Gothic Hills Cemetery: 2019 Review
Gothic Hills Cemetery, Sylmar, CA
Hello, boys and girls! Those of you already celebrating Christmas season can disregard this update, but for those of you who miss Halloween, we’ve got an extension of content for your tastes! We’ve got yet another look back at one of the home haunts that we visited toward the end of Halloween season. We love checking out these home-made haunted houses, which often feature quality comparable to professional haunts and reflect the passion and creativity of their creators. And we love seeing all the different ways home haunts all around Southern California share their concepts and storytelling.
Today’s now-post-Halloween coverage is a look back all the way to... nine days ago. That’s when we visited our final unique haunted house attraction of the season, a home haunt located up in Sylmar called Gothic Hills Cemetery. Produced by Troy Yu and Aaron Bolton, this elaborately produced haunted attraction isn’t a stranger to the haunt scene. Gothic Hills has actually been around since 2014, and a condensed version of this year’s event was shown at Midsummer Scream’s Hall of Shadows this past summer.
Welcome to the ominous Fitzroy Mausoleum!
Back in August, when we reviewed the Hall of Shadows, we thought that Gothic Hills Cemetery showed a nice commitment to theatrics and storytelling, but the execution felt a little rushed and campier than the eerie vibe of the theming suggested. Part of this was expectation—the thought was that this would be a walkthrough maze with jump scares, but it was more of a walkthrough show.
But a show requires a beginning, middle, and end, and the mini-haunt format of the Hall of Shadows made for a difficult medium to properly communicate the story of a wicked family patriarch dabbling in dark and demonic arts. The story packed a lot of information into the relatively short out-and-back layout, which meant that there was less time to absorb each sequence and properly process each turn of events. The single group capacity also contributed to long lines, which didn’t help the enjoyability of the maze. So though the concept and storyline was actually pretty impressive, the experience felt anticlimactic.
What a difference a completely-sized haunt layout makes, though! Visiting the whole home haunt, we found not only a lavishly beautiful cemetery yard display, but a full-fledged and carefully flushed out haunted attraction that provided an eerie supernatural story about Julius Fitzroy, the most sinister of the Fitzroy family, whose thirst for power and eternal life led him to a Satanic pact that turned him into a fiendish spirit that haunts Gothic Hills to this day.
Inside the mausoleum, there is still evidence of past sinister practices and rituals.
Gothic Hills Cemetery strikes upon a clever premise to frame their haunted attraction, which is part haunted maze and part immersive theater. Guests are modern day history enthusiasts who are touring the old Gothic Hills Cemetery and taking in the exhibits and panels put forth by the Gothic Hill Cemetery Historical Society. Guests who wait in front can enjoy the newer and more colorful Gothic Hills, but before long, a guide actually brings guests around the back, to the older and most historic part of the graveyard.
Navigating through the side yard of the residential property, one is quickly transported away from the suburban Valley of Los Angeles and into a rich and layered burial ground site. After watching a brief introductory video about the impending tour that doubles as a safety and warning spiel and is cleverly signed in American Sign Language at the same time it is spoken, guests embark on the tour en proper. The straightforward gravestones from the front give way to the more elaborate and regal head pieces in the back, where the town’s wealthier members were buried. But turning right brings guest to perhaps the most dramatic looking set pice of the entire maze, the entrance to the old Fitzroy mausoleum, recently uncovered after it had been overtaken by the vegetation and the grips of time.
This massive structure seems to brim with age… the weight of the longstanding Fitzroy family hovering like a phantom aura over the elaborate architecture. Guests enter and encounter another video exhibit that sheds some light on the recent discoveries, but the feed fritzes out—obstenibly from all the wind outside (during late October’s Santa Ana’s, this was not a stretch of the imagination at all)—and that’s when supernatural occurrences start to happen.
A secret door opens up, revealing a hidden passage into a chamber that shows evidence of some sort of dark or Satanic ritual. A harsh, ominous whisper echoes through the chamber. All of a sudden, mist starts to spew forth from the skull and potions arrangement, and the guide hurries the group out and into the next area, where it appears that the corpse of Julius Fitzroy’s late wife, who disappeared mysteriously, sits, clutching to a colorful gem and wrapped in sinewy vines. She seems to come to life, spitting out a warning against trusting Julius. But the insidious voice of Julius overwhelm her.
Guests rush to ensuing spaces, battling through vine-engulfed tunnels until they come upon a main chamber. On a mirror, the visage of Winnifred—Julius’ lover and rumored wish—appears. And it turns out that rather than try to bring harm to the Fitzroy family, Winnifred had been trying to contain and control Julius’ power lust and prevent him from harming anyone in his afterlife. It isn’t long before Julius makes his presence felt, though, bursting out of the central crypt door, prompting Winnifred to try to use her magic to contain him. It buys enough time to allow guests to run out and escape through a network of tunnels, back to the safety of suburban Southern California.
Some of the spirits who still lurk give out warning.
Given the proper time to build and engage all the effects, the most striking part of Gothic Hills Cemetery is its production value and theatrical storytelling, which transport guests into a cinematic venture within a cursed crypt. The deliberate pacing creates a very immersive experience that feels very much like a walk-through piece of theater with different scenes in different locations. This is more than just a haunted maze. It’s a haunted and haunting experience.
Gothic Hills Cemetery as a whole isn’t particularly scary, with soft, animatronic scares and a somewhat tongue-in-cheek tone that has been designed to appeal to guests of all ages, as opposed to an ultra-intense, adult-level, hard scare maze. And the construct of the maze being part of a historical tour lends a wonderful, believable melding of reality and fantasy, making everything feel more plausible. The excellent theming and mix of lighting and soundtrack conjure a fantastic atmosphere that feels exceptionally professional, and the fact that this is all part of a home haunt is truly impressive. In short, this blend of haunted house and haunted show really dazzles!
Troy and Aaron have other stories planned for Gothic Hills Cemetery, involving other members of the Fitzroy clan. Given the premise of this haunt, they’ve certainly set themselves up for an extensive run of new tales and adventures. We look forward to seeing more of the mythology behind Gothic Hills Cemetery in upcoming seasons. The sophistication and scale of this riveting haunt has made it one of the monumental home haunt attractions in the Southern California haunt landscape, and one that should not be ignored!
But nothing appears to stand in the way of Julius Fitzroy and his thirst for malevolent and ever-lasting life!
Gothic Hills Cemetery is located at 13796 Marchant Ave, Sylmar, CA 91342 and was scheduled to run this past October 25-27 and October 30 - November 1. However, high winds did force some cancellations, which were made up by added dates on the first weekend of November. Weather permitting, though, I’d presume they’ll be running the weekend before Halloween next year, plus Halloween weekend itself!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
