Celebrate Halloween 2009** with the 6th Annual "SQUEALS FOR MEALS"
CCome see:CORPSES - DEMONS - DUNGEONS - GHOSTS - GHOULS
SKELETONS - SCARY THINGS - WITCHES - WARLOCKS - COOL STUFF - MUNCHIES AND MORE
Press:
Haunting hungry Homeowner trades scares for soup kitchen donations
Fairview resident Mikayla Bowers, 9 months, dons a lion costume at the home of Don Wilkins on Tuesday, October 31. (Janet B. Campbell / Erie Times-News)
Ricky Barnes' teeth chattered as he ran out of the fog of the haunted house. "It's really scary," said Barnes, 10, dressed in a skeleton costume.
"People are jumping out at you."
He was one of about 300 costumed visitors Tuesday night to the haunted house and ghoulish characters at the Donald Wilkins residence, 2020 Manchester Road.
More than 800 have visited since it opened Friday.
"We have them coming from Linesville, North East, Springfield and Meadville," he said.
For Wilkins, the haunted house and other elaborate decorations in his yard began six years ago as a way to attract more Halloweeners.
Now he has almost $30,000 invested in the decorations and equipment. He gives out $500 to $600 a year in candy and other treats.
But it's more than ghosts and goblins for Wilkins.
While everything is free, trick-or-treaters can donate to the Benedictine Sisters' Emmaus Soup Kitchen.
Wilkins said he has raised about $2,400 over the past couple of years.
"I thought if I'm going to go to all the effort to set this up, we may as well see if we can do some donations to help them out, too," he said.
Wilkins, an employee of Steris Corp., said the employees there have always donated to the soup kitchen, and he thought the soup kitchen be a good place for his donations, too.
"It's a month before Thanksgiving, which is a perfect time to give them a donation," he said.
Wilkins said the idea for the haunted house began when he moved back into his family homestead in the mid-1990s.
He initially found only a few trick-or-treaters came to the house. He started giving out $1 treats and started drawing about 40 kids. He then built a coffin with candy in it. When trick-or-treaters would open the coffin, he would push a button and a rat would come up.
"It just sort of mushroomed from there," he said.
The "haunted house" is his garage. Originally, he outfitted one bay with exhibits, then two bays, and now he has all four bays with six different exhibits. There are mummies, a fortune teller, a torture chamber and witches -- and neighborhood kids volunteer to take part in some of the scenes. The haunted house empties into a tent with treats. Not just candy bars, but packages of candy bars, and other items as well.
His backyard has a "Bone Yard" with tombstones and a "mausoleum" with a creature coming out when the doors open. The sounds of thunder and lighting drift about. On the ground near the driveway are lighted skeletons, bones and witches. In the front yard are lighted inflatable goblins.
Wilkins said it takes two months to get everything ready for Halloween. The rest of the year he's looking through catalogues and on the Internet for something to add to the decorations.
"It's is amazing what is out there," he said. "I'm amazed that people think it up, and I'm amazed that there are people like me that are crazy enough to buy it."
Next year, he said, he may be moving to a larger place, but he doesn't have a location yet.
He's already put in his order for next year at a store that is having a 50 percent off sale on its Halloween offerings.
"It's like a fungus," he said, laughing. "It gets out of control."
But it's all for a good cause.
GEORGE MILLER can be reached at 870-1724 or by e-mail.
