Last Thursday, the city of Laguna Niguel kicked off the Halloween season with their annual Haunted Trails event located at the Crown Valley Community Center. Visitors arrived to discover a thrilling immersive experience with spooky decorations, scare actors and more!
Beginning on Oct. 10 and ending on Oct. 13, the Haunted Trails event lasts from around 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. each night. Pre-sale tickets are $13 and can be purchased both online and at the venue, and tickets purchased the same day of the event are $15.
Notably, several ANHS seniors offered up their free time to volunteer as scare actors for the trail this year including Korvin Fune (12), Camden Fune (12), Jackson Milby (12), Izzy Romero (12), Lucas Ramirez (12), Maddy Austin (12), Fiona Martin (12) and Conner Cote (12).
Camden Fune recalled, “I first got involved in sophmore year after my friend Eli told me about it. The routine is having dinner at 5 p.m. and talking with friends, then we walk up to the trail at 5:30 p.m., and start scaring people at 6 p.m..”
The costumes consist of a combination of store bought items and hand-crafted details. For example, students would buy masks and difficult pieces from stores like Spirit Halloween, and then enhance their costumes by dyeing their clothes with fake blood or putting on scary makeup. Their costumes included clowns, frightening birds and mysterious masked figures covered in fake blood.
Korvin Fune explained he and his brother’s costume process: “I went to a bunch of thrift stores, found a flannel and old jeans that I knew I wouldn’t mind getting dirty. Then I bought some fake blood, smeared it around with gloves and let it dry. My brother had pretty much the same costume, so he had a similar process.”
Each volunteer would be stationed at a different area of the trail each night. There are different themed sections including a clown themed area.
Frighteningly festive decorations covered the trail, including colorful lights and an intense fog machine, which had the effect of obscuring the path with a mysterious mist.
Once they heard voices, the volunteers would quickly put on their masks and get ready to chase people around and make obnoxious noises.
Romero shared, “My favorite part of the haunted trails was scaring the adults. It was fun to see the kids more shocked about their parents screaming than about the event. Last night was immensely slow so all of us were goofing off until we heard people coming, then we rushed back to our places while putting our masks back on. This was a bit risky but completely worth it.”
The Laguna Niguel Haunted trails is an excellent opportunity for ANHS students to get into the Halloween spirit, whether it be by volunteering or attending for fun. Any students who are interested in participating or visiting next year can visit the City of Laguna Niguel website or talk to any of the students mentioned.
