Knott’s Green Witch: Scaring people is her business

Charlene Parker makes her way through the fog as she looks for the perfect place to hide.

She thinks her green complexion will blend in well with the trees near the general store, so there she heads. And her plan works.

As a group of wary teenage Knott’s Scary Farm visitors walk by without noticing her, she jumps out and frightens them.

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Scaring people hasn’t gotten old for Parker, even after 32 years of portraying the Green Witch of Calico Ghost Town at the annual haunt at Knott’s Berry Farm, which takes on the mantle of Knott’s Scary Farm for the holiday season.

Parker, who has worked at the Buena Park theme park since 1983, said she originally auditioned for a part-time job. Little did she know the job would become a routine part of her life for the next three decades.

“My sister had been working at Knott’s, and she told me they were always looking for people to hire for the Halloween season,” said the 62-year-old Cypress resident, who was also working full-time at Sioux Honey Assn. at the time of her hiring at Knott’s. “I just thought it might be fun, so I decided to try out. I’ve been here playing the Green Witch ever since.”

Parker, who works the rest of the year at Knott’s Berry Farm as a spinner and weaver, said that while the Green Witch of Calico Ghost Town — not to be confused with the more elegant looking witch who roams the entire park — isn’t a main character at the event, it’s one she has enjoyed playing.

She said she has many opportunities to get creative with her scaring techniques, like the camouflaging, and particularly enjoys scaring people who she didn’t expect would get frightened.

Cocky teenage and college-age boys are her favorite prey, she said.

She doesn’t feel bad about the teenage girl who wet her pants after a good scare, but she does dislike scaring children.

Still, she knows scaring is her job, and the best way to do that is by hiding.

“I blend in with the background, so when people walk by, they think I’m just a tree,” she said. “When the tree suddenly comes to life and springs out at them, it scares the bits out of them sometimes.”

Parker said she does not have a background in performing arts or theater, but she did grow up playing pranks on people, and scaring almost seems to come naturally to her.

She recalls a time as a child when she and her sisters pretended to be statues in a museum and successfully scared a group of adults.

And into adulthood, she scared her now-husband on their first date.

“He arrived at the restaurant before I got there,” she recalled. “When I walked in, the hostess told me he was waiting in the back. I walked up to him, said hi and scared him because he had been looking out the window for my car. He had no idea I was already there. He just about jumped out of his skin when I greeted him. I wasn’t even trying to scare him.”

Parker said she is proud to be a part of Knott’s Scary Farm, which had about 15 monsters at the time of her hiring. Now, the annual event boasts hundreds of scare actors throughout the park.

She said one of her greatest joys is seeing the new techniques other scare actors use.

“It’s grown bigger and bigger each year,” she said. “They’re always adding more monsters and more attractions. The workers see each other year after year and develop friendships that carry on outside the haunt. We’re very protective of each other.”

While other scare actors stick to loud noises to scare the guests, Parker prefers her method of hiding and stalking.

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As the group of teenagers attempt to scurry away, Parker pursues them. They can’t get away from her that easily.

She runs up to one of the girls and stares as the guest screams and clutches her friend.

Her work with that group is done, but the night isn’t. She looks for another place to hide and waits.