FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Six acres of horror have taken over Fresno as Fresno Fright Nights brings a quarter-mile journey of terrifying sights, sounds and larger-than-life animatronics to the Central Valley.<\/p>\n
The Halloween attraction features an abandoned chemical plant where experiments have gone wrong, followed by a cemetery filled with bone-chilling sights and sounds. Just when visitors think they’ve made it out, a river of blood leads them toward the end of the experience.<\/p>\n
But behind the scares is a passion for Halloween that has been growing for years.<\/p>\n
At the center of it all is 18-year-old Antonio Lucas, a lifelong Halloween enthusiast who has collected more than 450 life-sized animatronics and Halloween decorations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my animatronic collection. I’ve been collecting since I was three years old,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p>\n
His collection includes familiar horror icons like Freddy Fazbear, along with creepy clown-themed displays and other Halloween favorites. Around 150 of his props are featured at Fresno Fright Nights.<\/p>\n
Lucas said his love for Halloween started at home, inspired by his parents, who also enjoyed the holiday.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents just kind of liked Halloween. They had a few props, and I just kind of wanted to build on that,\u201d he said. \u201cI kept it growing, kept it growing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That childhood hobby eventually turned into home haunts and, later, professional haunted attractions.<\/p>\n
His first professional haunt was The Scare Factory, located in a former Walmart near Shaw and Brawley avenues. Now, he is bringing his growing collection to a larger audience in Fresno.<\/p>\n
For Lucas, the experience is about more than creating frightening scenes. It’s also about bringing people together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love to see the community come together and just share their enjoyment for Halloween,\u201d he said. \u201cThey may not be as big as I am on it, but seeing their smiles and all the compliments, it’s worth it every second of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the attraction is especially close to home. Lucas lives just a minute down the road from the site, which makes the event feel like an extension of his own neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my home haunt. I call it my home haunt because I live literally a minute down the road in the neighborhood right here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While many people wait all year for Halloween, Lucas says the holiday is a year-round commitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s an all-year-round thing for me. 365 days out of the year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For those looking to get into the Halloween spirit, Fresno Fright Nights is open for the next two weekends at Island Waterpark in Fresno. Visitors can experience the quarter-mile haunt and see a portion of Lucas’s massive collection before Halloween arrives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Six acres of horror have taken over Fresno as Fresno Fright Nights brings a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-507298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}