San Bernandino County Yard Haunts: Samhain's Lot, Hellsir's Purge Night, and Greenewitch Cemetery
Rancho Cucamonga & Ontario, CA
Happy Shrieky Sunday, folks! We’re continuing our 2020 Halloween coverage with a venture out to San Bernandino County today with three new haunts that I’ve never visited before! This terrific and terrifying trifecta of home haunts are all within twenty minutes driving time of each other, and their owners are all friends and supporters of each other too. Each offers a slightly different take on a Halloween display, and all are great to check out. Lets dive deeper into each, shall we?
Samhain’s Lot
Our first stop takes us to Rancho Cucamonga, which is normally a verbal punchline or funny sounding Simpsons town reference, but is actually home to at least two fantastic haunts! The first is the utterly stunning Samhain’s Lot (advise to the uninitiated: it’s pronounced like “Sou-wan”), a magnificient multi-themed Halloween and cemetery set up located on the corner of Semillion Place and Zinfandel Street. The owner, Jamie, has been doing yard displays for a while and has been building up his set-up at this location for the last approximately four years. And what a set-up it is!
The breathtakingly stunning Samhain’s Lot is one of the premiere cemetery displays, and last Friday, conditions were ripe for perfect low-rolling fog!
On the front side, the scene starts with a mix of classic Halloween costume characters, a reference to The Walking Dead, and even a creepy Michael Myers appearance through the upstairs window before transitioning to a spooky graveyard that’s also been a bit overrun by giant, monstrous spiders. In front, the zombie theme continues with decayed and decrepit bodies rising from the dead, bursting out of the ground. Tombstones of famous horror characters line the lawn, blanketed by an eerie cover of fog and lit with dim and flickering mini-spots that add an intimate feel to the ambiance.
Around the corner, a line of Halloween scenes progresses, starting with a series of witches in front of a haunted house facade next to a cauldron bearing the haunt’s name and logo. Unseen voices chant wizardly spells, bringing a rush of mystical energy to this spooky night and invoking the spirit of Samhain into the air. Moving on, a towering scarecrow looks down from its elevated perch, as does an elaborate jack-o-lantern tree. These sets on the side make good use of the elevated platform of the house pad located higher than the sidewalk, giving its characters a moodier and more intimidating look.
I only had 15 minutes to spend at this location but could have easily taken twice that amount to savor all the details and amazing atmosphere put forth. Photos really don’t do this haunt justice, and it’s also best observed after it has fully gotten dark. If there is any yard display that captures the encompassing essence of Halloween in its diverse flavors, this one is certainly it!
The display spans two sides of the corner lot, so definitely round the corner and explore the other facades and scenes set up!
Samhain’s Lot is located at 6351 Semillon Pl., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737 and is open nightly from now through Halloween night from 6:00 - 10:00pm. Full effects, including fog and soundtrack, are operational on Fridays and Saturdays only. Visually, though, it’s still a feast and one of the best yard displays I’ve seen this season!
Hellsir presents Purge Night 2020
Literally just down the street from Samhain’s Lot is Hellsir Not-A-Cemetery-This-Year. Basically on the corner of Haven and Lemon Avenues, this haunt occupies a pretty prime and prominent location. This year, Sal and Claire weren’t even originally planning on doing a haunt, initialy opting to go dark for this year to relax and enjoy some of the other haunts around Southern California. But when they saw numerous professional haunts cancelling (and even some home haunts too), they felt compelled to step up to contribute and save Halloween. The result was a “last minute” yard display themed, appropriately enough, to The Purge.
Hellsir’s Purge Night 2020 display is more impressive in person, with a full multi-sensory experience. Hard to believe this was a “last minute” decision to do!
Apparently, spur of the moment to Hellsir still means a 12 ft tall, prominent facade with multiple theming elements, props, mannequins, lighting, and full sound system, bringing the chaos and havoc of The Purge to a Halloween display form. Purge Night 2020 is the type of display that isn’t really captured in photo form. One really needs to be there in person, taking in the ambiance, the audio, and the visual stimulus to really appreciate it. In a year where Halloween Horror Nights—which has utilized The Purge gratuitously over the past few years—couldn’t operate in Hollywood, this production brings a great feeling of that into the SoCal hauntscape, and it’s still really hard to believe that this was not a fully planned, year-long designed decision.
Hellsir’s normal Spanish tiled suburban home has been transformed into an urban riot zone, with graffiti and beer cans littering the walls and grounds, the sounds of sirens in the air, and even several Purgers outside enjoying and participating in the carnage. Decked out in the style of The First Purge, the scene seems to be topical in relationship to this year’s chaotic events and politically charged atmosphere. Across the driveway, another Purger stands with a semi-automatic rifle, posed with a car draped in a net of holiday lights. It’s all a fantastic tribute to the iconic movie franchise, and major props are due to Sal and Claire for essentially whipping this together within a month’s time!
There are lots of great details that would please any Purge fan. This would all be at home at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights!
Hellsir’s Purge Night 2020 display is located at 10522 Lemon Ave., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737 and is open nightly from now through Halloween night. Hours of operation are 6:00 - 10:00pm Sundays through Thursdays and 6:00pm - midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Remember, Hellsir and Samhain are down the street from each other, just a minute’s drive apart, so this is a no-brainer double dose of Halloween spookiness!
Greenewitch Cemetery
Finally, a little bit to the south in Ontario, there’s an enchanting, family-friendly yard display called Greenewitch Cemetery. This yard haunt features a pretty compact front yard layout with tombstones, some witches, a really neat overarching jack-o-lantern structure, a pumpkin creature, and even some a fanciful projection featuring a singing hag (it’s one that I’ve seen in other haunts before, but it’s still whimsical and entertaining). As an appreciator of haunts, I particularly liked the moon sitting on the roof (owner Aaron says it looks like a satellite dish during the day) with projections of silhouetted scenes. It’s a nice layer to enrich the background with so much going on in the foreground.
Greenewitch Cemetery offers a more intimate layout, but there’s still a lot of great content to look at.
Like Hellsir, Greenewitch also set out this season to keep the spirit of Halloween alive by putting on its display to encourage people to still participate in the autumn festivities. It’s these little displays of passion and heart that really reiterate the warmth and love that haunters have, crafting their works for the community. This particular production isn’t quite as epic in scope as Samhain’s Lot, or as cinematographic as Hellsir’s Purge Night 2020, but it carries an family-focused charm that reminds people of the allure of Halloween from a young age—that magic and spooky whimsy that first captures the heart.
The witches are the stars here. The one stirring a cauldron is amazingly crafted. The projection in the back offers some family-friendly fun skits and songs from that old hag.
Greenewitch Cemetery is located at 420 Plaza Serena, Ontario, CA 91764 and runs nightly now through Halloween night. In the absence of specifically listed hours, I’d assume the operating times are the standard 7:00 - 10:00pm to be safe. Full effects are on Friday and Saturday evenings. This charming little haunt is not far from Hellsir and Samhain’s Lot and makes for a great trifecta. There are also multiple other houses on the street with Halloween decorations—none as elaborate as this, but if you have time to take a stroll, they’re fun to check out!
That concludes our San Bernandino trifecta for the day. There are so many great home haunts putting up beautiful and impressive yard displays this year, and we’ve got a lot more to showcase. Go out and support your local haunters. Halloween is definitely not cancelled, and works like these great yard haunts show why! You can change the circumstances, but you can’t suppress the spirit of Halloween!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
