Knott’s Scary Farm has been dropping hints for years that “The Hanging” comedy stunt show put on hiatus before the pandemic could return for the 50th anniversary of the annual event with a fresh narrative featuring characters from Halloween Haunt history.
Cedar Fair director of creative development Ken Parks teased the possible return of “The Hanging” to the Buena Park theme park during the Midsummer Scream convention in Long Beach.
“In 2019, we put this tombstone up that said, ‘RIP,’” Parks said at Midsummer Scream. “We didn’t really know that was the case and then the pandemic hit. But, who knows.”
The tease brought roars of approval from the crowd that shouted, “Bring it back.”
“Well that sounds like a good idea,” Parks said at Midsummer Scream.
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Will “The Hanging” return in a revamped format for the 50th anniversary of Knott’s Scary Farm?
An official announcement is expected during a Knott’s Scary Farm preview event on Aug. 24.
Knott’s Berry Farm effectively retired “The Hanging” in 2019 when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the annual Halloween Haunt event in 2020 and the pop culture skewering comedy stunt show failed to return in 2021 and 2022.
“The Hanging” ended its decades-long run amid increasingly intense negative feedback and the quickening pace of pop culture that made the comedy parody show tougher to pull off every Halloween.
“It just felt like it was time to give it some breath and just step away for a little bit and try something different,” Knott’s entertainment producer Eric Nix said during an interview in 2021.
Knott’s creative team had always planned to retire “The Hanging” at the end of the 2019 Halloween season.
“It was a subtle goodbye in 2019,” Nix said. “We knew that we were going to put it to rest.”
SEE ALSO: Why Knott’s Scary Farm retired ‘The Hanging’ after a decades-long run
Knott’s Scary Farm designers created the Origins: The Curse of Calico haunted maze based on the prequel backstory of the Green Witch in 2019. That same year, “The Hanging” featured the Green Witch who exacted her revenge on the Calico townspeople before disappearing in a puff of smoke with a cackling laugh. A RIP tombstone on a video screen hinted “The Hanging” had finally met its demise.
Knott’s received lots of “pretty intense feedback” about “The Hanging” in 2018 and 2019 by way of passionate letters and phone calls, according to Nix. Knott’s creative team decided to shelve “The Hanging” after the 2019 season with an eye toward eventually revisiting the long-running show with a fresh narrative.
“It sets us up to be able to look at it in the future in a different way and tell the story of the hangman and the witch in new ways,” Nix said in 2021. “We’re trying to set ourselves up for the 50th, which is fast approaching.”
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Initial plans for a “show moment” in 2021 harking back to the original 1970s format of “The Hanging” featuring the Green Witch and the hangman were put on hold.
“We have some ideas brewing already on how we can revitalize that story and bring it back in a different way,” Nix said in 2021.
The marquee show that played for more than four decades during the annual Knott’s Halloween event had evolved over the years from a Wild West reenactment to a supernatural story focused on the Green Witch to a bloody comedy revue that disemboweled celebrity pop culture.
“The Hanging” began in 1976, a few years after the first Halloween Haunt event at Knott’s. A couple of outlaws found guilty of murder were hanged in front of the Wild West townspeople of Calico.
In subsequent years, the show featured a screaming woman protesting her innocence as she was hauled through the streets of Calico and hanged for being a witch. As the backstory evolved, Calico townswoman Sarah Marshall transformed into the Green Witch on the gallows, turned her accusing neighbors into monsters with a wicked curse and vanished in a puff of smoke with a cackling laugh.
The Green Witch remained the central character of “The Hanging” until 1989 when the focus of the show switched to a roast of pop culture icons of the day followed by the slaughtering and hanging of the most deserving celebrities — from Justin Bieber to Bill Cosby to Miley Cyrus.