Alex Slitz/Daily NewsSkeleton’s Lair actors Dylan Pennington (left), 14, and Bill Holman, both of Scottsville, wait to scare a group of patrons during the Gold City Ghostride attraction Saturday night.

Halloween is big business, especially for several area haunted attractions such as Skeleton’s Lair.

“This is 11 years we’ve been doing Skeleton’s Lair,” said Amy Burge, who works with the haunted attraction out Cemetery Road just across the Allen County line. “We work on it year-round, and we’ve had some all-nighters, getting props built and building scenes. … There’s a lot of time that goes into this. It’s not something grandpa threw together.”

Haunted attractions locally and around the region have revamped their themes, added new features and are ready to frighten the public.

At Skeleton’s Lair, it is tradition to open its gates the last weekend of September, according to Burge. People start getting into the Halloween spirit as October rolls around, and this year the haunted attraction has a new addition – Skeletal Visions 3-D.

On the Gold City Ghostride through the Heckleville Haunted Woods, patrons will have the opportunity to wear 3-D glasses in the new addition. Burge said a 3-D artist designed the attraction, with the theme centered on skeletons.

Black lights are scattered throughout the attraction to highlight the skeletons, which look like they are jumping out of the walls, as well as the goo on the floors.

“We started on that building in April, and I think it shows,” she said. “It’s the last of the three attractions those in attendance will go through. It’s our kicker.”

While impossible to change things every year, Burge said some aspects of the haunted attraction are changed to keep it fresh.

“It’s because you could come the first night and have an experience, and come back four weeks later and it’s something different,” she said. “Those who come through always say there was something new, something different.

“We just try and make it a fun experience.”

The outdoor venue allows the haunted attraction to offer patrons a unique experience, Burge said. She said they have the space to put actors in trees and deliver scares no one expects. Audio, lighting, special effects, some pyrotechnics and animation can be found throughout the three attractions, she said.

“We work long and hard, add unique elements, and somehow when we flip that switch, it comes to life,” she said. “Our goal every year is to give every visitor that unique Halloween experience. Here, it’s not about blood and gore and guts. It’s the element of surprise, that high-startle scare.

“It’s a big production and we’re finding visitors coming from great distances that tend to come back year after year. … It’s pretty amazing how far we’ve come.”

Not only are haunted woods a popular attraction, but so are haunted houses. That’s what the Wingfield Volunteer Fire Department in Edmonson County will soon offer. Dubbed the Haunted Hallow, the house, bearing eight themed rooms, has been completely reworked this year, said Glenda Spear, a volunteer fire department board member.

“We’ve had haunted attractions, but none like this,” she said.

Spear said patrons will take a two-mile hayride to the haunted attraction, which now bears a new entrance, expanded rooms with themes – such as a new zombie room – and an endless hallway, along with other surprises throughout the house.

“It’s more interactive this year,” she said. “We have a lot of people who get a charge from scaring people.”

Spear said that while some haunted attractions start researching ideas as early as January, Haunted Hallow organizers began preparing around late August. The attraction opens Oct. 8 and will run Friday and Saturday nights through Oct. 30.

The area used for the attraction belongs to a local farmer who provides time and money to help put together the attraction in time for opening. Spear said they change it some each year, but changed it more extensively this year to help keep interest keen.

“So much goes into it,” she said, “the construction of it.”

The funds raised by the attraction go to help pay off the new facility that houses the Wingfield Volunteer Fire Department.

Meanwhile, The Massacre is the creation of Bowling Green-based Horror Industries.

“We’re in the business of scaring people,” said Jeff Martin, a co-leader of Horror Industries. “If we can make you cry or go for the nearest exit, the better we like it.”

On the grounds next to the KOA Kampgrounds on Three Springs Road in Bowling Green sits the site of The Massacre – an eerie, two-story yellow house that sat unoccupied until last weekend. The house became a place of horror, with mentally unstable characters running through it, chopped-up limbs in the kitchen, body bags, guts hanging from the ceiling and more.

“We really try to mess with people,” Martin said.

This year, instead of themed scary rooms, the entire house follows the story of Otis Schaefer, who killed a family and held a woman hostage to torture her in the 1980s.

“There is no Michael Myers here or Jason,” he said. “Everything you see is based on what could really happen. We try to make it as realistic as possible.”

Martin said that when patrons first enter, they are greeted by a newscast that lays out Schaefer’s story. Martin said this year they’ve expanded the attraction, adding more surprise scenery, scares such as a giant jack-in-the-box in the clown room, a live hanging body that can crawl down from where it hangs and an extended path through the graveyard outside the house.

Martin said they have been working on the attraction since January, adding bits and pieces to the house. He said a lot of the props throughout the house are hand-built.

Around May, he said they looked into changing the house to fit the story of Schaefer, which he said heightens the interest and intensity of the house as patrons go through it.

“There is a lot more detail in design,” he said. “It takes a lot of work to do this, but it’s not a job for us. It’s something we really enjoy doing.

“We just like to scare people.”

IF YOU GO

Skeleton’s Lair Zombie Nation

Located in Settle, the haunted attraction is on Hwy. 234 and will be open Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 30 and Oct. 24 and Oct. 31. Tickets are $18 and available online at www.skeletonslair.com or at the gate.

The Massacre

Located at 1960 Three Springs Road, attraction will be open from 7 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday through Oct. 30, and opens at 7 p.m. Thursday and Sunday nights through Oct. 17. The Massacre will be open the entire week starting Oct. 25 through Halloween night.

Tickets are $15 or $18 for a Hopper Pass to the front of the line. For more information call 202-9220 or 792-1021 or visit www.horrorindustriesonline.com.

Wingfield Haunted Hallow

The hayride and haunted house is two miles behind the Wingfield Volunteer Fire Department and will have opening night Oct. 8. Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for children under 12.