Wyandotte Jaycees Haunted House Chairwoman Danielle Boura (left) as Dr. Giggles, Co-Chairman Joel Adkins as Vermin, and actors Jamie Sterner as Liz and Heather Jones as Mama prepare to scare at Kindred Haunted House.
By SCOTT BRENT
For the Sunday Times Newspapers
Daredevils are invited to come face to face with their fears while supporting local non-profit organizations as two Downriver haunted houses deliver spine-chilling attractions and psychotic disturbances.
Wyandotte Jaycees celebrates 41 years of scares with Kindred Haunted House, raising money for many charitable projects including an Easter egg hunt, Thanksgiving baskets, and Christmas gifts.
This horror spectacle will be held inside the former City Hall, 3131 Biddle Avenue. Kindred Haunted House will be open Thursdays through Sundays through Oct. 29 from 7 to 10 p.m. The Halloween attraction also will be in operation from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 30 and 31, and Nov. 3 and 4.
Admission is $15, and a $3 off coupon valid Thursdays and Sundays can be found in “Fear Finder” and “Haunt Guide.”
Guests of Kindred brave a makeshift classroom, traverse a forest of caged people and are commanded to worship a large, bizarre deity in a ramshackle church.
Grandma on her deathbed at The Scream Machine cemetery.
“We like to think of it as ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ meets ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ meets ‘House of 1,000 Corpses,’” said Joel Adkins, co-chairman of the Jaycees’ haunted house project. “We encourage our actors to utilize their entire environment and practice improvisation as a way to lend a dynamic experience to Kindred.”
Although non-profit haunted houses are few and far between, family owned enterprises are beginning to make the transition from petrifying for profit to scaring for charity.
In Taylor, Scream Machine returns for the 2017 haunt season at 23131 Ecorse Road. It will be open from 7 p.m. to midnight Fridays through Sundays through Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, and from 9 p.m. to midnight on Halloween. Admission is $18.
Participants witness a series of clinical trials gone awry in a mysterious asylum, cemetery, and the home of the reprehensible Dr. Strach.
“Whether your hands tremble or we scare the pants off you, we want everyone to be entertained,” said Laura Sparks, co-chairwoman of the Scream Machine. “We have started looking into a few causes that we could lend assistance to, and hope that we will have the capital to do so in the next year or so.”