HOUSE HAUNTED FOR HALLOWEEN FUN

An assortment of scary masks are available for Jaycees to choose from as they "help" the visitors to the Haunted House. Some masks cost about $300.

It's an ugly old ghoul that lies in a coffin in a spooky old room in the Jackson Jaycees' Haunted House. Eight rooms in the house are haunted.

Last weekend over 1,000 "tourists" traipsed through the dimly lit hallways and eerie, spook-filled rooms of the Jackson Jaycees' Haunted House on Toll Road.

This weekend about 2,000 people are expected to visit the frightful, noisy, ghoul-infested structure to test the limits of their bravery and courage.

"Not everyone makes it all the way through," said Randy Sander, Jackson Jaycees treasurer. "If little kids get too scared and want out, we have ways to let them out. Sometimes, even adults want out early."

The Jaycees have been operating Halloween haunted houses for about 20 years, and that's long enough to get really good at it. Many area adults were kids when they first visited a Jaycees spook house.

This is the third year the Jaycees have had a haunted house at the Toll Road location. The Jaycees acquired the property the old, two-story house is on. In previous years, they had haunted houses "where we could find an old house just about ready to be condemned," said Sander.

Sander says the Jaycees, current membership numbers 87, try to change the layout of the house each year. The route through the house this year "is completely different than last year," he said, adding that it takes 25 to 30 minutes to get through it.

Winding, narrow hallways connect most of the eight rooms in the three-level house. A stairway leads to the top floor, and there's a basement. There are also mazes.

The house opened several weeks ago, and will be open tonight and Monday night from 7:30 "to whenever ... as long as we have a good, steady flow of people," said Sander.

The house "sports" a coffin room, an operating room, a spider room and a room with so many doors that going through them leads in a desperate circle.

There is a Jaycee in every room who assists in scaring people. And if someone is too scared, the Jaycee leads the faint-hearted to outside safety through one of numerous trap doors. Also, if someone can't find the hallway to the next room -- because of lack of light -- the Jaycee will point the tenderfoot in the right direction.

Sander said it takes considerable time to get the house ready for its purpose -- that of scaring the daylights out of everyone. He said the organization can't buy expensive props, but members are very creative in decorating the rooms.

Some masks, he said, cost about $300, and the Jaycees try to buy a few new masks each year.

"One of the guys wanted to be a werewolf but the mask cost about $375. They can be expensive but they last a long time. They're not the kind you throw away."

Sander said safety is a consideration when the house is readied for visitors. There is a fire extinguisher in every room, and if the power goes off there's an auxiliary lighting system.

Second-story rooms have safety ladders hanging from the windows, and the stairways are lighted and monitored by Jaycees.

Outside the haunted house, visitors can take a haunted hay rack ride through a nearby apple orchard. The cost of going through the house is $4, a dollar less than last year, and the hay rack ride costs $4. Both can be experienced for $7.50.

"We try to recoup the money that we spend every year, and we try to make the house a little scarier every year," said Sander.