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, as well as Halloween night the 13th 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 17-18, as well as the weekend before Halloween, which is October 24-25. There will also be a haunted house on Halloween night on Friday, Oct. 31. 

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

One of the more popular haunted houses in the region, the Henning Haunted House has well over 1,000 people who go through the rooms in the former city hall each year. 

Jessica Strege, who helps to organize the event each year, said one of the things that makes the Henning Haunted House so unique is the dedicated group of volunteers that try to give it a new look and feel each year. 

“What makes us unique is the dedication of the volunteers. Not only do we all love the process, but we all appreciate being able to give back to our community,” said Strege. “We are fortunate, that with cooperation with the City of Henning, we are able to keep our indoor space set up year round. This gives us ample time to recreate our rooms to something new each year. All of these things motivate us to provide the best possible scare experience year after year.”

Though she didn’t want to spoil any surprises, Strege said there will be a new theme to the haunted house that will provide a fun and new experience to those who have attended the Henning Haunted House in the past. 

“We have a theme inside this year. We don’t want to give it away, but encourage our guests to see if they recognize what it is,” she said. “We pack the maximum amount of scares, and some humor into our space. Plan for loud noises, strobe lighting, stairs and some tight spaces.”

The haunted house takes about 15 minutes to walk through, depending upon the speed of the group that walks or runs through the Henning Haunted House. 

Following the success of last year’s Little Goonies event, a pair of less scarier events will be held from 5-6 p.m. on October 18 and October 25. The Little Goonies haunted house is geared towards 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, there are still some pretty graphic scenes people should be aware of before heading inside. There will also be less characters during the Little Goonies event and there will also be no jump scares during the hour long event. 

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

Now in its 13th year, Strege said the Boo Crew as they have become known, would like to grow their volunteer list for future years. Anyone who is interested in scaring, or providing other needs to the group is encouraged to reach out to the Henning Haunted House via Facebook Messenger, or give her a call at (406) 570-9923.