Haunted hosts, theatrical terrors and spooky stories marked Saturday night at the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and Saugus Train Station in Newhall.
Led by actors from the Open Wings Theatre Company and the Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival, the event featured guests walking through the historical park in Newhall guided by a ghostly host.
Those in attendance were walked from station to station, scene to scene, seeing Halloween-themed renditions of scary classical tales, from Shakespeare to Edgar Allen Poe.
Intermixed into the experience was also the history of Santa Clarita, providing for an event different from other haunted houses and Halloween-themed events happening locally each year, according to event organizers.
“It’s something that’s done in other cities, but we really wanted to bring it to Santa Clarita,” said Skylar Reede, the event director. “We have … a lot of jump scares and stuff like that (around Santa Clarita) but we wanted to offer something with a little bit more substance.”
The prep work for the event, Reede said, began about six months ago. But despite the fires and some other setbacks, the show carried on and entertained dozens of Santa Clarita families and residents.
In addition to the scenes being acted out, guests had the chance to sample some Halloween-themed treats, concessions and live, theme-appropriate music from cellist Samea Derrick.
“We’ve been wanting to do an event like this for some time,” said Erin McBride Africa, one of the tour guides for the event. “We’d love to do something bigger where we actually would go around Old Town. And so we decided to do a little smaller scale this year and kind of test out the whole idea.”
The event, according to event organizers, cost $25 a person, with all proceeds going to the Open Wings Theatre Company and the Santa Clarita Shakespeare Festival.
