Annual haunted house attracted approximately 1,200 people last year

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

An unmistakable scream and sound of a chainsaw will break through an otherwise quiet night on 2nd St. in Henning. Over the next two weekends the 12th annual Henning Haunted House will return to town and raise money with every scared person who dares to walk through the main doors.

The event will take place in the upstairs of the former Henning City Hall and current food shelf building in town. The haunted house will once again take place on Friday and Saturday nights from 7-10 p.m. over the extended Education Minnesota weekend from October 18-19, as well as the weekend before Halloween, which is October 25-26. 

The cost to attend the actual haunted house is $10 per person with the proceeds being donated back to the greater Henning community.

Jessica Strege, who helps to organize the haunted house, said this year’s event will once again feature a mixture of unique rooms that are sure to scare even the most courageous of souls. She said the group is expecting around 1,000 people to attend the haunted house, which she said can take approximately 15 minutes to walk through.

“We always say 15 minutes, or less if you are running because sometimes people just go full bore through there,” she said.

Last year’s haunted house had 1,200 people walk through the haunted house, which is based in a town of just over 800 people. 

Strege said this year’s haunted house will feature a new layout upstairs to give the entire event a new look and feel.

Proceeds from the haunted house will benefit the Henning Military Park with $2,000 already being pledged by the haunted house committee for that cause. The rest of the proceeds will benefit the Henning area community through donation requests from the haunted house committee. To request funding for a project, contact Strege who will get the appropriate request form to the individual or group needing assistance.

“We want to help other groups if they are working on something,” she said.

While the haunted house will be the highlight of the next two weekends, there are a number of new events this year at the haunted house. 

On October 19 and October 26 from 5-6 pm. there will be a Little Goonies haunted house where children and adults who would like to see what the commotion is all about, but not experience the full scare, can walk through the haunted house. Even though the Little Goonies experience will be quite tamed down from the actual haunted house, Strege said there are still some pretty graphic scenes people should be aware of before heading inside. 

“(The Little Goonies) is for little kids or adults that don’t want the full throttle scare experience. There won’t be as many characters during the haunted house at that time and there won’t be any jump scares,” she said. “There are some pretty gory scenes so people would need to be understanding of that if they are going to be bringing little kids through there.”

The cost for the Little Goonies experience is $5 apiece.

Also, on October 19 there will be a scream queen contest in which the best scream that haunted house organizers hear will receive a free pair of tickets to next year’s haunted house. 

The Henning Haunted House will go from 7-10 p.m. from October 18-19 and October 25-26 in Henning. The event is recommended for people ages 10 and above and is located on 2nd. St., across from the Henning Fire Hall and Community Center.