Chewie Garcia Isn’t Just Running a Haunted House, He’s Building a Community

Jessica Peralta
Jun 1
4 min read

The Santa Ana native’s year-round attraction, Eulogy Collective, is becoming a GardenWalk fixture and a creative home for local teens.

Eulogy Collective's Valentine's-themed haunt was called "Sweet Love." Photo by Jessica Peralta, Culture OC

Running a year-round haunted attraction isn’t always easy — but when the opportunity presented itself, Jesus “Chewie” Garcia knew he had to take the leap.

“I don't wanna die not knowing that I could have,” said the 32-year-old Santa Ana native and owner of Eulogy Collective, which opened at the Anaheim GardenWalk in October.

Garcia first became interested in haunted attractions — also known by fans as “haunts” — when he was 18. He started out working as a scare actor, but eventually he got into the building aspect of attractions. He opened Santa Ana Haunt in 2020 at his father’s Santa Ana home.

Jesus “Chewie” Garcia opened Eulogy Collective at Anaheim GardenWalk in October. Photo by Jessica Peralta, Culture OC

Throughout the years, Garcia’s developed a reputation for innovations in attraction design and sound, building a community of friends and family involved with his projects as well as giving area youth a fun way to stay out of trouble. Since opening Eulogy Collective, Garcia and his team have run a Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s and most recently, an Easter-themed haunt, called “The Hunt,” which was open through the end of May. Eulogy Collective’s next attraction, the zombie-themed “Subject X,” takes guests through a collapsing quarantine zone with terrifying infected and desperate survivors. It opens June 12 and runs until Aug. 2.

“There’s some parents that come over and thank us a lot — like, you know, ‘Thanks for keeping our kids out of the streets.’ Or, ‘Cause of you guys, I can hold something over their head to get better grades’ and stuff like that,” said Garcia, who also co-owns lighting-audio-video company Cube World Productions in Fountain Valley. “We have a studio in Fountain Valley … where we do other build-outs, write music for the haunt … and we have a kid who's been with us since he was 16. He's 18 now and he wants to get into the live (music) industry, the performing and all that.”

Cristopher Soto, 18, of Buena Park, began working with Garcia in 2024, after getting into haunting in 2019.

“At Eulogy Collective, I help out with build aspects like carpentry and painting as well as now starting to help out with the media side of things such as taking and editing photos and videos, assisting with promotional shoots and looking at logistics to see what media strategies work and what doesn’t,” Soto said. “I believe getting into this kind of work as an adolescent or teen is actually really beneficial. Being involved here has led to me making many new connections, introducing me to new work fields and serves as a way to put everything aside mentally, which is huge as a high school student, and just have a blast entertaining others and being with my family.”

Dax Anderson of Pomona said his son, 17-year-old Miles, first started working with Garcia in April.

“Took my kids to Knott’s Scary Farm about three years ago and went every year since because my kids loved it,” Anderson said. “Miles has wanted to be a scare actor since the first visit and loves acting in theater at school. From what I have seen, Chewie takes great care of his actors.”

Anderson said the experience has been fun for his son, who’s met a lot of nice people and developed friendships. His son is learning how to take direction, learning lines and improvisation — which are all good experience for eventually working for Knott’s Scary Farm and acting roles in general.

“Also learning about teamwork and get the feel for a fun, exciting job,” he said. “Overall I've noticed more confidence in my child from the experience.”

PHOTO 1: Scare actor Scott Schaeler played the character, Greed, in Eulogy Collective's “Deadly Sins,” which was the venue's opening theme in October. PHOTO 2: “A X-Mas Horror Story” was the Christmas-themed haunt. PHOTO 3: “The Hunt” was Eulogy Collective’s most recent attraction. PHOTO 4: David Matchell as Mother in “Deadly Sins.” Photos by Jessica Peralta, Culture OC

This sense of community has helped drive Garcia’s haunted attraction projects from the beginning. And it really is a family endeavor. His 16-year-old daughter is even a scare actor at Eulogy Collective.

“I'm risking a lot, but for me it’s worth it,” Garcia said. “I have a really strong relationship with my wife. We've been together for 11 years. My kids and my friends, all of them love it here. They all enjoy it. Like my little ones are here with us every day …. We love it so much.”

Garcia said his dream is to build Eulogy Collective to the point where he can offer part-time jobs, summer jobs and other paid work to all the local teens who are interested in haunted attractions. Currently, most of Eulogy Collective is run by volunteers. Garcia makes it a point to pay for all meals for volunteers while they’re assisting with the haunt.

Meanwhile, he’s enjoying the ride.

“There's days I sit here, I'm like, ‘Dude, you're sitting in a haunted house like in April opening this freaking weekend,” he said. “It's surreal.”