"The Haunt" Takes Horror To A New Level At The Northridge Fashion Center This October, Event Includes Free Admission "Fall Festival"

"The Haunt" a month-long Halloween fund-raising haunted house attraction to benefit three non-profits: Special Olympics Southern California (Los Angeles region), Kiwanis and Project GRAD Los Angeles and is sponsored by: The Home Depot, Ultimate Effects, Domino’s Pizza, and Hollywood Tentworks. Festivities include three screaming walk through and wheelchair accessible mazes with over 20,000 square feet of scream good fun and entertainment: Nightmare Factory, Extreme Madness and ZombieVille — places where unsuspecting victims wind through terrors and nightmares!

(PRWEB) September 25, 2006 -- Fashion can be scary (think Goth), but that's not what the producers of The Haunt had on mind when they selected the Northridge Fashion Center as the location for fourteen days of horrifying October madness, a horror-filled attraction loaded with amazing special effects, "scare-actors," and a graveyard maze complete with ghouls, ghosts and monsters. Why there? According to our Halloween folklorist expert, nearby there was once a cemetery haunted by the un-dead and the place where a local janitor encountered ‘IT’ and promptly disappeared.

"No Halloween Hollywood tale would be complete without its story line," laughs event producer Harlan Freedman, a highly respected, seasoned veteran, with over fifteen years experience in the television industry. "Is this documented fact or just another Hollywood urban myth? I'll let you draw your own conclusion after you have visited The Haunt."

The terror kicks-off at a special invitation only "VIP/Media Night" on Sunday, October 8 at 6:30 p.m.. Celebrities, business and community leaders, city dignitaries, and special guests will be to be on hand with their kids for a scared-silly good time that will also raise funds for the Special Olympics (Southern California), Project GRAD Los Angeles, and Kiwanis.

"I love producing TV, it's the best job in the world, next to creating haunted houses," explains Freedman. "The most fun part of creating and producing a haunted house is hearing the screams of our visitors as making their way through. I think to myself…It's alive…ALIVE!"

The Haunt will open to the public on Thursday, October 12, at 7:00 p.m., and will run for fourteen nights (October 12-15, 19-22, 26-31), through Halloween on Tuesday, October 31.

All of the festivities (The Haunt and the "Fall Festival") will take place at the Northridge Fashion Center's parking lot, adjacent to Pacific Theatres at Plummer Street. The Northridge Fashion Center is located at 19450 Plummer Street, Northridge, CA 91324.

Ticket prices for The Haunt range from $10.00 to $25.00 per person, per night. You choose your frights: $10.00 – one haunt, $15.00 – two haunts, or $18.00 for all three. A "VIP Speed Pass," where guests will receive special front of the line treatment for all three haunts, is available for only $25.00. Visit www.3232Scream.com or call (323) 2Sc-ream for additional information or to purchase tickets on-line.

Freedman, with the assistance of John Hartigan's Ultimate Effects company and The Home Depot's Build Crew, have created three separate areas of terror – "Nightmare Factory," "Extreme Madness" and "ZombieVille" – providing event-goers with over 15,000 square feet of "PG" rated, dark walk-through, and wheelchair accessible mazes, where unsuspecting victims wind their way through their worst nightmares!

Freedman, with the assistance of John Hartigan's Ultimate Effects company and The Home Depot's Build Crew, have created three separate areas of terror – "Nightmare Factory," "Extreme Madness" and "ZombieVille" – providing event-goers with over 15,000 square feet of "PG" rated, dark walk-through, and wheelchair accessible mazes, where unsuspecting victims wind their way through their worst nightmares!

And if that's not enough, The Haunt is also presenting a free admission "Fall Festival," with rides, games and amusements, plus a Farmer's Market. Plenty of parking is available in the Northridge Fashion Center mall parking lots.

For Harlan, and wife Laura, Freedman, Halloween is as much an American icon as Baseball, Apple pie and generosity. "That's what motivated us to establish HauntsUSA. We wanted to be able give back to our community, raise funds for a select group of outstanding non-profit organizations, and create one amazing Halloween haunted house. We have brought to reality ALL of our childhood nightmares, in one perfectly scary location!"

As for the Legend of the Haunt, "It began many, many years ago," said Freedman, "A long time ago, strange events occurred in Northridge, sightings and such only whispered by the local town-folks. Historians claim this lot was once a turn-of-the-century cemetery and many believed it to be the site of unexplained occurrences. I was told Wilmner Klank, a night janitor that had been working in the area for years, told a tale of ghosts, monsters, and zombies. Klank said, 'I swear to you. I see the un-dead in that parking lot every October, come nightfall. Those things… they were searching for something!' One October night, Wilmner's sister got a frantic call. He told her he found something that could only be describe as…"IT!" Then the phone went dead… No one knows what happened to Klank or "IT." This was the tale Freedman heard.

The Haunt is a Halloween fund-raising event for three non-profit organizations: Special Olympics (Southern California), Kiwanis, Project GRAD Los Angeles and is sponsored in part by the by The Home Depot, Domino's Pizza, Ultimate Effects and Hollywood Tentworks, with special thanks to the Northridge Fashion Center, a General Growth Management, Inc. property.

Harlan Freedman, president of HauntsUSA LLC, and his wife Laura, vice president, are members of the International Association of Haunted Attractions (IAHA). The Freedman's reside in Los Angeles with their two children Cameron, 9, and Hailey, 5.

HauntsUSA LLC is a seasoned events company that capitalizes on the business of Halloween. With a complete turn-key operation, from consultation to creation, the company's goal is to create high quality haunted house attractions.

Note:    JPEG's are available for news media use, please visit www.3232Scream.com, click on the "Press Info" link and download from Photo 1, 2, 3. Please photo credit: ©HauntsUSA2006

For additional information, to schedule an interview with Harlan or Laura Freedman or to receive an invitation to the October 8 "VIP/Media Night," contact Regina Davis, Davis & Associates Public Relations, at (626) 356-1300

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