FERGUS – From a young age, Evan Juergensen always begged his mom to book a dentist appointment every Nov. 1.
It wasn’t a preemptive strike against upcoming cavities from trick-or-treat candy but so he could get as many discounted Halloween props as he could for the haunted house he’d built in his parent’s garage.
The now 20-year-old Evan is taking his love of horror and haunted house building to the next level, using a 100-year-old farmhouse formerly owned by his grandpa north of Fergus on Beatty Line, a spot usually operating as a rural airport.
The Fergus House of Horrors is a new attraction in the area, part of Sensational Elora’s Monster Month, where those daring can go through a house filled with scares and thrills created by the Juergensen family with Evan at the helm.
He said he used to be really scared of haunted houses but a flip switched one day and he became a fan of horror movies and getting scared. He began to build haunted houses in his parent’s garage in nearby Linwood for Halloween.
“It really was transforming our garage that got me into it and just creating stuff … it’s a very unique holiday and getting scared because you know you’re safe but there’s something about the adrenaline and people pay to go get scared they love it,” he said.
“The uniqueness of knowing you’re going to get scared and the anticipation of what’s coming next, I just think is such a unique awesome experience. For some people it’s too scary but most people love it.”
Evan enjoys the detail factor of it, creating themed rooms and areas much like he did with his childhood garage haunted houses. He gets to take this to the next level by using an actual house which was his grandpa’s before he died in 2020.
His dad and uncle operate the airport but initially the family wasn’t sure what to do with the house on the property.
“It’s crazy that we didn’t see any potential in it and then Evan said ‘wait a minute, we could turn this into something for Halloween,’” said Brandy Juergensen, Evan’s mom.
Evan believed having an actual house in a rural area as the haunted house venue and a walk through the corn field adds to the scary atmosphere.
“A lot of people and events, they’ll have an empty warehouse to create something or put tents up but we already had the bones of a haunted house,” Evan said. “We just had to fill the space rather than create our own environment. We had the environment and we just had to go to town with it.”
Evan’s love of horror may be inherited from his family as Brandy recalled loving it when she was young, with Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street being a particular favourite for her and her friends to scare each other with, but now is a bit more cautious.
“If I watch a movie, I’ll be too afraid to go outside at night by myself because I feel like there’s something lurking there,” Brandy said, who has since become used to the Fergus House of Horrors as she’s helped set it up. “I’m proud of myself because I can actually walk through this entire house now and shut off the lights and have darkness behind me and not have the urge to run out the door.”
The haunted house will have some volunteers from Elmira District Secondary School where Evan is an alumni and Brandy is a teacher and they plan to make a donation to its drama committee with some of the proceeds. The Fergus House of Horrors also benefits Sensational Elora’s work towards addressing food insecurity in the community.
The Fergus House of Horrors runs every Friday and Saturday evening in October plus one Sunday Oct. 27 and Halloween Day. The house is not recommended for children younger than 13 but there will be a family friendlier event in the afternoon of Oct. 19.
Advanced tickets are required to ensure an orderly flow of people and to avoid overcrowding.
More information including ticket purchasing and location of the Fergus House of Horrors can be found online here.
