HallowBlog: Welcome to the 2026 Season
Updated: Sep 20
The spooky season began with the recent return of Midsummer Scream and of Halloween Scene Los Angeles too, where we cover all of the action there and in the months ahead. Why wait for Halloween? The Season is here.
Welcome back to Halloween Scene Los Angeles and the 2026 spooky season!
Only in greater Los Angeles would one ever suggest that the first week of August signals the start of it all. Sure, aficionados never really stop thinking about the impending Halloween season, but SoCal is already buzzing with actual haunting vibes. The decorating has already begun for the hardiest, the immersive theatre shows with all manner of horror themes are building sets and casting actors, and your neighbor who’s a set designer is thinking of turning his backyard into something that rivals Knott’s Scary Farm.
It was August, but it was oh-so October!
And look no further than Midsummer Scream in Long Beach as the core reason for it all. The huge annual Halloween and horror convention was the unofficial beginning to the season. Halloween enthusiasts, vendors, freaks (that’s all of us) and creators from all over the world converged on Long Beach’s Convention Center for the annual spookfest.
Think of it.
A gathering of 50,000 acolytes who love this season above all. Awaiting them was: 350 vendors reportedly selling every imaginable prop, decoration, costume and piece of Halloween ephemera possible, the Hall of Shadows, where both pro and home haunters build then exhibit their immersive environments, horror-themed panels, a ton of celebrities from flicks that have caused you countless shivers, a themed film festival, the 30th-anniversary gathering of cast members from Scream to talk about the seminal horror favorite, live immersive and performances, and previews of the coming California haunted attraction season from the likes of Universal, Knott’s, Six Flags, and 13th Floor. If all that weren’t enough to get excited about, it was also Midsummer Scream’s 10th anniversary. So if Halloween and horror are your thing, is there really anywhere else to be in August other than Long Beach?
Not for you and not for us. (Except for next year when it moves to Anaheim)
Halloween Scene Los Angeles and our companion year-round website Immersive Scene Los Angeles were there throughout, covering the convention with reports on both Saturday and Sunday. You can see our reports here and video on YouTube.
And don’t forget to follow us throughout the Fall for Halloween news, views and a lot of reviews of the best in haunted attractions, scary immersive theatre, eerie events, terrorizing theme park conversions and all manner of seasonal sensations!
Why wait until October? The season is already here…
by Thom Mills for Halloween Scene Los Angeles
