When the sun dips below the Carolina horizon and the air begins to cool, Carowinds undergoes a transformation unlike anything else in the South. By day, it’s a family amusement park straddling the North Carolina–South Carolina border. By night on select fall evenings, fog rolls through the park, lights shift to crimson, and hundreds of monsters are unleashed. This is SCarowinds, the Carolinas’ Halloween juggernaut, now entering its 25th year of fear in 2025.

The Origins of SCarowinds

SCarowinds debuted in September 2000 as Carowinds’ answer to the growing appetite for large-scale Halloween events. What started with a few haunted houses and roaming characters quickly evolved into a full-scale production. The early 2000s saw rapid growth: more mazes, more performers, and more elaborate sets. By the mid-2010s, SCarowinds had become a cornerstone of the park’s seasonal calendar, attracting guests from across the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee.

2025 marks its 25th anniversary, a milestone that cements SCarowinds not just as a regional haunt but as a cultural tradition in the South. Unlike small-town haunted houses, this is a corporate-level production backed by Cedar Fair, built with Broadway-scale scenic crews, professional makeup teams, and hundreds of performers.

Rules of the Night

SCarowinds runs on structure, with rules that make the experience safe and manageable for tens of thousands of guests each season:

• Chaperone Policy: Guests 15 and under must be accompanied by an adult (21+). The chaperone must remain with the group at all times.
• Bag Policy: No bags are allowed during SCarowinds, except small medical bags.
• Costumes: Guests cannot wear costumes, masks, or heavy face paint. The monsters are the stars here.
• Re-Entry: Once you leave during the event, you cannot come back in.
• Filming: Photography and video are prohibited inside the haunted mazes.

These rules aren’t just legal fine print—they’re actively enforced. For guests, it means shorter waits, fewer disruptions, and an atmosphere that stays immersive from open to close.

The Attractions

Haunted Mazes

The centerpiece of SCarowinds are its haunted mazes—indoor walkthroughs with elaborate sets, props, and storylines. Since 2022, mazes have required a Haunted Attractions Pass (add-on). For 2025, passes start at $10.

The exact lineup changes every year, but this year includes:

• Tooth Fairy: A grotesque twist on childhood legend.
• Paranormal Inc.: Imported from Knott’s Scary Farm, featuring staged pre-shows and theatrical scares.
• Silver Scream Studios: Condemned: Guests step into a cursed film set.
• Slaughterhouse: The Final Cut: A blood-soaked finale for one of the park’s longest-running mazes.

The Conjuring: Beyond Fear

New for 2025, The Conjuring: Beyond Fear is a premium “SCREAMium” attraction. Unlike the regular mazes, this is a limited-capacity, small-group experience based on The Conjuring film universe. Tickets start at $15 and are sold separately from admission and maze passes.

Scare Zones

The streets of Carowinds become open-air gauntlets called scare zones, each with its own theme. In 2024, these included Bloodyard, Ripper Alley, and Lobotomy’s Oddities. For 2025, expect a mix of returning favorites and new nightmares.

Shows and Rituals

Each night begins with a theatrical opening ceremony to summon the monsters. Live shows throughout the park feature music, dance, and stunts that break up the rhythm of scares.

Rides in the Dark

Carowinds’ headliner coasters—like Fury 325, Afterburn, and Intimidator—run during SCarowinds. Riding them at night, with fog rolling over the track and monsters waiting at the exit, is its own thrill.

Food, Drinks, and Merch

SCarowinds leans into its Halloween theme at the food stands and bars. Past menus have included:

• Pumpkin-spiced funnel cakes.
• Bloody cocktails served in IV-style “blood bags.”
• Savory fall snacks and seasonal beers.

The Evil Emporium serves as the main merchandise hub, selling event shirts, collectibles, and the all-important No-Boo Necklace. For some guests, it’s as essential as buying a Fast Lane pass.

For Families

SCarowinds is marketed as not recommended for kids under 13. For families who still want a fall experience, Carowinds offers Tricks & Treats, a daytime festival included with admission. It features a parade by Kern Studios (the same company behind Mardi Gras floats in New Orleans), seasonal food, games, and a “spooky but not scary” vibe. It’s the perfect counterbalance to the chaos of SCarowinds at night.

