The fourth annual Terror on Tofield – Creepy Hollow, set to give you the heebie jeebies this Halloween, is all for a good cause.
“I’ve always loved Halloween,” Kathleen Angelski, organizer of the Halloween Haunted House, said.
“It’s always been a special holiday for me and I think the reason is because I grew up in Salmon Valley, a smaller community, especially for me as a kid it was the one time of year when you saw all of your neighbours. You’d go to everybody’s houses, then gather for a big bonfire afterwards and watch fireworks at the fire hall with hot chocolate so for me it’s an important part of community. So when I moved away for a while and then returned to Prince George and we bought this house I was so excited to be able to be the person to hand out candy. Trick or treating really isn’t the same as it used to be, so I wanted to do something, not only for my own neighbourhood but for the whole community, to bring people together and to just have fun because I think it’s such a great holiday. It’s not just about the candy, it’s about the creativity, the costumes, and the aspect of coming together and having fun.”
In past events Angelski said there was always a bit of a story as guests would walk through and a few of the actors have a few things to say.
“With Creepy Hollow it’s a bit more broad with the focus being on Halloween in general so we could mix things up a bit more,” Angelski said. “So we’ll bring back the werewolf costume we had the very first year, while focusing on creepy pumpkins, creepy trees, and everything that’s just spooky and creepy about Halloween.”
And it’s in the garage but not just any garage.
“It’s a strange garage because it has a full basement underneath it,” Angelski said.
“It’s quite surprising because you would never guess that when you walk up to the house. People’s reactions when you open up the door to the stairwell for the first time and they’re just looking down this dark stairwell, down into the abyss, is pretty great because people don’t expect it and it just adds to that creepy weird factor.”
Unfortunately, that does not make it an accessible space, she noted.
Setting up the haunt is pretty much a year-round project now, Angelski laughed, as she’s always looking for new ideas and props.
“The entire basement – different rooms and walls and hallways – we try to change it around a little bit every year,” she said. “We didn’t change too many of the walls this year but we did add lighting. So that’s made a really big difference to the overall ambience. In the past I used whatever I had on hand so one button it all goes on, one button it all goes off so now it’s different colours and different levels of brightness so it’s just a bit more professional looking rather than the strings of Christmas lights.”
With all the lurking-in-the-dark fun comes the underlying fundraising efforts that saw the Humane Society benefit for the first two years for all the good work they do, Angelski added.
It got changed up when Angelski thought perhaps making the donations more personal was the way to go so now all the dedicated volunteer effort gets rewarded.
“It takes a minimum of eight people to run the haunt every night so that’s a healthy commitment and there’s a different group every night,” Angelski said. “So you’ll see different faces if you come every night and everybody plays it just a little bit different and that’s fun to see and we have kids as young as eight years old volunteering but mostly they’re teenagers and adults, of course.”
There were two families that continue to volunteer at the haunted house who are involved in cadets and a cross-country ski team.
“So I thought since they’ve given me so much time and effort it would be nice to give proceeds back to the clubs those families are involved in,” Angelski said. “That’s how it started and this year we added another group because my son is in Franco Nord and they are planning a trip to Montreal next spring and this way they can make money for the trip.”
They had 550 people attend last year, with the biggest demographic being young adults, groups of friends. There’s an extra night of sinister fun this year so Angelski is anticipating about 750 people visiting.
“Everyone is welcome to attend – my mom comes through with her group of senior ladies and they love it – really it’s for all ages, families often come through together,” Angelski said.
There are four ticketed nights and on Halloween it is a drop in event. There are 30 time-staggered tickets available each night to keep things flowing and that ticket is good for up to six people.
Terror on Tofield - Halloween Haunted House – Creepy Hollow goes Thursday, Oct. 24 to Sunday, Oct. 27 and Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. Geared for those eight and older but at the parent’s discretion. Tickets are by donation for Oct. 24 to 27, with Halloween as a no ticket, drop in by donation, event. For tickets visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/halloween-haunted-house-the-terror-on-tofield.
