This is one column right in my wheelhouse. Or should I say, haunted house.
When I heard about the “Nightmare on Emma Avenue,” a Halloween project that a trio of Montgomery neighbors put together the last six years, I bloody-well dived right in.
For one thing, Halloween is Friday, and who doesn’t like a scary story this time of year. Plus, a few years ago I turned the lower level of my home into a haunted basement that grows in intensity each year in my seasonal attempt to scare the bejeebers out of the grandkids.
The haunted ‘hood Ed Perry, Chris Rowold and Dennis Tarnowski created, however, is far more elaborate, and is open not just to their family and friends but to the public on Halloween and the following day.
Over the last two years, Perry says over 700 people of all ages have gone through its 10 macabre rooms, which encompass his three-car garage, Rowold’s two-car garage and a tunnel that connects them.
Sounds like a lot of work, right?
It is, admits Perry, estimating that this three-dad team puts in a solid two weeks of set-up – on weekends and after work – throughout the month of October. Which got off to a late start this year, he added, because wife Wendy bought an electric vehicle, so “we had to figure out how to allow us to charge the car” with all that going on.
The idea for this venture was born in 2018 when Perry and Rowold started talking about how they used to turn their family’s garages into haunted houses as teenagers. So many great Halloween memories came from those seasonal ventures, they agreed, so why not pool their time and talents and make more memories for this generation of kids?
And so they pulled the idea together the following year, only skipping what is now an annual tradition during the pandemic.
Perry, the assistant principal at West Aurora School District 129’s Schneider Elementary School in North Aurora, directs children’s community theater in his spare time – so he’s right at home “creating scenes.” And “to help execute it,” he depends on Rowold, a tech project supervisor for East Aurora School District 131, along with Tarnowski, who is in sales engineering and after playing Michael Myers one year wanted to join their efforts.
Word spread quickly just how frightening this haunted house is: not just in the neighborhood but throughout the community. And yes, each Halloween, the project has gotten bigger and better, Perry told me, with more volunteers clamoring to help, either as an actor or as part of the support crew.
Not to give too much away, but this year’s set-up is big on nostalgia, with rooms that feature classic horror villains, including the terror trio of Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and Jason; the Killer Clown from Outer Space; Psycho’s mother in the rocking chair; the demonic sister from “The Nun;” and TV land’s favorite serial killer Dexter.
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To keep all this family-friendly, by the way, glow sticks are offered for the visitors too cute to spook, which signals the ghouls, ghosts and goblins to tone down the fright factor as the little ones go through.
On Monday, with just a few days before their wives and kids go through the dry run, Perry said he and the team would be concentrating on a last-minute checklist: like touchups, missing props and lighting adjustments to maximize impact.
“We take pride in making it feel like it is not just some neighborhood garage that you did not have to pay for,” he said, noting that some visitors even rank it up there with haunted venues that cost money.
“Nightmare on Emma Avenue” is indeed free, with any donations going toward next year’s event, and the Oswego High School Band. Participants are also asked to bring new or gently used winter attire for Hesed House homeless shelter in Aurora.
Located at 2113 and 2115 Emma Ave. in Montgomery, the haunted house is open from 6-9:30 p.m. on Halloween, Oct. 31, and from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1.
As much fun as they have putting it together, it is really all about the memories it makes for others.
“Every year at the start of October we ask ourselves, ‘why are we still doing this?’ But then when it’s done you see how many people you make happy and how appreciative they are of your efforts,” said Perry.
“It keeps us going. And if we didn’t do it, there would be a lot of disappointed people.”