TAMPA, Fla. — Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens is in a 24-year record of horrible, scary, terrible, hilarious, breathtaking fear.

What You Need To Know

  • Howl-O-Scream returns early this year at Busch Gardens

  • The event takes place on select nights  from Sept. 8 to Oct. 31

  •  It features five scare house, six scare zones and a new show

  • Look out for the stilt walkers acting like statues, Zombie Elvis and maggot sprinkles on your bloody cupcakes

Because you can’t scream it out at work, they invite you to come here for some restorative fear scream therapy at Busch Gardens. Best of all for all the horror lovers — the fear starts a few weeks early this year.

The event offers five haunted houses, brand new entertainment and six scare zones. That includes Sin City Zombies.

“It is based on a small town outside of Las Vegas," Busch Gardens’ Victor Tuparov said. "You might even run into Zombie Elvis, which is pretty scary."

Their newest house, replacing Death Water Bayou, is D.H. Baggum’s Circus of Fear.

“This is not your traditional circus — this is a vintage freak show,” Tuparov said. “And the concept of the house is you are trying to escape D.H. Baggum and his army of freaks before he turns you into one of his freaks.”

The house has a bunk house, animal circus cages with people in them, a freak show, a small theater, a bit top entrance and a dressing room.

“There’s ‘boo’ holes where our scare actors are hidden, and they come from below,” Tuparov said. “There are scares that come from above. There’s really a dynamic where you don’t know where the scares are going to be coming from.”

This, I can tell you, is accurate.