A line stretched across the front of the grey metallic barn as scare actors roamed around and frightened the crowd of people waiting to get into the Barn of Terror.
Located at 8792 Old State Road 37, the Barn of Terror is now back for its 19th season of scaring Bloomington. Jarrod Neal runs the family-owned attraction and said Halloween has always been a big deal in his family. Multiple family members have October birthday and the whole family loves all things scary, so they decided to create the attraction in 2008.
“It’s fun, it’s something for the community and we have a lot of kids who work here that come back yearly,” Neal said. “It’s a fun safe community thing for kids to do.”
The haunted house is suitable for any ages, Neal said, as the scare actors there don’t touch or curse, even with some small children enjoying the experience.
Neal said the Barn of Terror is also used as an opportunity to fundraise by donating a portion of a night’s proceeds to a cause or organization and workers collect additional donations throughout the night. This year, the attraction partnered with the sorority Delta Phi Epsilon to fundraise for cystic fibrosis Oct. 23. The barn often fundraises for breast cancer awareness, happening this year Oct. 24.
While visitors wait in line to enter the barn, roamers — actors who walk around — interact with the crowd in line. Jershom Bayron, or JJ the Clown, is a roamer and said he’s worked at the haunted house for around five years. His character is very chatty with guests as he often asks them their names and tries to scare them.
“For me, it was like putting on a mask is just like therapy,” Bayron said. “If you don’t have outlets for depression or anxiety and stuff you can always dress up and just get it out.”
There were a few other roamers who helped raise the anticipation of those in line, but the main attraction were the actors throughout the haunted house waiting around corners to jump out and scare.
Christopher George plays a doctor with a white coat and fake medical instruments near the end of the haunt. George said he’s worked at the haunted house for around seven years, and comes back to the Barn of Terror specifically because of the non-commercial feel of it.
“The joy you bring people when they come here to get scared and you actually scare them," George said. “It’s a rush.”
While scaring people is fun for many of the actors, the haunted house has an ultimate goal of being safe fun for all attendees by toning down the horror when necessary and not including extreme gore.
Neal has collected and made the barn’s decorations through the years.
“I’ve been to a lot of haunts, but this one feels like home for me,” Bayron said. “I’ve been to Indy Scream Park and all the other ones, but this one makes me feel like it’s a mom-and-pop store, like you want to see it succeed.”
The haunted house is open from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. every Friday and Saturday in October with the exception of Halloween, Oct. 31, when it will close at 10 p.m. Attendees can purchase tickets ahead on the Barn of Terror website.
