Halloween. Is there a better holiday? I don't think so. I have loved Halloween since I was a kid, along with the old Universal and Hammer horror movies that only seemed to be shown during that time of year.

In 1972 the Cleveland Jaycees leased a deserted 110 year old mansion on city property and converted it into a haunted house attraction. I heard the radio announcements for it the day after it opened and I felt a strong desire to be part of it. There were only 2 other such projects in the city at that time, College Town and The Hudson Haunted house, both were too far away for me to join.

This one was real close and as I was unemployed at the time. So I went looking and found it the next day. I cannot describe the rush I felt just looking at it in broad daylight. The security officer on duty gave me a few numbers to call and after about a dozen calls I got an invite to join them.

The current crew were from a local high school and even though I was older than most of the students, I was accepted as one of them. So to Karen J and Rick W who were in charge of the actors and actresses, and the Jaycee's in charge Richard K, I shall be forever grateful.

I stared out in Hell that night as the actor that played the Devil was out sick. I really wanted to play Dracula but already had an excellent actor that bore a striking resemblance to actor Christopher Lee.

So I spent the night in Hell and had a blast. On the second night I filled in the funeral parlor room.It had 2 coffins and a scary looking mortician. One of the coffins only had an arm that hung outside and the other had a monster that would jump out.

I was the arm that night and they made up my hand and arm to look real gory. I was rewarded with a number of screams when what the customers thought was a dummy hand moved. Well I must have pulled my arm in at some point and fallen asleep.

I awoke to a flashlight in my face and 3 cops staring at me along with an ambulance crew. It seems that the old man that was from the security guard service that watched the place at night had gotten curious and looked in the coffin. He then ran for the phone

"Man, I thought you was dead," was his comment.

I played the executioner in the Dungeon room for about a day and the Monster-In The-Cage for about 3 days and had even more fun. Somehow I wound up as the vampire outside for the duration of the house.That month and year are among the best memories I have.

I mean, how many people can say they lost their virginity in the basement of a haunted house on Halloween? But that is another story

 Anyone that has ever worked a Haunted House project will tell you that it's not all putting on costumes, makeup and scaring people.There is so much more.

Traffic patterns have to be planned, rooms to be built and properly decorated, lighting and sound added. Adherence to city safety ordinances, inspections by the Fire Marshall and the necessary measures taken to correct problems discovered.

In our case each room had to have a Class A fire extingushier within easy access, and the actors had to be trained on how to use them. I am sure the larger and more hi-tech houses have their own share of unique problems.

We started out with only 12 rooms, we finally added more rooms by cutting a hole in the floor and adding stairs to give us a real cellar and 3 floors. Working the project is almost a full time job, except its all volunteer work.

Now one year when I was co-chairman I was unemployed again and could devote my full attentions to finishing the project. About two days out from opening night I was told by the Jaycee President that he would be showing the media through around 5:00PM that day.

I arrived early and did a lot of touch up work. When fatigue finally caught up to me I looked for a place to take a snooze. You guessed it, I chose one of the coffins in the Dracula crypt and fell sound asleep.

Well the JC president and media arrived and to began their tour and I was totally unaware of it. They finally reached the Dracula room in the basement. The chapter president who was giving the tour and providing the narration told me this story later that day.It went something like this

"This is our Dracula room and yes the coffins are real," He informed the media.

He opened the lid of the one I was in and when he heard the media people gasped he turned his head. Without missing a beat he continued.

"This is the project co-chairman". He he said and then closed the lid and moved on.