For more than three decades, the Long family has been scaring the dickens out of both the young, and the young at heart.
\nThis year proves to be no different as the family has once again opened it\u2019s imagination and the doors to an exhibition building at the Sinking Valley Fairgrounds for Long\u2019s Haunted House: \u201cA True Test of Bravery.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re really excited about the house this year,\u201d said Greg Long. \u201cSo far, the reaction has been positive and people are really enjoying it. In fact, we\u2019re setting new records for attendance.\u201d
\nAccording to Long, the tradition of Long\u2019s Haunted House began about 35 years ago when his parents, Frank and Sarah, set-up a haunted house scene for members of their church to enjoy. First it was just the church congregation touring the house, but as the years grew on, so did the size of the project. Now, thousands of people visit the community tradition each year.
\n\u201cAbout seven years ago, we decided to move the house here, into this building,\u201d said Long. \u201cThe house seems to always be getting larger and larger and we needed more space. It\u2019s working perfect here.\u201d
\nLong said this year\u2019s edition of the haunted house was constructed over a two-week period by himself and his wife Chris, his sister Leslie and her 16-year-old son, Brian. Amazingly, costs for this year\u2019s house were just about $300.
\n\u201cWe recycle an awful lot of the materials year to year,\u201d said Long. \u201cThe plywood is torn down each year, then stored. When we\u2019re ready for the next year\u2019s house, we pull it back out and use it again. There\u2019s really not much to expenses.\u201d
\nAlthough the cost to construct the house is low, Long assures that the contents will be different than in years past.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s one thing we\u2019ve always tried to do here,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think we\u2019ve been pretty successful. Sure we use a lot of the same stuff, but our themes are always different.\u201d
\nLong said that off-season shopping is very important.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s usually when we can find the best price on things,\u201d said Long, noting that he and his family always have their eyes open for new ideas while walking through the mall or grocery store. \u201cWe\u2019ll see something that we think we could use and pick it up. Later on down the road…that\u2019s when we\u2019ll figure out what to do with it.\u201d
\nThis year\u2019s house takes visitors, usually in groups of 2-4, on a self-guided tour through the dark walkways. Visitors weaving through these passages can expect to walk through low-hanging items designed to put just a little bit of frieght into the soul before being introduced to one of several automated exhibits or scenes.
\nAt one exhibit, a small, green dragon with piercing red eyes lights up the corridor with a plume of fire, designed specifically to appear as though the flames were coming right at visitors. At another, visitors are captured in a small room that is lifted by air pressure, which gives a feeling of being not so sure-footed. There\u2019s also a table scene with \u201chuman heads\u201d as the main course.
\n\u201cWe all really had a lot of fun building this year\u2019s house,\u201d said Long. \u201cIt\u2019s borderline scary, but people visiting here who have been in other haunted houses know this one\u2019s just a little bit different.\u201d
\nAccording to Long, most haunted houses employ people to actually work in the house, explaining that some are hired to grab visitors or chase them with a mock weapon.
\n\u201cHere, we don\u2019t want to touch our visitors, only make them feel like that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople who come through here are anticipating that kind of scare, but we\u2019re not going to give it to them. They feel like we\u2019re going to do something like that around each and every corner, but we don\u2019t
\n\u201cAnd I think that anticipation is what scares people the most.\u201d
\nAnd it\u2019s not just the young people who come in for a little scare.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty good mixture,\u201d said Long. \u201cWe do get a lot of high school kids and college students here, but we also get people who come and talk about how they went through it 20 years ago. They just want to keep coming back. I guess it has turned into tradition.\u201d
\nLong said he couldn\u2019t put a finger on what keeps him designing the haunted houses each year.
\n\u201cI like the challenge of building it and I like to hear what people are saying as they go through it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a blast to just sit back there (behind the scenes) and listen. People really have different imaginations and that\u2019s what makes haunted houses work.\u201d
\nCost to enter the haunted house is $4 for adults and $2 for children under the age of 12. All proceeds will benefit the Sinking Valley Farm Show.
\n\u201cBecause of our record numbers this year,\u201d he said , \u201cwe\u2019re anticipating donating close to $3,000.\u201d
\nThe house, located at the Sinking Valley Fairgrounds at the Bellwood Exit off Interstate 99, will be open from 7:30-10 p.m. Friday through next Thursday,
\nAlso, private parties and hayrides are available by contacting 684-7469 or 684-8441,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For more than three decades, the Long family has been scaring the dickens out of both the young, and the young at heart. This year proves to be no different as the family has once again opened it\u2019s imagination and the doors to an exhibition building at the Sinking Valley Fairgrounds for Long\u2019s Haunted House: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}