The Butler is waiting to greet people at the Haunted Barn.
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It’s been a while, but Jane Witte, her family and friends are back scaring people.
Witte is opening her Haunted Barn this year and has set up several rooms such as the butcher table and ghost alley through a maze of black tarps. There’s a graveyard out back.
“We know we’ve done a good job when they run out of here screaming,” she said.
Witte, whose barn is at the corner of S.D. Highway 34 and 474th Avenue, has opened the Haunted Barn for years in the past but took a few years off recently. She’s redone the entire setup, using a collection of spooky props and animated characters she has collected over the years. Add in horror music, fog, a moving floor and live spooks, and the barn is sure to scare visitors.
But it’s designed to be kid-friendly, too, she said, with children getting a treat at the end.
The barn will be open from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Oct. 19, 25 and 26. Admission is non-perishable food or a cash donation for the Breadbasket.
“We do it to pay it forward,” Witte said. “It’s our way of filling a huge need in our county and giving back to the community. We certainly hope a lot of people will come to help support this worthwhile cause.”
The barn is handicapped accessible. “We want all the kids to have the opportunity,” she said.
In the past, the barn has drawn in about 100 people each night. Tours are guided in small groups, and there is a waiting area inside the barn.
Witte starts on the setup long before the guests arrive.
“It takes me a good month of working on it to get it lined up,” she said.
