SPRINGHILL, N.S. – There’s a zombie problem out there, and people travelling the Valley Road near Springhill need to be careful.
“We added a Zombie Field this year. It’s going to be part of the Haunted Trail,” Justin Simons said.
The Zombie Field is one of many fearful features awaiting people who visit the bi-annual Haunted House and Trail hosted by the Simons family at their home on the Valley Road.
The Simons have staged the haunted house for 20 years.
“Not all in the same place. It began on Church Street in Springhill when we lived up there, and it’s grown to what it is today just by virtue of having more space and having more room to haunt.”
About 15 people help with the construction of the haunted house and trail.
“It takes us an entire month to construct the haunted house and ready the trails,” Simons said. “And it takes anywhere from 20 to 30 volunteers on the night of the haunt to make it happen.”
Many youth volunteers have grown up helping at the haunted house over the years.
“They’ve been active participants in the haunted house, both in the construction and the actual haunt.”
This is the second last time the Simons will stage the haunted house, with 2021 being the final year.
“Our youngest will be graduated from high school and we’ll try to recover our fall season for ourselves again,” Simons said. “We basically build in September, haunt in October, and then tear it down in November, so it really does consume several months.”
He says they will offer their props to anybody who wants to carry on the tradition or they might auction the items off and give the proceeds to charity.
“We’ll decide that after we’re done.”
The haunted house attracts hundreds of people and raises thousands of dollars that goes towards extra-curricular activities at the two Springhill elementary schools and, also, at Springhill High School.
“Every cent that’s made goes to the schools. We try to divide it up as much as we can between the elementary school and the high school but we put a little more into the high school because they have more programs.”
They also have many sponsors who have helped over the past 20 years, and are helping again this year.
“The Springhill Home Hardware normally assists us with some construction and some building materials and the Masonic Laurie Lodge No. 70 matches up to $2,000 on whatever we raise for the charity, and that’s done through Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia,” Simons said. “Also, UCCO (the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers) donates $500 to us for props and construction, and the PSAC (Public Service Alliance of Canada) is the other union that donates money to help us out with props and construction.”
Other sponsors include Cumberland Paving, Gabriel Septic, and Laurentide Paints.
The Haunted House runs the two Saturdays before Halloween. This year it’s on Oct. 19 and Oct. 26.
The kids haunted house runs from 2 to 4 p.m., and the adult haunted house runs from 7 to 10 p.m.
“We open it up in the afternoon for the little kids to come through when it’s not so scary, and then in the evening after 7 p.m., that’s when we start if for the adults.”
Admission is $5.
The Haunted House and Trail is located at 1026 Valley Road (Highway 321).
