October 19, 2020 at 3:32 p.m.
A night of fright: Sprecksel's Slaughterhouse invites all who dare to enter on Halloween night
A night of fright: Sprecksel's Slaughterhouse invites all who dare to enter on Halloween night
By Stephanie Kuski-
From 4 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31, Meg and Gene Sprecksel will welcome the public into their home at 422 Abner Street, which will be decked out to the nines as the Sprecksel Slaughterhouse.
This season marks the Sprecksel's sixth year transforming their home into a haunted house for locals to enjoy free of charge.
"It changes every year, so it's fun to see what could happen," Meg Sprecksel said. "We start with an idea and it just expands. You never know how it's going to turn out."
Sprecksel said her husband Gene delights in scaring young trick-or-treaters, so when the couple moved into town, they decided to go all out for Halloween.
"We started off really small - we would just have people come into our house, downstairs and out the back door," Sprecksel said, "but over the years, it has continued to expand and get bigger and bigger."
Although there is no charge for entry into the haunted house, the Sprecksels will have a donation box for those who can contribute so the couple can update props and make it better for the next year. They will also be collecting household items to donate to the Personal Essentials Pantry (PEP). Sprecksel commented on the importance of giving back to the community and said PEP is always grateful for donations.
While the haunted house is a unique opportunity for community members to partake in - especially in a year that's witnessed numerous event cancellations - Sprecksel said she also enjoys hosting the event every year because her family from the Racine area comes up for the week to help create the sets and props, scare the crowd and tear everything down at the end.
"We look forward to it every year and we have so much fun with it," Sprecksel said. "It definitely is a family affair; it gets everyone together and we have such a great time."
She added that her family begins working on the haunted house about a month in advance, since the crew creates the majority of the props themselves using mostly donated materials. Sprecksel said the family even goes so far as to build a temporary wall in the backyard to contain all of the spookiness (and so those waiting in line can't see what's going on inside).
Sprecksel said it's her family's creativity that brings the haunted house to life. She named her brother Alex Nowak as the "creative mastermind" who built most of the structures while her mother Shelley Mayer went all out to create spooky scenes like a tunnel of spider webs for visitors to navigate through. Sprecksel said her young nieces, alongside her daughter Haleigh and husband Gene, also do their part to scare those brave enough to enter the haunted house.
The 2020 theme of the Sprecksel Slaughterhouse is "Survive" since this year has presented a slew of events that have challenged us all, Sprecksel noted.
"You can expect in 'Survive' to see not a mockery of 2020, but a lot of the fears people have had through 2020 - you know, like murder hornets," she laughed. "You never know what you might find in there and hopefully you'll survive to find out."
While Sprecksel and her family relish in scaring others, she said the behind-the-scenes bloopers of the night have the family roaring with laughter, a reminder that it can be fun to be scared.
In that regard, Sprecksel noted that guests of all ages are welcome to go through their haunted house. However, she encourages younger children to come during the daylight hours from roughly 4 to 6 p.m.
Teenagers and adults who are brave enough to come in the dark can expect things to get a bit spookier as the night goes on.
Sprecksel added that those interested in visiting can expect two separate entrance areas: one will be a line to go into the haunted house and another will simply be for trick-or-treaters.
"For those kids who are brave enough to go through the haunted house, they get a larger reward on their way out," she said. "It makes it a little more rewarding to try to get through so they can get the bigger candy."
In order to adhere to social distancing guidelines, Sprecksel said they will allow groups no larger than five to go through at one time and individuals may only enter with the group they came with to avoid intermingling.
In typical years, Sprecksel said they see about 300 to 400 people come through their door for their annual haunted house. But since this year is anything but typical, she asks all visitors to be respectful of social distancing to ensure everyone's safety and well-being.
"It's unbelievably fun to do and we've only had positive responses from the community so we know they're enjoying it as well," Sprecksel added. "We have people that come back every single year, they look forward to it every year and they can't wait to come back... It's one of those things that we live for."
For more information, photos and updates, follow Sprecksel Slaughterhouse on Facebook.
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