HAUNTED ORCHARD

  • By Tami Lange Mosser
  • September 24, 2013
  • 539
                        
Over the past several years, neighbors Joe Kennedy and Michael Dhayer have collected so many cobwebs, zombies and fake body parts, it’s almost scary. “I shop year around,” Dhayer said of the collection, which is going to fill a full 23 rooms at The Haunted Orchard on the Portage Road site of the former Melrose Orchard in Wooster. “What’s sick is that, in my family, for presents I get props.” Whatever Dhayer might not have might turn up in Kennedy’s barn, where an annual Halloween party that started seven years ago grew to a guest list of more than 200 over the years. “It just got out of control,” Kennedy said. So, the two men decided to look for a bigger venue and ended up at the Orchard, which closed several years ago and was later purchased by Bret and Deb Defibaugh of Wooster. The 10-plus-acre property includes an old barn with a sales area – a perfect place to for a haunt. The Defibaughs did a great job of rehabilitating the barn’s exterior – but left the interior to Kennedy and Dhayer to “decorate.” Part of Dhayer’s love of all things frightening came from his dad, a former Wooster Jaycee who used to help out every year with the organization’s haunted buildings. Another former Jaycee, Drew Kerr, also worked on the annual project and told Wooster Exchange Club President Gil Ning all about it. “Each Jaycee was assigned a room” to run in a somewhat-randomly selected abandoned Wooster building. “It was lucrative” as a fundraiser, Ning said. “Lucrative, but a lot of work.” Word of what Dhayer and Kennedy were doing at the old orchard got to Ning, who discussed with Defibaugh the idea of making The Haunted Orchard a fundraiser for the Wooster Fireworks Foundation. The foundation’s fundraising for the annual July 4 fireworks show was a cause Defibaugh embraced, so he was not hard to convince. Enter Kennedy, Dhayer and a host of volunteers and The Haunted Orchard came alive, more or less. Last year, a trimmed back version was open to family and friends only. This year, the attraction will be open to the public beginning Thursday, Oct. 3 and continuing Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 26. From 7:30-11 p.m. A portion of each $10 admission will go not only to the fireworks, but also to the Wooster YMCA, which Defibaugh said will be providing some of the volunteer help. While called The Haunted Orchard, the tour actually is through the barn and is self contained there, Kennedy said, except for a queue line outside. The tour is based on the story of Freeman S. Howlett, who worked at the former Ohio Experimental Station in post-World War II Wooster. The true part of the story, Dhayer said, is that Howlett developed the Melrose Apple. At that point, the facts end and the haunt begins. More than 30 actors will fill the 23 rooms. What happens next is pretty scary. Kennedy and Dhayer have pulled out all the stops in an attempt to play to some of our worst fears: claustrophobia, the dark, spiders, blood – not to mention the obligatory headless body. “You want to get into people’s heads,” Kennedy said, “and make them believe this is true.” To accomplish that, the two have devised ways to reach all five senses so, Dhayer said, “It takes your body into another zone.” It’s a zone not for the faint of heart, nor for youngsters. The Haunted Orchard is strictly for the 13 and older crowd. And though it is designed to give you chills, the attraction also had to be safe. In addition to passing muster with the city, Kennedy and Dhayer are quick to note everything has been inspected by the fire and police departments and security will be on site. “We took a lot of precautions to make sure everyone stays safe,” Kennedy said. Defibaugh concurred, saying he personally will be there and, when he can’t attend, former Wayne County Sheriff Tom Maurer will help make sure everyone stays in line. “I’m not concerned at all,” Defibaugh said. “We’ve got a ton of skilled people around it. Everything we could think of has been addressed.” And for those interested in the “real” paranormal, representatives from both the Amish Paranormal Society and the Northeast Ohio Paranormal Society will be on hand at the tour’s end. Visitors should plan to tour in groups of three to four at a time. The tour itself should take 25 to 30 minutes. Of course, Kennedy said, “It all depends if you run.”


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