This is the WFHB Local News for Thursday, October 31st, 2024.
Later in the program, we have a special Halloween Edition of the local news. You will hear reports from Bloomington’s Barn of Terror, a Halloween-themed Voices in the Street from Youth Radio and a holiday scam advisory from Better Beware.
Also coming up in the next half hour, WFHB Youth Radio Correspondent Nate Rushemeza brings you another edition of the Sports News Briefing.
But first, your local headlines:
WFHB News Correspondent Jasmine Wright visits the Barn of Terror – a haunted house located on North State Road 37 in Bloomington. Wright speaks with owner Jared Neal, Happy the Clown and attendees of the Barn of Terror.
All throughout the month of October, on Old State Road 37, the Barn of Terror opens to the public every Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. sharp.
The barn is owned by Jared Neal, who has been running the haunt for over a decade. In 2022, the Barn of Terror was ranked 6th for haunted houses in Indiana. As a scaredy cat myself, and someone who personally hates haunted houses, of course I decided to go.
I walked across the barn’s front yard. The smell of the concessions pizza mixed with grass and cold air reminded me of the many years I would spend Halloween walking around the campsites of Shakamak State Park or the backwoods of Terre Haute, where bonfires and Purge masks littered the ground. I smiled, the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
The first staff member I met was Happy the Clown. She has been working at the haunt for the last 6 years and said Neal had found her lurking alongside the road one night and asked her to join his crew. Throughout the years, Happy said her favorite age group to scare have been teenagers.
“Sometimes they pee themselves inside [the barn],” she said, “We’ve had people throw up because they’re so scared.”
While Happy stands by being the friendly face of the attraction, “I don’t scare anyone”, I watched her make children scream and adults who were too occupied with their phones finally look up and startle at her stare.
Even still, it’s always nice to see Happy the Clown. Her balloon animals attract everyone who comes to visit the haunt.
“What kind of balloon animals are you able to make?”, I asked.
“I can make anything that you put your mind to,” she answered.
“Can you make me a snake?” … snakes are my favorite animals.
Kinsley Stanley is another staff member who has been a part of the haunt for a long time.
“[I’ve been a part of the Barn of Terror] since I was about eight years old”, she said, “My family’s always been close with the owners here, so it’s been a good experience.”
Kinsley usually works the front of the barn, being the first to scare incoming guests and signaling to her costumed counterparts to get in their places.
I asked Kinsley if she is scared of haunted houses.
“You’re not scared at all?”, I asked.
I had been at the Barn of Terror for an hour and a half at this point. The later it got, the more people came to make their way through the attraction. Children were teasing a surgeon with half his body ripped open.
“Stop scaring us, okay?”, they said. He stared, not saying a word.
“You got that?”, the kids pleaded.
Two couples came running out of the end of the barn, screaming while a scarecrow with a chainsaw chased them through the yard. The boys started laughing and one picked his girl up, swinging her around and kissed her on the cheek.
Before I left, Neal let me interview one more staff member. He brought me around to the back of the barn, where it was pitch black.
A clown named JJ exited the attraction and came to speak with me. He has been working at the Barn of Terror for the last two years. Neal said he was responsible for most of the barn’s Tik Tok’s.
JJ the Clown had some unique interests.
“I like belly buttons”, he told me.
JJ also has some interesting relatives.
“Michael Myers is my cousin”, he said, “he brings me his belly button.”
JJ the Clown said he likes the deepness of belly buttons, “the innie, the outtie, the circumference”. He giggled at the thought.
Before I left the interview JJ asked me if he would see me in the haunt.
“Go through there so I can get you,” he said.
“Go through there”, he said again, “Are you scared?”
“No”, I answered, “I’ll go through!”
I found Jared Neal and told him thank you, I said goodbye to the really nice parking lady named Vicky, and then I headed to my car.
Baker’s Junction: A Haunted Train
South of Bloomington towards Lake Monroe, Baker’s Junction Haunted Train looms like an apparition from the past, drawing Halloween thrill-seekers year after year. Open every Friday and Saturday night through Halloween, Baker’s Junction offers a different experience to traditional haunted houses, with visitors traversing rail cars rather than hallways.
The site, located at 7898 S Fairfax Rd, looks like an 1800s ghost town, with old train cars, cabooses and antiques set around a castle-like building the owner and operator John Baker calls “The Time Castle.”
Baker, a 71-year-old disabled veteran who moves around in an electric wheelchair, began collecting railroad relics in 1976, after learning that Bloomington’s Monon Railroad Station was set for demolition. When local preservation groups showed no interest, he bought what he could and moved five train cars and three cabooses onto the property.
Since then, the property has expanded into a Halloween attraction featuring four haunted train cars and two outdoor mazes.
There are two different haunted trains to explore on the property. One is four cars and two cabooses long, offering adults the chance to explore dimly lit, antique-filled rail cars and get chased by actors in masks. Children have a safer, less scary haunted house, with glow-in-the-dark displays and prizes.
The attraction also features a concession stand offering hot dogs, chili, and apple dumplings.
At the heart of the site stands “The Time Castle”, built by Baker as a lasting family memorial. Inside, family names are etched on the walls. Baker plans to be buried there next to his wife.
Baker’s Junction faced legal trouble when county officials disapproved of the property’s unusual design, sparking a three-year court battle from 1995-98. Although the family ultimately won, financial strain led to mortgages and the sale of many beloved antiques.
The Baker family is again facing legal challenges, this time with land inheritance for the family’s home. Baker plans to write about all of the struggles and triumphs of Baker’s Junction Haunted Train that he hopes to publish before next year’s opening.
Voices in the Street. Photo: Chris Hack, 2019.
Up next, we have Voices in the Street – public opinion polls in the streets of Bloomington produced by WFHB’s Youth Radio. This month, the News Department and Youth Radio headed to the First Thursday festival at Indiana University – where we asked attendees questions about Halloween. We now turn to Voices in the Street on the WFHB Local News.
Now it’s time for Better Beware – your weekly consumer watchdog segment on the WFHB Local News. Today’s episode is titled Halloween Scams. Host and producer Richard Fish has more.
And finally, we have another edition of the Sports News Briefing with WFHB Youth Radio Correspondent Nate Rushemeza.
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s features were produced by Jasmine Wright, Elyse Perry, Jessie Grub, Nate Rushemeza, Noelle Herhusky-Schneider and Kade Young.
Richard Fish produces Better Beware.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
