‘Ghost Hunter’ experience immerses guests year-round in Lake Forest
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In an unassuming office building on Lambert Street in Lake Forest there’s a 3,500-square-foot, multistory space dedicated to giving people an escape from their everyday lives — with the help of ghosts.
Guests walking up to the experience, called “Ghost Hunter,” see a simple sign taped to the door warning the area is for “Authorized Personnel Only” and to call a number for instructions.
The premise: You are part of a group tasked to take over and investigate a mission by a team of amateur ghost hunters, who started hours ago but lost contact with headquarters.
Led by three actors, your group — which may get separated — has 100 minutes to find clues in dark rooms and encounter ghostly figures. Though there are escape room elements, owner and co-creator David Watermeier said it’s an immersive experience, not an escape room. It is inspired by the paranormal horror video game “Phasmophobia” and MTV reality TV series “Fear.”
“After beta testing it with versions similar, I quickly found out that video games and show challenges don’t always translate well to reality,” he said. “We decided to make this more similar to a horror movie about ghost hunters, but you are the main character. We tried taking all the best parts and made it into something unique.”
Immersive theatrical experiences are a growing form of entertainment and are often found in the Los Angeles area. Watermeier, who also runs escape rooms through his business, Escape Room Era, wanted to bring some of that theatricality to Orange County. He opened the doors of “Ghost Hunters” on April 5 as a year-round immersive horror experience.
Watermeier said he decided to open in Lake Forest, “because it’s so crazy to do it here, everyone always goes to L.A. or Vegas for this type of experience. There is nothing like it anywhere near us. Also, I hate driving to L.A. so coming to Lake Forest is always a pleasure in comparison.”
Eddy Millis, who owns the 13th Room escape room in Pomona, helped Watermeier create “Ghost Hunter.”
Alongside creative partner Carla Manjarrez, Millis started the 13th Room in 2015.
“One of the unique aspects of our escape room is it’s actually at an old hotel that was built in 1915, and it’s a historic building,” he said. “My main style of theming usually has macabre, scary, horror and suspense elements.”
Millis said he’s always liked to write scary stories and dreamed of doing a haunted house or something immersive.
“I think the future is going to be in immersive experiences and live action [events] that are not only thrilling but adventurous and everyone has a unique, individual experience as well,” he added.
Zachary Holter, another “Ghost Hunter” co-creator, said the team came up with fun marketing ideas for the experience, including placing fliers around Lake Forest saying, “Ghost Hunters Wanted,” with a tear-off phone number at the bottom.
He said the “Fear” reality TV paranormal contest show they drew inspiration from placed contestants alone in an abandoned building and had them go on solo missions.
“‘Spend three hours locked in an old electric chair located in the basement of an abandoned prison’ might be an example of a mission,” Holter said. “They would tell the contestant ‘100 people were executed in this chair and their spirit still haunts this building.’ Then nothing happened for three hours except the camera catching a person going insane over their own fear created in their mind. … We wanted to adopt a similar style of scaring because we think, at the end of the day, we are always the most vulnerable when we are alone and helpless.”
He said the attraction of an experience like this is similar to going to see a movie or playing a video game.
“People come to escape experiences to escape more than just a literal room — they come to escape reality for a bit,” he said. “The appeal of ‘Ghost Hunter’ is similar — it has adventure and mystery. It makes you want to challenge yourself and see if you can conquer the scariest experience money can buy. And that’s what we want to sell to people.”
“Ghost Hunter” is recommended for a group of six but can host from four to 12 people. It is recommended for ages 13 and up, but Watermeier said families have brought children under 13, too. Guests should wear comfortable shoes and clothing, because there will be walking — and possibly crawling — in dark places during the experience.
Watermeier, who also owns Aladdin Flowers in Santa Ana and Main Street Florist in Orange, said he has plans to create more “Ghost Hunter” locations, starting in the L.A. area. He also has plans for the existing location.
“‘Ghost Hunter’ is essentially a horror-themed set,” he said. “Totally changeable lights, sounds, acting, story, even the set is adjustable with moving walls. So I will invite the public to write their own story for us to act out and possibly include it as a regular show. We will be able to run multiple, different ‘Ghost Hunter’ series within the same space — with stories written by different people so there is no crossover for ideas.”
