Haunted houses in Sask. turn frights into funds for charity
Creators inspired to help others face fears, support charitable causes
You can go face to face with your greatest fears at one haunted house in Balgonie, Sask.
Skeletons, ghouls and witches wait in the dark in a garage in the small town about 30 kilometres east of Regina.
Julia Evans, the creator of Terra Nova Terror, starts each Halloween season by clearing out her garage to make room for the haunt. The first and only pre-built structure is a wooden bridge with a large warning — "turn back" — written in black uppercase letters.
"It's like the skeletal system of my haunted house," Evans said.
She builds her haunted house in the dark so she knows what guests will experience when they stop by.
"Even though I have a plan and an idea of how I want it to look, just like we have plans and ideas of how our life is going to look, it switches and it changes and it actually kind of makes itself as it goes," she said.
Her yearly haunted house was spurred by what she describes as "one of the scariest moments" of her life, when she was diagnosed in October 2014 with multiple sclerosis.
She was discharged from the hospital on Halloween. She said although her life and her family members' lives were forever changed, she wanted the holidays to feel the same, so after she left the hospital she bought some decorations. That was the first year of what grew into the haunted house she has today.
"Anything that I'd feared, I threw into the haunted house to manoeuvre through," she said.
"This dreaded disease, there are some days that I can't physically manoeuvre through it. And those are the days that I sit in there and take a few breaths and just keep going because that's what life is — not to push through, but take those moments to pause,"
She said Terra Nova Terror has helped her work through her fear.
"I teach myself how to face challenges and obstacles and look at a problem from a different angle so that I can thrive in life. And that's what I hope to give everybody who tours through," she said.
Because this year is the 10th anniversary of her diagnosis, Evans decided to donate a portion of this year's proceeds to MS Canada.
"What a great time and opportunity at Halloween when you can be whoever you want to be and just have fun."
Terra Nova Terror is located at 406 Terra Nova Dr. in Balgonie and is open Oct. 24 to 26 from 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door. The haunt will also run Halloween night from 6 to 9 p.m.
Joy in the haunt
Regina features some other haunts to visit.
Lori Woodman creates the Creatures of the Night haunted house, alongside her husband and kids.
Four years ago, the family decided that instead of trick-or-treating, they would try building a haunted house for other kids and families to come and enjoy.
"The first year was very minimal, like we didn't even have any of the 12-foot skeletons," Woodman said. "We had a few animatronics, we had live actors. And then just your basic decorations, some skeletons, some crosses and tombstones."
But the next year, everything changed.
"A really close family friend of ours, their little guy Andrew, needed a kidney transplant. So we thought, why not make [the haunt] a little bit bigger?" Woodman said.
They made posters, advertised and shared Andrew's story on social media.
That year, the haunt raised more than $2,500 for him and his family.
The family wondered how they could expand their efforts, so this year they teamed up with Spirit Halloween to raise money for its foundation Spirit of Children, with the proceeds going to the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital in Saskatoon.
That meant the haunted house had to be bigger.
"We started closing it off and we made the front fence look like a big house, so that when you're standing in line, you can't peek in and see what's going on," Woodman said.
Woodman finds a lot of joy in putting on the haunt each year.
"Just putting smiles on people's faces … the reactions that you hear and you see from people, the positive feedback and people enjoying themselves is the most important," she said.
The Creatures of the Night haunted maze is located at 2170 Embury St. in Regina. It will run from Oct. 26 to 31 and has a $5 entry fee.
The Spicer Scarehouse in Regina is also scaring people for a cause.
Last year, it raised $10,000 for Bright Eyes Dog Rescue.
Riley Spicer, the creator of that haunt, said they hope to beat that total this year.
The Spicer Scarehouse is open Oct. 25 and 26 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 if purchased in advance through Eventbrite or $10 at the door.
On Halloween night, there is no admission, but Spicer said the wait time can be long.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
