Going for the scare factor
An Ashby haunted barn like no other
By Caitlyn Kelleher

John Lord, of the 4-H Camp Middlesex in Ashby, displays a fake head that was removed by a guillotine dropped by Will Couture during the Haunted Happenings that took place at the Camp on Saturday, Oct. 14.

Kevin Haven is ready to take the residents of North Central Massachusetts on a haunted adventure through his Piper Road barn.

The man who worked for a decade at Terror Park in Columbus, Ohio is ready to treat - or scare - those who are brave enough to come to the Ashby house.

"This is sort of out of the way but I hop we get people up here," he said.

Haven looked for an established haunted house program to get involved in this year but couldn't find one. So he decided to establish his own.

"I would love to do a haunted forest he said, but not this year," Haven said. "I'd also love to do my own haunted house for a month. But you have to get (actors) who are really interested in it."

But, Haven isn't about to rule these plans out completely. He just wants to give things time to grow.

"I am keeping this one to more of a barn-type theme," he said. "There is no space aliens or anything like that ... at least not this year."

The haunted house begins on the ground floor of the barn before moving to the second level and then into the house.

Some of the designs move beyond the "barn-theme" such as the large spider on the roof that can be seen from the road, many types of skeletons as well as a large gargoyle, he said. There is also a lot of blood and gore.

"It's extremely scary," Haven said. "It's not for the little ones. Last year, I did it on trick-or-treat night and parents brought their kids through. I know how to tone it down. I don't need traumatize the kids."

But Haven doesn't feel the same need to protect those who are just young at heart.

"Adults look out - it's on," he said. Haven came to the area to work with the late James Mayrand of Piper Road and worked to film a movie called "Eamons Road." Haven is still staying with Mayrand's family.

"It's a B-movie but still," he said of the horror/thriller movie filmed in the spring of 2005.

The movie premiered locally in April 2006 but is still in need of a distributor.

Haven started scaring people early first by working in a haunted house as a child and then earning his college degree from Devry University in Columbus, Ohio, after creating a haunted house from his senior project.

"I think I have more Halloween stuff than I have regular stuff," he said.

The electrical technician major said he started begging his aunt and grandmother to allow him to work in their haunted house before he was five years old.

"The last year they did it they let me hide under the stairs and scare people and I have been addicted ever sense," he said.

The designs for this year's project started a couple of months ago and 10 days before the opening of the house still needs to be finished.

"I'll have it done," he said. "Every year is the same way - I am rushing to get it done."

The goal is to ensure the walls are secure and all of the components of the scenes are safe for the visitors.

"It has to be safe," Haven said. "I don't want a kid going through and getting hooked on a nail or anything like that."

The Woodside Haunted Barn will be held on Friday, Oct. 27, and Saturday, Oct. 28, from 6 to 9 p.m. Haven said he might be convinced to open in the barn up on Halloween, but he said he wants to take a group of children trick-or-treating.

-  -

Caitlyn Kelleher can be reached at (978) 827-3386, ext. 15, or e-mail: editor@ thecommunityjournal.com