Magic Castle Enterprises is partnering with the Southern California theme park, Knott’s Berry Farm (which is renamed Knott’s Scary Farm during the spooky season), to bring a mystical magical experience called Occultum to the park’s legendary—and newly refurbished—Bird Cage Theatre (aka the theater where Steve Martin once worked).
Knott’s Berry Farm reached out to curate the acts for the space. “It is just astounding what they’ve done with the Bird Cage Theatre,” MCE COO Jessica Hopkins told The LA Times. “Magic Castle magicians have been performing in there for decades. It just felt right.”
Magic Castle resident magician, Rudy Coby, is curating the acts. The shows kicked off with Dan Sperry performing on September 17 , 2026, when Knott’s scary season began, and runs through Halloween.
Coby told The LA Times that performers would change weekly and that the shows there would be “a little more edgy,” than shows at The Castle. “You really have to grab their attention,” he said. “It’s the TikTok generation.” Performers to follow Sperry include Kevin James, Johnny Ace Palmer, Zabrecky, and Coby himself.
Coby added that some of his ideas involving chainsaws and cutting off limbs would be “too intense for The Magic Castle.” Such an idea, however, would fit right in at Knott’s Scary Farm, where people flock to get scared and/or grossed out every fall.
If you’re looking for more about Occultum’s vibe, Knott’s put out a spooky/mysterious trailer that starts outside The Magic Castle and ends with a magician (we never see his face clearly) magically opening the doors to the Bird Cage Theatre, where he walks into the venue’s smoky interior and mysteriously beckons us to join him… if we dare.