Its past installments have found attendees stealthing their way through a Victorian home and embarking on a Blade Runner-esque bounty hunt. And now this celebrated immersive horror theater event is returning to L.A. for an event at a 147-year-old mansion.
Delusion, an interactive seasonal event that combines elements of immersive theater with a more story-based approach to a walk-through haunted house, will again take over the Phillips Mansion, an 1875 estate in Pomona. “Valley of Hollows,” which opens on September 15 and runs well past Halloween, will unfold a tale that’s technically a sequel to last year’s ghost story—but you won’t need to be well-versed in that one to keep up with this supernatural tale of 1970s cults. You’ll play the role of a Deprogrammer whose job is to rescue people from the clutches of the Hollows cult, a group of fanatics with a death wish that have swarmed the mansion in the wake of a widow’s disappearance.
Director and action coordinator Jon Braver, who hatched Delusion in 2011, has again teamed up with the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride producers Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group for a staging that bills itself as Delusion’s “most disturbing interactive play to date.”
You can upgrade to a VIP ticket for access to the second floor of the mansion, which includes a sound-and-touch area dubbed “Hell’s Hollow,” a projector that plays ’70s horror classics and a bar where you’re literally invited to drink the Kool-Aid.
Tickets, which start at $90, go on sale Friday, August 12.
