Family tradition turns into popular Halloween attraction in Merced

Located in the middle of cornfields and next to a cemetery, Frightmare Farms promises to give even the bravest the chills.

What started as a traditional family festivity has transformed into Merced County’s largest Halloween-themed attraction, bringing in people from across the Valley, the Bay Area and Southern California.

In 2010, the Brown family opened their haunted house in the small farming community of Plainsburg. It opened for four days and about 1,000 people showed up. Since then, the word has spread quite a bit.

This year, organizers estimate about 15,000 people will walk through Frightmare Farms during its 15-day run. The attractions this year include the Barnyard Slaughter, a haunted maze with nonstop scares; Frightmare Express, a haunted hayride through 10 acres of dark, monster-infested cornfields; and the Zombie Raid, in which passengers ride through a cornfield on flatbed trucks equipped with paintball guns.

Warren Brown, one of the owners of Frightmare Farms and a retired farmer, said the idea arose years ago when his three sons were still kids. “We’d throw harvest parties and invite 50 people, but 250 people would show up,” Brown said. “Our neighbors and friends encouraged us to go big.”

His wife Kelly, sons Daniel, Greg and Josh, along with their wives, all contribute to managing and operating the haunted attractions. They work with a group of almost 200 staff and volunteers, plus security.

“As we got older, we got more into it,” said Daniel Brown. “When my brothers and I got jobs, we started to put money into it and it just took off.

“We knew we had something here when we made a cousin cry,” he added.

As Halloween draws closer, the lines to get into Frightmare Farms grow longer, and the excitement among visitors becomes greater.

Riley Romias of Merced was catching her breath as she exited the Barnyard Slaughter on Thursday night. “This is probably the best haunted house I’ve ever been to,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared, and I actually love scary movies.”

Matt Traverse of Atwater and his group of friends had a similar reaction. The haunted maze took him only about six minutes to complete, but it felt like an hour, he said. “It is completely dark, there are no directions, and things jump out at you,” he said. “But I would totally do it again.”

Frightmare Farms is open until Nov. 1. For a list of dates and times, visit www.frightmarefarms.com. Tickets can be purchased on the website or at the ticket booths on-site.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Family tradition turns into popular Halloween attraction in Merced."