Arts & Entertainment

Free Frankfort Square Haunted House a Labor of Love

A group of friends have been building—and expanding on—a haunted house for years.

"I love Halloween, obviously," Phil Brandis said as he led a private tour of the haunted house he and friends built with their own hands on their own time with their own money.

The attraction is more than 2,500 square feet and takes a guest about 10 minutes to travel through. Along the way, around 20 actors will pop out to scare and startle, and mechanized effects will frighten and shock.

"The amazing thing is we're working with garbage and junk," said Marty Herkel, who constucted the "Hotel Hellseher" in his backyard with Brandis, Jason Werner and Tim Eckert.

The other amazing thing is the attraction is free and draws hundreds each night it is open. Brandis said the longest wait to get inside has been an hour, but that he and his friends—who double as monsters in the haunted hotel—played a movie against the side of Herkel's house to entertain those in line.

The haunted house opens again Friday night with no-scare tours from 6 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Then it starts to get scary, and stays that way until 10 p.m.

For more information on schedules and directions to the house at Pine Hill and Jessica Lane, check out the Hotel Hellseher's Facebook page.

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