Howl-O-Scream Unleashes 2026 Nightmares

Howl-O-Scream returns to SeaWorld San Diego in Mission Bay on select nights from Sept. 11 through Oct. 31, inviting visitors into San Diego’s largest Halloween nighttime event. Now in its sixth year, the event features its biggest lineup yet, with six haunted houses, new scare zones, live performances, dark speakeasies, themed bars and scares waiting around every shadowed corner.

Howl-O-Scream is set to deliver two all-new nightmares, each ready to deliver relentless scares and pulse-pounding surprises:

I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch

Relive the nostalgic tale of the shocking massacre that occurred on a fateful July 4th. After an accident on a winding road, four teens make the mistake of dumping their victim’s body into the sea. But exactly one year later, the dead man returns from his watery grave, and he’s looking for more than an apology.

Area 64: MotherShip

An all-new haunted house, designed and built entirely from the ground up by SeaWorld San Diego's Entertainment team. Serving as the prequel to the fan-favorite Area 64: Alien Outbreak, the experience transports guests 30 years before the original story, where negotiations between a secretive government taskforce and an extraterrestrial species have spiraled into chaos. Guests navigate the wreckage of a crashed alien mothership and government research labs where hybrid experiments have gone horribly wrong, coming face-to-face with a threat from beyond the stars. The attraction features an 80-foot-long, 16-foot-tall mothership façade — the largest show scene by volume ever created for a Howl-O-Scream San Diego haunted house.  

Four fan-favorite haunted houses return to Howl-O-Scream, bringing twisted carnivals, gruesome factory floors, cursed bayous and nightmare-fueled experiments back for another season of relentless scares.

Circus of the Damned 3D

An evil ringmaster unleashes chaos and confusion in a neon-lit, 3-D clown nightmare as he searches for new performers to restore his cursed circus to its former glory. Guests must navigate the twisted big top, evade his condemned crew, and escape before they become the newest members of his horrifying circus.

Simon’s Slaughterhouse

Simon the Butcher delivers a gruesome walk through a deranged meat factory. Guests navigate a decrepit meat-packing plant while evading "Simon the Butcher" and his murderous crew, dodging screeching buzz saws, meat hooks, and menacing slaughterhouse blades.  

Deathwater Bayou: Awakening

Step into New Orleans where a Mardi Gras night takes a dark turn – guests are bewitched and dragged into a cursed bayou, where witches summon an ancient, ravenous deity. With every step, the swamp grows darker and more alive – and escape becomes more unlikely.

Nightmare Experiment Sweet DreamzZz

Journey  through a converted asylum now run by a mysterious pharmaceutical company testing a sleep aid with horrifying side effects. From hallucinations to uncontrollable rage, the results are disastrous – and you’re the next test subject!

The terror expands across the entire park with eight bold scare zones and five vile vignettes, amplifying every step guests take after dark. Each zone delivers heart-pounding scares and unforgettable thrills. This year introduces three all-new scare zones, from creatures rising from beneath the surface to eerie moonlit encounters, mischievous toys springing to life and clowns whose twisted humor turns screams into shivers.

ALL-NEW Overgrowth

A nightmarish walk through an overrun greenhouse where a botanist’s mutant plant experiments now feed on passersby. This dark, tangled forest leaves little room to run or breathe.

ALL-NEW Terrors of the Deep

At the water’s edge, deadly sea beasts and eldritch horrors emerge from the depths to terrorize the poor fishermen who call the docks home.

ALL-NEW Ripper Row

The infamous murderer Jack the Ripper is terrorizing the streets of Ripper Row. Everyone is on edge, distrustful and more than willing to accost strangers if it means staying alive.

Red Moon Revelry

A bloodthirsty cabal of vampires celebrates the arrival of the blood moon. A feast awaits all who are drawn in by the sounds of a party.

All Hallows Harvest

An abandoned farmland where nothing can be protected from the cursed scarecrows intent on harvesting bodies and souls to feed their dark desires.

Deadly Toys

Don’t turn off the lights yet. Creepy dolls and sinister stuffed animals may be awake in the toy box.

The Graveyard

Fog lurks in this cemetery setting, with eerie lighting and roaming undead zombies waiting to startle anyone in their space.

Carnival of Chaos

It’s not all fun and games when disgruntled, deranged carnies lurk around causing disruption.

Among the haunted houses and scare zones, visitors will encounter Vile Vignettes, mini-staged scenes designed to terrify and interact with unsuspecting visitors. This year, Howl-O-Scream offers new and returning vignettes, each featuring a leading character and a spine-chilling tale that will haunt long after the night ends.

ALL-NEW Card Shark

A notorious dockyard smuggler and gambler has made a fortune by taking risks and always playing his cards right. He offers a high-stakes game of wits where the winner walks away with the location of one of his secret hideaways, and the loser may not be so lucky.

ALL-NEW Dolly Delightful: Recalled

The ever-popular doll has been recalled from store shelves and is out of the box and looking for revenge. She’s armed with deadly toys and looking for unsuspecting humans to play with.

Misfortune

Brave guests enter a fortune teller’s tent to hear ominous predictions of woe and anguish.

Dark Magic

A sadistic magician presents a twisted, untraditional magic show.

Summon the Spirits

An amateur paranormal investigator arrives in Ripper Row determined to contact a victim of Jack the Ripper.