FALL EVENT
Highway 11 Halls of Horror is ready to open their doors starting Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. to scare and spook those who are looking for a Halloween thrill in Jones County.
The former Bradley-Wayside School is located at 1035 Highway 11 in Gray next to the animal shelter.
Dixie Curtis, the designer of the haunted school, said opening night is Sept. 30, and they will run the haunted school every Friday and Saturday night through October. She said the week of Halloween the haunted school will be open Friday through Monday. She said tickets are $20, and they can be purchased ahead of time by visiting hwy11hallsofhorror. ticketleap.com/hwy11hallsofhorror or they can be purchased on arrival.
“We’ve done a lot of work here, and there have been about seven consecutive people who have totally built the haunted school,” she said. “We’ve had a good many volunteers who have been in and out who we are thankful for. We are to the point where we are ready to open Hwy 11 Halls of Horror, and we are excited.”
She said they wanted to bring the haunted school to Jones County, because it brings something new to the area. She said it’s the perfect location for a place such as a haunted house or haunted school.
“Having a haunted school here just seemed to fit. We’ve worked on this from April until now, and it’s still a work in progress. It will forever be a work in progress. That’s the goal, to make it bigger and better each year,” Curtis said.
The designer said they are raising money through Hwy 11 Halls of Horror for the Jones County Volunteer Fire Department for station 5 and the Georgia National Guard. She said people should come out to support them and to have fun.
Curtis said the theme is a haunted school, where a teacher went a bit mad and ran the faculty off. She said one teacher stuck around, and if people want to hear the rest of the story, they’ll have to tour the school.
She said she just decided to create the haunted school one day, because she’s always liked Halloween. She said Halloween has always been fun. She said the haunted school is 100% handicap accessible, and it’s for all ages and all scare levels.
“All ages, even children, need something to do. We wanted this to be something for the entire community, so we are offering a chicken pass. It will be a flashlight, which is yours to keep. It is $5 extra. As you go through, you can turn the flashlight on and the monsters will freeze and go on somewhere else,” the designer said.
Curtis said they have about 30 to 35 performers for October, but she said they can always use more participants. She said they need back up performers in case something happens to some of the performers, and they have to take a night off.
She said she is looking forward to people in the community coming out to support Hwy 11 Halls of Horror and those they are supporting through the haunted school. She said she hopes everyone enjoys their time out at the school when they visit.
“We have a variety of scary actors, from clowns, to butchers, to witches, to scarecrows, to vampires, and more,” Curtis said. “People won’t know what to expect. If people in Jones County like a thrill or Halloween, they should come out.”
