BURBANK, Calif. — You don’t need a crystal ball to tell you that this is not going to be your typical Halloween, but that doesn’t mean beloved traditions can’t find a way to continue.  

Take Rotten Apple 907, an annual event at 907 N. California Street in Burbank. For nearly 30 years, Preston Meyer and his family have been hosting the haunt, which started after his daughter Melissa was born.  

 

With a late October birthday, naturally all of her parties were Halloween themed, including what Meyer calls an old school haunted house.

“With the grapes and the spaghetti,” he laughed, “and the kids that came to trick or treat, they wanted to go through the haunted house. So we actually started doing a haunted house through the house itself.”

After a few years they moved the festivities to the front lawn, constructing an enclosed maze that would draw an enthusiastic crowd of about 3,500 people. When the pandemic hit, it suddenly became a much scarier scenario.

“When you figure you’ve got 3,500 [people] in a confined area screaming their guts out,” Meyer explained, “just doesn’t work for COVID.”

So, they came up with a new plan. Forego the usual haunted house and create what the retired building inspector calls, a lawn display. That’s actually a 'monstrous' understatement.

What he and his Rotten Apple gang of family and friends really built is a massive feat of construction and creativity — a two-story structure with panels that open to reveal several rooms.

“It’s all screwed together and set on top of each other and braced and swayed,” Meyer said, “and that’s where the building inspector part come in handy, because I know wind loads and things, so that makes that part easy.”

What’s not easy he says, is spending three hours a night with his head inside a bowl. Meyer plays a kind of fortune teller, but instead of gazing into a crystal ball, he gazes out of it, issuing rhyming prophesies from inside his glowing orb.

.

To get into the globe, he says he has to “literally crawl on my back,” and once positioned, there’s no escape. He sits there, on the floor, for three straight hours as the live show loops, starting at 7 p.m.

So is it uncomfortable sitting under a table for all those hours? “Uh….yes,” he said. But is it worth it? Absolutely, especially when he can see or hear the reaction from the crowd.

“I can’t believe it!” one woman told a companion who had already seen the display the night before. “That was so cool.”

“Just about everybody that comes by says something about it that’s good,” Meyer said with pride, recalling some of the comments he’s gotten this year. “‘I’m glad you’re doing this, this is great, we’d miss it if it wasn’t here.’”

No need to worry. Despite the occasional complaint from neighbors, Meyer says he plans to keep bringing Rotten Apple 907 back to life for years to come.

“We want to give to the community,” he said.  “At least get a little bit of a scare for their Halloween.”

A scare. A chuckle. A few surprises. And a family tradition that always has locals screaming for more.

This is the final weekend for Rotten Apple 907’s Haunted Mansion. The live display runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night from 7 to 10 p.m.

 

The event is free. Any donations will be gifted to VBAS (Volunteers of Burbank Animal Shelter).