BETHLEHEM, Pa. - In a cul-de-sac in Bethlehem Township, one family is getting ready to welcome thousands of visitors this spooky season.
Members of the Misko family are putting the finishing touches on their haunted garage at 3817 Timothy Lane, and it's got a sinister theme to celebrate the scariest weekend of the year: Zombies Take Over the Hospital.
It comes as three other free attractions known to Lehigh Valley residents announced they won't be open this year for Halloween.
It makes the building of the Misko's haunt — a beloved community tradition celebrating its 25th year — a little more special.
The family says the haunted garage, with a different theme every season, is eagerly anticipated by fans of all ages. Locals count on it being held each October, and out-of-state visitors are also known to drop by.
"She just started doing it for all the kids in the neighborhood," said Rich Vogel of his aunt, Nancy Misko. "And then, just a couple of years ago, I decided that we really wanted to kind of get more people to come to it. And so it's a whole family thing now. It's got to be at least 12 of us actually out here doing it."
Rich Vogel is affectionally known as the "operations manager" of the haunted garage, but he's got plenty of helping hands. His two children, Tyler and Kaylee, help with the theme, design and construction as the attraction takes shape.
"It takes us an hour to get here (from New Jersey), and we were driving by St. Luke's Hospital and that gave me the idea (for the theme)" said Tyler Vogel.
The framing inside the garage is assembled with 4x4s, with the lumber anchored in concrete inside of buckets. The walls are made of plastic sheeting for easy teardown, but inside is a truly spooktacular and fully immersive environment.
The setup includes animatronics, projectors, hospital equipment, blood bags and family scare-actors ready to fright.
"My nephew does it, my brother, my son-in-law... and then we have like five other family members that dress to the nines and go in and we have like little cubbies, they can hide in. And they really do scare the heck out of people," Misko said.
The haunted garage will run from Oct. 28-30 and will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. each night, rain or shine. A hospital "waiting room" assembled over the driveway will keep visitors shielded from any inclement weather.
"We'll have some zombies in there too," Misko teased. "And then we're going to wait until your eyes adjust to that nice bright light, and then we're going to shut the lights off."
Learn more by checking out the Facebook event. More than 1,500 people have responded.
Big changes in Bethlehem
At the corner of North Blvd and Lafayette Avenue on Bethlehem's east side, "Kaiser's House of Horrors" typically welcomes thousands of visitors every October.
This year, however, the property will be dark as the family mourns the passing of their matriarch, Janet Kaiser.
Janet's daughter, Jennifer, confirmed the news earlier this week.
Not far away, the popular "Nightmare on Kemmerer Street" (at 2037 Kemmerer) has spooked its last visitor, homeowner Jared Bilsak confirmed — though he's certainly not done with Halloween.
Bilsak just helped open Philadelphia's newest haunted house, Lincoln Mill. The Manayunk-based attraction is set inside a historic textile mill built in 1860 and has an incredibly creepy and detailed backstory to lure in visitors.
"This past weekend was our opening weekend," Bilsak said in a phone call on Tuesday. "We have 60 staff members, including 40 scare actors. We’ve been hiring some top talent in the region.
"What’s unique is that it pulled inspiration from 'Nightmare on Kemmerer.' I’m very-story driven. Everything I do tells a story and takes guests on a journey. We do scare people but the story part is very important as well."
Bilsak sadly confirmed that "Nightmare on Kemmerer" has ended its run in Bethlehem after three years, but another local haunt known as "Elmhurst Manor" (637 Elmhurst Ave, Bethlehem) will integrate some things visitors were familiar with.
"I don’t anticipate 'Nightmare' coming back," Bilsak said. "I think there I had about 1,100 to 1,200 visitors a season. At Lincoln Mill we're anticipating 35,000. Brian and I own the company and I have 55 people underneath me and it’s too much of a time commitment to move forward with my home haunt."
Bilsak said visitors to Lincoln Mill will get more than a haunted house experience.
"While guests are waiting in line we have a giant 30-foot projection screen and we've been working with a videography team. We have a 30-minute movie before guests go in. It’s very cinematic and it really is kind of setting the tone before everyone goes inside," Bilsak said.
There are breweries and food trucks on site and the business plan has also expanded well beyond the season. There will be a Christmas Haunt, Valentine’s Day weekend haunt, escape rooms and more.
Visit lincolnmillhaunt.com for more information.
What about other free local haunts?
Bethlehem may be known as the "Christmas City" but residents clearly have an affinity for fright.
Unfortunately, the "Haunt on Dale Lane" is also on hiatus this year (1524 Dale Lane) as owner Jayson Sigley looks to move to the Forks Township area and have his display up and running again next season.
Sigley is big into the local haunt scene and also urged folks who would normally visit his location to check out Elmhurst Manor.
Owner Tony Cappellano said the display in front of the home is open now and runs until Halloween. The actual walk through is Oct. 28-29 and will raise money for two locations.
"We’re going to have two charities — Lehigh Valley Children's Hospital and Battle Borne, which helps a lot of veterans. We’re going to have a QR code to accept digital contributions and on-site we’ll also have a box where people can leave tips for the haunt. But the majority of it will be sent to these two charities," Cappellano said.
And on Allentown's east side, be on the lookout for a neighborhood attraction on N Irving Street (across from Andre Reed Park).
The D'Amore family is constructing a haunted mausoleum and maze for visitors to walk through.
"Last year a friend of ours sold us his props because he retired and was moving out of state, and so we bought them for a really good price and set them up," said Evette D'Amore. "It was a little rough with the weather because it kept knocking everything down. I’ve already started putting up framework to put everything in place so it won’t fall."
D'Amore said there will be a mausoleum front and then the maze to walk through. It will go around the side of the house into the backyard.
"We’ll all be dressed up inside scaring people. We’ve got animatronics, a smoke machine and strobe lights. Last year we scared the crap out of people," D'Amore said, laughing.
"We also had some smaller kids that didn’t want to be scared but still wanted to see what was inside. So we’d turn off the noisy stuff and tone it down for them so they could walk through and see."
The mausoleum and maze is only open on Trick or Treat night (Oct. 28) on Friday, Oct. 28. It will open around sunset.
