For those who love a good scare, there will be plenty of options in the area this month.
Three local haunted houses have joined forces to help promote each other and raise more money for their respective organizations.
Kids and adults alike can run a veritable haunted house gauntlet.
Dr. Buzzsaw's Haunted Hospital, Soul Takers Acres and The A-Maz-Ing Haunted House will all be providing plenty of frightening scenes this month.
Dr. Buzzsaw's Haunted Hospital
The veteran of the group, this haunted house is in its third year of terrifying sights and agonizing sounds.
Located at 3144 U.S. 30E, about 1 mile east of Hacienda, on the north side of the road, Dr. Buzzsaw's Haunted Hospital uses 20,000 square feet of the 40,000-square-foot former TTP building.
This year Dr. Buzzsaw is upping the scare ante with Dr. Buzzsaw's basement.
The basement is a 10,000-square-foot pitch-black maze that patients will attempt to navigate through.
The haunted hospital will be open Oct. 16, 17, 23, 24 and 30 and patients can check in from 7 to 11 p.m. On Halloween night Dr. Buzzsaw will be terrifying its patients from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Tickets are $9 at the door and $8 pre-sale. Tickets can be purchased at Baker Youth Club, Crownover Jewelers and Reinholt's Town Square Furniture.
More than 3,000 people attended last year's haunted hospital.
This year, Dr. Buzzsaw has revamped his entire hospital. With narrow hallways, dark walls and low ceiling along with endless twists and turns, you will have nowhere to hide once you enter.
The haunted hospital still specializes in brain surgeries, x-rays, cadaver mutilation, blood donations, dentistry, amputations and psychiatric treatments.
So who is Dr. Buzzsaw?
Rumor has it, Dr. Buzzsaw is a deranged medical genius whose ground-breaking experiments have led to cures for all sorts of medical maladies.
As the inventor of cell mutation surgery, Dr. Buzzsaw could mutate diseased cells into healthy ones, thus curing all forms of cancer, heart problems, brain disorders, etc.
But the mutation did not stop with the infected cells.
The side effects of cell mutation surgery is the mutation lives on after all cells are healthy. Needing to feed on something, the mutation turns on its host and begins to mutate healthy cells into deformed, decaying, rotten cells.
Dr. Buzzsaw, trying to hide his terrible mistake, has tried to round up as many of these patients as possible.
Dr. Buzzsaw is on the Web at www.doctorbuzzsaw.com You can also check out his Facebook page by searching for Doc Buzzsaw.
Proceeds from Dr. Buzzsaw's Hospital goes to Baker Youth Club.
Since its inception, the Haunted Hospital has raised thousands for the Baker Youth Club.
Members and board members of Baker Youth Club, along with middle school and high school students, are volunteering for the haunted house. Grace College students are also lending a hand as actors this year.
The Haunted Hospital's corporate sponsors are Silveus Insurance and Monteith Tire while Diesel Power & Machine and ABC Industries have donated space and materials.
Soul Takers Acres
While the Kosciusko County 4-H fairgrounds serves as a place for things like the fair, it has taken on a more sinister role as host of the Soul Takers Acres Haunted House - A Haunting By The Lake.
What is the tale of the Soul Taker?
The Native Americans who lived in the area had a name for him, Wanetawqua, which means taker of life.
The early settlers who came to the lakes region knew him as the LoopGaru, the "Taker of Souls".
Whatever his name, the legend remained the same.
Each fall when the autumn moon came full, the Soul Taker would rise up from the bowels of the earth to stalk unsuspecting victims and return them to his netherworld kingdom, deep below the lakes of Northern Indiana. Now he is back looking for new victims to claim.
The grand opening is this weekend.
The haunted house opens at 7 p.m. and closes at 10 p.m. Friday and 11 p.m. Saturday.
For those who wish to brave the journey, the adventure starts at Redbrush Village at the fairgrounds with activities for younger kids.
Then there will be an old-fashioned hay ride along the dark shores of Winona Lake.
The Monster Opening Deal will be available on opening weekend.
The cost is $8 per person. Buy one admission ticket and get the second at half price. That's two tickets for $12.
Soul Takers Acres also will be open Oct. 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 29, 30 and Halloween night.
It will open at 7 p.m. each night, closing at 10 p.m. on Fridays and 11 p.m. on Saturdays.
Concessions will be available.
The proceeds go to help fund activities for the fair and the 4-H Horse and Pony program.
The fairgrounds is located at 1400 E. Smith St., Warsaw.
Soul Takers Acres isn't recommended for younger children or people with heart conditions.
For more information, visit soultakersacres.com
The A-Maz-Ing Haunted House
For those in the North Webster area there is a haunted house right in your backyard.
Under construction by the North Webster Lions Club and Boy Scout Troop 726, the haunted house is sure to bring terror to all those who try and navigate through the haunted maze at the North Webster Mermaid Festival Grounds.
The event is open Oct. 23, 24, 30 and 31 from 6 to 10 p.m.
The admission is $5 and includes a free hay ride each night.
Concessions will also be available each night.
It's the second year of the North Webster event.
There will be a costume contest on Halloween night.
"The bigger the better," said Lions Club President Monty Lackey of what he's learned from last year's haunted house to this year's.The proceeds from the event will go both to the Lions Club and the Boy Scouts Troop.
Scoutmaster Scott Fox and his nearly 30 members, along with Lions Club volunteers, are working on making this year's haunted house even scarier than last year's.
There are coupon's available for $1 off the North Webster haunted house.
