Scarywood Haunted Nights has announced “Nightmares” – a new haunt for 2026! This will be the single largest investment in Scarywood history, and the biggest haunt the event has ever created. In this post, we’ll cover the official announcement, and share our overall first impressions.
For those unfamiliar, Planet Zombie has been officially retired from Scarywood for the 2026 season. This is obvious to anyone who has ridden the train ride at Silverwood this summer, and something we highlighted in our recent trip report. The retirement of this haunt brings to an end the saga of zombies at Scarywood that dates all the way back to 2010, when the Zombiewood Express attraction debuted. The high-caliber show took place aboard Silverwood’s train ride, where guests followed hunters venturing into the woods to fight off a zombie invasion. It was incredible – nothing quite like it anywhere else in the world – and was even featured on Travel Channel’s top 10 haunts in the USA. Zombiewood Express lasted six seasons, culminating in its final run in 2015.
The following season, the massive theatrical-style Planet Zombie haunt was announced as a sequel to the train experience. It took the “theatrical” concept to the extreme, with a full stage out front that included a mini-show with special effects (pictured above). For 10 seasons – from 2016 through 2025 – Planet Zombie wowed guests with its chilling storyline and impressive sets and theming. It even underwent a minor revamp in 2023, becoming “Planet Zombie: Lights Out” for its final three seasons.
As much as we enjoyed Planet Zombie, we admit it was starting to feel underutilized. The stage show was only featured during the first year, and sat largely empty after that. And the “lights out” change was fun at first, but left us missing the ability to see all of the impressive practical sets in their full detail. As such, we will miss Planet Zombie, but 2026 feels like as good a time as any to retire this story of zombies at Scarywood. Enter “Nightmares”. Let’s dive in with the official press release:
“ATHOL, ID – Sweet dreams…while you still can. Silverwood Theme Park’s 17th season of Scarywood Haunted Nights is preparing to bring your worst fears to life. The debut of Nightmares will give guests a whole new reason to be afraid of the dark. This fall’s all-new haunted attraction is four years in the making and the largest haunt ever created at Scarywood.
Featuring 14 rooms built around 13 different phobias, Nightmares will take guests deep inside the fears that keep us awake at night. From arachnophobia to the fear of dolls, pain, death, and more, each room will bring a different nightmare to life as guests make their way through one of the longest haunted attractions ever developed at the park.
Jordan Carter, Silverwood’s Director of Marketing and Entertainment, warns there is no waking up between rooms.
“Scarywood has always been about finding new ways to scare people, but Nightmares takes that idea to an entirely different level,” Carter said. “During every Scarywood audition, we ask our scare actors to share their biggest phobias, and we are using that research to incorporate the most popular fears into this haunt. Everyone is afraid of something, and that’s what makes this haunt so fun and so terrifying.”
Nightmares has been in development for four years, making it one of Scarywood’s most ambitious haunt projects to date, as well as the largest single investment in Scarywood history. Rather than centering the new attraction around a single story or monster, its creators turned to something far more personal: fear itself.
Each section explores a different phobia, creating dramatically different environments as guests move from one nightmare to the next. The result is a haunt designed to prevent guests from ever getting too comfortable.
“Four years is a long time to dream up ways to terrify people,” Carter added. “Our team has poured an incredible amount of creativity into this attraction, and the scale alone is unlike anything we’ve done before.”
Also NEW for 2026 are the addition of two new scare zones. The Wharf whisks guests into the dark, where the tide has returned…bringing with it the lost souls of those who never made it back to shore. The second, named Doom Town, promises one thing: The joke is always on you!”
Additionally, here’s the official “trailer” for the haunt, from Scarywood’s Facebook page:
Scarywood doesn’t rotate haunts out as frequently as other Halloween events do, for a variety of obvious reasons. As such, we often find ourselves longing for something – anything – new come October. Suffice to say, we’re thrilled with the announcement of a brand new haunt for 2026, particularly one coming right on the heels of The Swine, which was introduced in 2024 – a mere 2 years ago – and got a massive upgrade in 2025. The addition of Nightmares feels like a three-year streak of new haunts – something we haven’t seen in a long time at Scarywood.
To put the scale of this in context – Blood Bayou was a $1M investment when it was introduced in 2010, and even today, it’s a lengthy attraction that takes a long time to experience in its entirety. Planet Zombie was also very lengthy – we always felt like it went on for ages. Nightmares will be bigger than either of those – 14 rooms is simply massive. The list of potential fears that could be lurking within is endless – spiders, tight spaces, heights, darkness…you name it.
Plus, there’s room for this to be expanded in the future – both in terms of available space and content. With an endless supply of phobias, this attraction can and will evolve and change a lot in the coming years. There’s just so much to be excited about here; the sky is the limit.
The two new scare zones also sound great. Based on the list from last year, it appears these are replacing Los Muertos and Quarantine Zone. Bear in mind, the new scare zones could be in completely different locations altogether, so we’ll share more once we see them in person.
All in all, we can’t wait to experience Nightmares, and it has us counting the days until October with even more anticipation. We’ll be sure to report back once we’ve experienced it, so stay tuned!
Are you excited for the new Nightmares haunt for 2026? What do you think will be the scariest fear that is featured? Will you miss Planet Zombie? What other questions do you have about Scarywood that we could help answer? Let us know your thoughts - regardless of your stance - we love to hear from you!
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
Scarywood is not my thing. Silverwood is such a lovely theme park during the summer, and then—bam!—out come the creeps. No, thank you!
Why not create a Christmas attraction instead? They already have the beautiful Victorian Village and the train, so why not use those to their full potential? A festive Christmas experience would be so much more appealing than another scare attraction.