Searching for a scare this Halloween? Get a peek inside 2 SLO County haunted houses
It’s the spookiest time of the year.
Ghosts, skeletons, spider webs and jack-o’-lanterns are taking over homes. Evenings are growing darker. Trick-or-treaters are getting ready to transform into witches, reapers and ghouls.
And at two sites in San Luis Obispo County, screams are echoing through hallways as friends and families wracked with fear are stumbling through a maze of horrifying rooms.
This year, a couple of haunted houses — The Haunt in Atascadero and Nightmare from Main Street in Paso Robles — are frightening visitors with a mass of monsters, creepy creatures and killer clowns.
Here’s our full review of the terrifying tours:
Nightmare from Main Street in Paso Robles
Nightmare from Main Street is a true house of horrors containing each and every visitor’s worst fears. Every room features a different nightmare, from masked serial killers to demonic Victorian dolls.
When you step foot into the building, one thing is certain: Whatever you’re afraid of — it’s in there.
We got our first scream of the night while waiting in line, when an actor wearing a pig mask revved a chainsaw and kick-started our fight-or-flight instincts.
We were then greeted by an undead Victorian woman with a vengeance, who chased us out of what appeared to be a disastrous dinner party. Around the corner, a patient screeched through a bloody operation gone wrong.
One of our favorite rooms of the night was a bayou, where we waded through a soup of smoke and green lights that made us feel like we were underwater.
At the end of the haunted house, we wore 3-D glasses to traipse through a carnival-themed space. Technicolor shapes spun off the walls, disorienting our senses and leaving us vulnerable to clowns and creatures hiding in the shadows.
The haunted house started as a community fundraiser in Templeton 15 years ago. Now, the organizers still donate the proceeds to various community sources, including high school scholarships, the Templeton Middle School Science Camp and the Templeton Fire Department, co-founder Natalie Klock said.
After all these years, Klock still loves finding new ways to scare their visitors.
“It’s fun just to listen to the screams,” she said.
The Haunt in Atascadero
This year’s Haunt in Atascadero was a gruesome, bone-chilling nightmare that frightened us to our core.
Now in its 11th year, the theme is “Frankenstein’s Monsters Restitched.”
We were greeted by an undertaker of sorts who taunted and terrified us before we could even step foot into Dr. Frankenstein’s basement. He told us we arrived right on time — as Frankenstein was looking for a corpse just about our size to experiment on.
The dark and narrow corridors of The Haunt would strike terror in the hearts of claustrophobic visitors, and unexpected twists and turns led us toward false exits that would make anyone feel trapped. But even though the corridors are tight, the haunted house is still ADA accessible.
Every actor in The Haunt struck fear in our hearts. Mad scientists howled in our ears while their stitched and murderous monsters chased us through haunted laboratories.
We pushed through a room of body bags hanging from the ceiling, gasping for air to recover from the sensation of being trapped in a coffin.
Just when we thought we could rest, we stepped into a smoky corridor — and saw the silhouette of a masked figure in the darkness ahead. We tried to hurry through the hallway, but he trapped us in the corner until we found the courage to push past him.
Our hearts were racing when we finally emerged from the basement into the night.
“My favorite part, above anything else, is everybody comes in all smiley and happy — much like yourselves, and then I break you,” gatekeeper Chris Towers said with a smile.
The Haunt is volunteer-run, and the sets are built by hand.
“It’s, like, this huge community art project, and it’s so much fun to see what everyone brings to the table,” he said.
Community members can vote on next year’s theme online at www.thehauntinatascadero.com/our-next-haunt-theme.
How to visit SLO County haunted houses
The Nightmare from Main Street can be found at 828 14th St. in downtown Paso Robles.
It runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, Thursday, Oct. 30, Friday, Oct. 31, and Saturday, Nov. 1.
Tickets cost $20. Go to nightmareonmain.com to learn more.
The Haunt is at 5805 El Camino Real in Atascadero.
You can grab $20 tickets for the Classic Haunt-mare experience from 6:30 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, Friday, Oct. 31, and Saturday, Nov. 1.
The $20 Night Terrors (Extreme Haunt) is available from 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26, and the $10 Lights On walk-through is from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25. For more information, call 805-457-5845 or visit thehauntinatascadero.com.
This story was originally published October 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
