Visitors to the Tompkins’ house off Brittany Lane in south Effingham can expect to have a frightfully good time this evening.

Keith and Martie Tompkins are turning their Huntington Station subdivision into a house of horrors again tonight and while admission is free to their haunted house, they are asking for donations of canned goods to alleviate the need for food at the Food Outreach Co-op of Effingham (FORCE).

“Every year, we say we need to tie it into something,” Martie Tompkins said.

They have been putting together their haunted house every year since moving to Effingham County from Mobile, Ala., eight years ago. They start putting together their plans for the upcoming Halloween as soon as the current Halloween has expired.

“It’s just the two of us,” Martie said.

Keith even spent his two weeks of vacation putting everything together, she said.

“We usually try to start putting everything out in the yard by the first of October,” Martie said.

The haunted house only runs one night — they’ll go from 7-10 p.m. this evening, though young children may wish to try to go from 5-6 — and they estimate they had 350 visitors last Halloween.

“It’s kind of word-of-mouth,” Martie said. “Hopefully, it being on a weekend (night), it’ll be an even better turnout.”
They like starting at 7 because, as Martie explained, “Darkness is our friend.”

Starting from their driveway and garage, the Tompkinses have put together nine different rooms — scare areas — throughout their house, all with a theme. They include the mad science lab, which is designed to be “more funny than scary,” Martie said, so the little ones can say they went into the haunted house if they don’t want to go further. From there, it’s the Chop Shop, the dot room, Dead Donna’s Playroom, Dungeon Room 1 and 2, Dead Man’s Walk, the Tunnel of Fear and the Undead Cemetery.

“It gets a little bit scarier as you go through each room,” Martie said.

They also have volunteers ready to jump out and scare haunted housegoers, though they always can use more and volunteers can be hard to come by for “home haunters,” as the Tompkinses are known for setting up a haunted house in their own residence.

Martie Tompkins hopes the partnership with FORCE will grow, bringing in more visitors and more help for local food pantries.

“If we go ahead and set it up, it may get better and better each time,” she said.