life.

Armed with a night vision enabled camcorder and not nearly enough alcohol in my system, I ventured to the abandoned building, which turned out to be an old movie theater. Pulling up, I noticed there was a bit of a crowd here. Rather perplexed as to why so many people, I found out that many of them were looking for missing family members and had heard that they may be here. Outside the front entrance there was a woman named Mrs. Lovett selling meat pies. Since I just had dinner I politely declined her offer.

Walking up to the doors, I noticed a young woman. I asked her if she knew what was going on and she said she could show me everything and beckoned me to follow her inside. Figuring she had already been inside looking for a family member, I followed. As usual, I was wrong.

As we walked inside, I followed her to what she called the Necropolis. "But don't worry." she said "This isn't my home." Laughing I asked her "Where is your home?" "Oh I'll show you, don't worry." said my guide. And with a sinister smile she added "And soon it will be yours too." Confused I asked her what she meant. "Oh you won't be leaving this place" she smiled sweetly "You'll be dead soon. Just like me." At this point I wanted to get the hell out of there, but a rather large (and dead) looking man prevented me from doing this and we were ushered into the Necropolis.

I was able to get some video of the Necropolis as you will see below, though it isn't much. Apparently my guide was intent on killing me and took every chance she could to push me in front of anything that would do the job. Luckily I was faster than her (the dead aren't that quick) and was able to avoid certain doom.



Finally we left the Necropolis and I could tell she was frustrated that I was still alive. She then asked me if I liked clowns. Now I am not scared of clowns, they just make me feel uneasy. I blame Stephen King's IT for this. And as usual I didn't think before I spoke and said I didn't. "Good." she replied "The ones I'm going to introduce you to will definitely kill you then." As we walked up to another portion of the building, there was a clown that greeted us. My ever sweet and innocent guide informed said clown that I hate clowns (told you she wanted me dead). The clown then opened a door and yelled "Hey guys, this one hates us clowns!" and pushed us both in. I was able to get some video, but I really don't think it shows the horror that was Psychosis 3D.



Feeling emboldened now that I had thwarted her attempts to have me killed I teased her about that she wasn't doing a good job of killing me. "That's fine, we can go to Desecration." she said "I know they are hungry for meat there." You would think I would have learned to keep my mouth shut by now, but no. Desecration was even more horrifying than the previous two as it was filled with cannibals. And they were hungry as you can see from the video I was able to shoot.



Barely escaping that we then headed to the last part, the Asylum. Having given up on killing me by now, my guide abandoned me and figured that my own stupidity would get me killed. Honestly this part had to be the most terrifying. There were some bat shit insane people in here. I was able to shoot some videos of the residents, but the deeper I got the more scared I was. So finally I just gave up and got the hell out of there.



Luckily I was able to barely escape with my life. But as I was leaving, I noticed my guide was taking several people in. Apparently she had a quota to meet or something and figured she could fill it faster with a group. I'm going to have to go back in a week or two. This time I will bring backup as a few friends of mine are interested in seeing what is going on for themselves.

Now this place isn't for the faint of heart, but if you are interested in going I heard that they are selling tickets for the different attractions. You can go here for more info. They are open from October 2 - October 31, except closed on Mondays and Tuesdays Sunday the 4th and 11th, Wednesday the 7th and 14th, and Thursday the 8th. You can buy tickets either on the website or there and I noticed that if you do several attractions, the price for each one is less. Also, I was able to "procure" several tickets (I figured I was owed something since repeated attempts on my life were made. I will be giving these out sometime next week so make sure to check back then.