Neighborhood haunted house spooks on for 25th year

For the silver anniversary of their homemade haunting, Burbank residents Diane and Preston Meyer are transforming their lawn and driveway into a ghost town and, appropriately, silver mine.

The maze of narrow passageways and cramped spaces — a mine elevator, a chapel, a saloon and a main street with general store, undertaker’s shop and blacksmith’s forge — is hidden behind a facade that includes a sheriff’s office and both Emmett’s Barber Shop and Ginny’s Bath House, nods to the couple’s longtime neighbors, the Slezaks.

“They were Halloween enthusiasts,” Preston Meyer said during a walk-through of the nearly completed haunt on Tuesday. “They always supported us.”

Emmett died a few years ago and Ginny is 92, he said.

The annual haunted house began as something the Meyers did for their daughter’s 9th birthday, just a few days before Halloween in 1990, and now bears references to their grandchildren.

The scares await inside the Wilsley Bros. Mining Co.’s Gracie Shaft No. 3 — the Wilsley brothers are the Meyers’ grandsons and Gracie is their new granddaughter, 4 months old — and in the ghost town of Rotten Apple Hollow.

This year’s incarnation of the Halloween tradition goes “above-and-beyond” past years’ haunts, said Diane Meyer, though the story that goes with the experience says it takes visitors 600 feet down and below, into the depths of a mountain where mad miners and other secret surprises lurk.

Diane Meyer said the idea for a western theme actually came up shortly after last year’s fun house closed down last October.

“From there, it just kind of went — went crazy,” she said, including research trips to Calico Ghost Town in San Bernardino County, as well as Knott’s Berry Farm.

From the outset, they knew it was going to be a lot of work — and it has been, with the paper-and-mortar mine walls taking many weeks to construct and the heat turning their outdoor set into a sauna on some days — but they thought, “it’s our 25th, let’s just do it.”

It opens this weekend, and the Meyers and their crew were still putting on the final touches Tuesday afternoon, antiquing the faux wood walls, for example, and installing security cameras. Construction began in early September with a crew of about six volunteers, Preston Meyer said, but planning began back in January.

Through the years, the Meyer clan has had help and advice from other “haunters” in Southern California and around the country, both amateurs and professionals. In fact, the voiced narration of the haunt was provided by Mark Silverman, who also provided his voice-over talents for Disney’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Some of the professional haunters, including those behind Knott’s Scary Farm and Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios, have come through the haunting, Diane Meyer said, which is how she first met Silverman. They also open the house after Halloween just for the other haunters, she said, though she admitted she rarely goes to other haunted houses herself.

“I really don’t like to be scared — I hate it,” she said, but “heck yeah” does she like scaring others.

Admission is free, but the Meyers accept donations for local charities. Last year, the fun house-themed haunting raised nearly $4,000 for Burbank Arts For All Foundation and Bikers Against Child Abuse, Diane Meyer said.

This year, the selected nonprofit is Burbank Temporary Aid Center, which Preston Meyer said had supported one of their crew members for a year during hard times. The couple had in the past donated to large charities, but realized that when the amounts they were giving, from $500 to more than $3,000, might be more meaningful to organizations closer to home.

Barbara Howell, the center’s chief executive, said the nonprofit will have a table outside the house both weekends. She said the funds raised will support the center’s efforts to help those struggling to pay their bills celebrate the upcoming holidays with food donations and financial assistance.

“We’re just really happy that they selected us,” Howell said. “It was really wonderful.”

The haunted hollow, located at 907 N. California St., will be open to the public from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It will be open again those same hours next Friday and Saturday, which is Halloween weekend.

Meyer recommends visitors arrive early — the fun house is in a residential neighborhood and has to close by 10:30 p.m. out of respect for the neighbors, no matter how many people are left in line. She said she’s expecting 3,000 or more visitors this year.

There are emergency exits for visitors who can’t bear the frights, and the Meyers take some pride in counting how many people can’t even make it past the first room. Last year, 23 bailed out at the very start, Preston Meyer said. One year, as many as 60 bowed out early.

“Yes!” Diane Meyer recalls thinking. “We did our job.”

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Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com

Twitter: @chadgarland