At Canada’s La Ronde, Forgotten Teddies turn childhood comfort into Halloween terror

Montreal, Canada - La Ronde has opened Les Oursons oubliés, a new Halloween scare zone that turns teddy bears into bloodied, twisted figures, drawing long queues and leaving some visitors unable to look at their own plush toys in the same way.

The zone is part of La Ronde’s Fright Fest, which runs on selected dates from Oct. 3 to Nov.1. 

Set in a decaying carnival, the zone transforms once-cute stuffed animals into terrifying existence in the abandoned fairground. Dim lighting, fog, and carefully designed sets turn childhood comfort objects into figures that make visitors terrifying.

Marily Tremblay, 18, walked out of La Ronde’s newest scare zone laughing, but admitted the twisted teddy bears had gotten under her skin.

 “This is gonna destroy my childhood,” Tremblay said, adding that she has slept with a teddy bear she received for her birthday for 10 years.

For many visitors, the concept is both clever and entertaining.

Tremblay and her friend Régis Banville, also 18, visited the zone together. Tremblay said the jump scares affected her more than she expected, causing her to react strongly.

Banville said he was not easily frightened, but that Tremblay’s reaction made him scared.

Both of them said the experience was relatively short and smooth compared with some of the tighter areas in the park, and said they would recommend it to friends as “unexpected” but manageable.

Zineb, 16, said it was her first time experiencing a haunted attraction at La Ronde. 

“It’s not too scary, but I like it,” she said.

She described the space as “beautiful” in its own strange way and said she would encourage friends to try it, as the mix of mild fear and visual interest left a positive impression on her.

 Amir, 26, dressed in a Batman costume, found the plush figures “a bit disgusting” and admitted the zone made him nervous in a way others did not.

 “It was a good setup,” he said. “The area is bigger. You have a lot of freedom to walk around.”

Teddy bears are most often associated with bedtime comfort and early childhood memories. At Les Oursons oubliés, those familiar plush toys are reborn as creepy, bloodied figures designed to startle park visitors.

The new zone offers a different flavor of scare, amusement, mild disgust, nostalgia and a lingering sense of childhood disrupted. 

As Tremblay put it while standing near the exit, the twisted teddies had already done their work. “I will not be able to look at my plush toys [in the same way] anymore,” she said.