BROWNSBURG — For the first time ever, the town of Brownsburg will transform into the town of “Hauntsburg” for the month of October.
Okay, the town won’t really transform.
But the inside of the former Blanck Chevrolet building will host the haunted town, making it one of the largest haunted houses in central Indiana.
The haunted house will replace the haunted hayrides that the Haunts of Hidden River, Inc. has put on each year for the past 10 years.
Organizers Scott Black and Jon Blake said vandalism and weather were two of the reasons to switch to a haunted house. In the past, the hayrides were in Arbuckle Acres Park.
“One of the primary reasons is volunteers get tired of the vandalism,” Black said. “It’s one of the biggest reasons to do this.”
Blake said thieves stole electrical cables from the park two years ago.
“I got there and went to turn on the power and half of our electrical cables were stolen and the next weekend the other half were stolen,” he said. “It cost us about $4,000 there. It’s just senseless vandalism. It’s frustrating and it’s taking away from the community.”
Previously, rainy weather would cause rides to be canceled. With a haunted house, rainy weather would just add to the scary ambiance, the men said.
The group has a four-month lease for the Blanck Chevrolet building and are planning to go all out with the Hauntsburg theme.
“We’re theming this haunt, which is different,” Black said. “Hauntsburg is a town, founded in 1848, the same year as Brownsburg. There will be a jail, morgue, graveyard, mayor’s office.”
They said the theme gives them a chance to be plenty creative each year.
“Year after year we can do different things,” Black said. “We can do a grocery store, post office. During the hayrides, one year we had a bazillion clowns and the next year we had no clowns, one year we had eight people with chainsaws.”
Blake said they were also focusing on getting volunteers who are truly dedicated to scaring the residents and visitors of Brownsburg.
“We’ll still take new volunteers, but we’re going to be working with professional scary people,” he said.
The crew will have just more than 20,000 square feet to play with, making it one of the biggest haunted houses in the area.
Black said they are also thinking of doing a non-scary night for smaller children.
All of the net profit from the haunted house and the haunted hayrides goes back into the community. This year, Project A.N.G.E.L. will receive some profits, and the town of Brownsburg will receive some for Christmas decorations.
As the group will have a large amount of people coming through, they have to take certain safety precautions and have to submit a floorplan to the Brownsburg Fire Territory, as well as Homeland Security. Sebree Architects is donating its services with the floorplans to the group.
Also, the group recently acquired 501 (c) 3 status, making it a non-profit corporation.
“The positive reason is there are tax breaks,” Black said. “Some companies, like Duke Energy, couldn’t give to us until we were a corporation.”
Black said that throughout the 10 years of haunted hayrides, there have been more than 100,000 people purchase tickets.
Blake added, “We wanted to go out with a bang.”
The haunted house will be open from 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, and 30. Tickets will be on sale at 6:45 p.m. each night. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $8 for students with ID and children younger than 10. There will be discounted tickets and pre-sale tickets on sale, though those prices will be announced in the future.
Sponsorships are still being sought.
For more information, call 858-4172, or visit the website at www.hauntsburg.com
charlee.beasor@flyergroup.com
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