How SCarowinds Is Made

Year-Round Planning

The process of creating SCarowinds begins almost as soon as the prior season ends. Carowinds’ entertainment and operations teams spend the winter brainstorming new themes, storylines, and logistical changes. Spring and summer are spent designing, building, and fabricating the sets, props, and costumes.

Carowinds employs its own carpentry and scenic crews, the same teams that handle theater shows and park décor. They shift into “haunt mode” as summer winds down, constructing maze walls, distressing props, and fabricating facades. Backstage, there’s a production hub often referred to as Monster Central—a Halloween war room where costumes are stored, prosthetics are staged, and nightly transformations happen.

Casting the Terror Team

The monsters of SCarowinds—known collectively as the Terror Team—are recruited in late summer. Auditions open in August and September, drawing hundreds of applicants from both Carolinas.

Historically, the event has employed staggering numbers:

• In 2009, the park hired around 450 scare actors.
• In 2014, more than 500 performers were brought on.
• In 2017, reports cited 500 monsters roaming the park on peak nights.

The park typically runs Scare School, a training program where recruits learn how to scare effectively while respecting guest boundaries. It’s equal parts acting class and safety seminar—how to use body language, how to maximize surprise, and how to keep a guest spooked without crossing the line.

Makeup and Costuming

On event nights, the transformation begins early. Around 3:30 to 4:00 p.m., makeup artists and costumers set up in Monster Central. Rows of chairs become assembly lines where prosthetics are glued, airbrushes hum, and costumes are fitted. Each actor takes about 30 minutes to complete, multiplied across hundreds of monsters. By 7:00 p.m., when the fog machines hiss and the gates open, the Terror Team is in full force.

Economic and Cultural Footprint

SCarowinds is more than entertainment—it’s an economic engine. The park hires over 2,000 seasonal workers each year across departments, with hundreds dedicated specifically to SCarowinds. The event draws visitors from across the Southeast, filling Charlotte hotels, restaurants, and breweries.

It’s also a cultural fixture. For locals, the start of SCarowinds has become as much a seasonal marker as pumpkin spice or Friday night football. It’s where teenagers test their nerves, where horror fans gather, and where Carowinds shows off its creative muscle.

Little-Known Details

• Monster Central: The backstage hub where costumes and makeup are applied each night.
• Scare School: Carowinds invites groups like Girl Scouts to see how monsters are made—proof that even fear has a classroom.
• Imported Talent: Paranormal Inc. was adapted from Knott’s Scary Farm, bringing West Coast haunt design to the Carolinas.
• Two-State Setting: Carowinds is the only amusement park in the U.S. that straddles two states, giving SCarowinds a built-in bragging right.
• The Parade Connection: Kern Studios, known for New Orleans Mardi Gras floats, has built parade floats for Carowinds’ fall festivals.

Strategy for First-Timers

If you want to maximize your night, here’s how:

1. Buy the Haunted Attractions Pass. Without it, you’re missing half the event.
2. Consider Express or Fast Lane. If you want coasters and all mazes in one night, this is the only way.
3. Arrive Early. Gates open at 7:00 p.m., but get there before dusk to beat the rush.
4. Start with the newest maze. This year, that’s The Conjuring: Beyond Fear. Lines will be longest.
5. Use the No-Boo Necklace wisely. Great for groups with mixed scare tolerance, but it won’t protect you inside mazes.

A Quarter Century of Fear

Twenty-five years in, SCarowinds has become the Carolinas’ Halloween epicenter. It’s an event that combines artistry and adrenaline, with a scale that rivals Hollywood productions but a setting that’s uniquely Southern.

Carowinds is the park where you can stand in both North Carolina and South Carolina at the same time. SCarowinds is the night when both sides of the line give way to the same thing: screams.

This year, with The Conjuring: Beyond Fear anchoring its lineup, SCarowinds is celebrating its past while pushing further into immersive, theatrical horror. It’s not just a haunted attraction—it’s a Carolina institution.

You can get your tickets here:

https://www.carowinds.com/events/scarowinds