Zombie Joe’s Camp Whitsit Brings the Forest to L.A.

by Lacey Rae · Published July 12, 2018 · Updated July 12, 2018

The smell of the pines. The cool wind caressing my face while I climb rocks and over logs. The swoosh of the arrow as I send it hurtling toward its target. The tug of the fishing line as I desperately try to reel in the fish I caught. These memories of camp flooded back to me as I giddily attended Zombie Joe’s remount of Camp Whitsit.

Scout Master Joe

Diverging from the ZJU norm of gory and eccentric performance art (Brave the Dark, Monsters Come Out at Night or their famous Urban Death), Camp Whitsit is an upbeat and active experience with an underlying thread of the eerie and supernatural. Guests are brought in as green Tenderfoot campers with the hopes of passing their initiation and ascending to seasoned Second Class Scouts. Blindfolded throughout the 30-minute experience, Tenderfoots are led through the campsite and the possibly-haunted nearby forest by various Camp Counselors, each with their own agendas, some more questionable than others.

Full of tactile, hands-on activities (some eerie and with ZJU’s classic brand of the bloody and macabre) and brought to life by the enthusiastic Camp Counselors, Camp Whitsit is a fully-realized extravaganza for the senses. Being blindfolded for the duration brings the other senses to the forefront, senses that ZJU expertly stimulates around their small black-box theater, which felt larger than it ever has in past productions. From temperature changes to smells to touching the environment, I felt extremely immersed in the wilderness they diligently created – and I loved every minute of it. Giggling and grinning ear to ear, I left having proudly earned my Second Class Scout honor.

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