Get a good scare, and give a little green for Gilda.
Work is underway on the local spooky attraction Everest Cemetery, with an opening date planned for Oct. 27.
Mat Robinson and his wife have been running a haunted house out of their garage and backyard at 18 Northpark Rd., in Barrie for local thrill-seekers for the past six years.
While the attraction is free, any donated funds go directly to Gilda’s Club Simcoe Muskoka.
For Robinson, his favourite part is seeing the looks of terror on visitors’ faces.
“(I love) the fact that you can legally scare the hell out of people,” Robinson says with a laugh. “You can only do so much with a house. With this, you can expand your imagination to anything you want.”
Robinson and his wife consider themselves horror fans, although their influences for the haunted house are found in nature.
“Our influences are more, when we’re driving around the countryside and we’ll see like, a very old cemetery. We’ll have to stop and have a look, see how old some of the tombs are and the shapes of them,” he says. “Also, Pinterest.”
The name for the haunted house started as a pun, but eventually took on a life of its own.
“It started out as Ever-Rest Cemetery, and then it was the media that took one of the Rs out and just called it Everest, and we just stuck with it because it sounded kind of catchy,” says Robinson.
For those who have visited the attraction in past years, new this year is the giant entrance way facet adorned with the name “Everest Cemetery,” as well as a more immersive experience which includes, in addition to sights, smells.
“That’s also something that’s new this year,” said Robinson, adding that he wants people to know in case they have any perfume allergies before coming through.
“We try to stick to the same general theme but we do change it up. Last year we did a “Carn-evil” theme. This year, it’s the graveyard. Everything we do is homemade, we use very few store-bought items,” he says.
There are three shows that are considered family friendly with no actors, low music and very little fog, intended for kids.
“All the volunteers we have on that day will also have no face makeup at all with plain costumes,” adds Robinson.
The night-time shows are for older thrill-seekers.
“That’s when all the creatures come out,” laughs Robinson.
Robinson estimates that about 20 volunteers help out, including make-up artists, actors and builders.
“We even have a couple of student volunteers getting their school hours,” he says, adding that they are eligible since any money donated goes to charity. “We’re very community-based.”
Robinson made the choice for any donations to go Gilda’s Club Simcoe Muskoka as he knows so many people who have had to deal with cancer at some point in their lives.
“Cancer’s something that touches everybody,” he says. “The money... goes to cancer research itself. Gilda’s Club is a community of supporters. If you’re not sure who to talk to, they can put you in touch with someone to talk to.”
Other community partners also donate to the event. Barrie Hill Farms donated the corn stalks that adorn long stretches of hallway, pizza for the actors is provided by Papa Johns and the skids and lumber is donated by Freshmix Limited.
“We definitely have a good community base,” says Robinson.
The family-friendly times for Everest Cemetery are Oct. 27 and 28 from 2-4 p.m. The full show with actors is scheduled for Oct. 27 and 28 from 6-9 p.m. and Oct. 31 from 5-9 p.m.
