Screams help raise fire funds

DUNKIRK — If it’s October, it must be time to scare people out of their wits.
That’s the tradition for the Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department.
For 21 years now, volunteers have transformed a piece of wooded acreage across from Ag-Best Co-op, on county road 450 South between 1100 West and 1150 West, into what may well be the best Halloween attraction in east central Indiana.
The Haunted Woods opened its run on Oct. 13 and continues tonight and Saturday, along with Friday, Oct. 26 and Saturday, Oct. 27. It’s open from 7:30 to 11 p.m. on those nights. Admission is $7 per person or $6 with a canned good.
“There are 19 different attractions,” said volunteer Wayne Green. “This year there’s two surprise attractions. … We strive to add things every year.”
What sorts of attractions?
Think of it as a Halloween smorgasbord: Tunnels, mazes, monsters, a castle, gallows, a haunted pumpkin patch, a graveyard, a mausoleum, and a funhouse with scary clowns.
“Sound effects, light effects, anything to scare people,” said fire chief Steve Fields.
Scary skits, frightening tableaus, and things that go bump in the night are all part of the experience.
“A new movie comes out and we do something new,” said Green, who works on the various attractions from about July to October each year. “The trails always change.”
Last year, the Haunted Woods drew an estimated 1,500 people. Groups of about a dozen at a time are taken through the winding trails in the dark by a tour guide. The entire experience takes between 45 and 60 minutes, Field estimated.
“It’s a lot of entertainment,” said Fields.
Volunteers drive the project.
Green said 105 volunteers are on the grounds of the Haunted Woods when it’s in operation. Some of them first visited the Haunted Woods as kids and now are providing the frights in costume as adults.
“They come year after year,” said Fields. “It’s a tradition.”
This year, a group of local Cub Scouts and their leaders will be involved.
“When we started it was just three little hallways, an A-frame,” said Green. More and more is added each year.
Volunteer Steve Curts first suggested the project based on one in Albany. “He threw the idea out,” said Fields and the firemen ran with it.
The Haunted Woods experience concludes with a large, complex, two-story maze that can take five to 10 minutes by itself to puzzle through.
“I built the damn thing and I can’t find my way out,” said Green.

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