Home haunt delivers curb a-squeal

Something creepy lurks at the dead end of Canterbury Court.

The underworld has taken over this dark corner of Hinsdale, disfiguring a lovely home into Massacre Manor. Tombstones, skeletons and giant spiders greet brave visitors looking to test their fear factor.

The haunted house is the brainchild of Leo Dean, a senior at Benet Academy who lives a normal life there with his family when it's not Halloween season. Leo explained that the concept was birthed, well, out of his birthday.

"I've got a Nov. 4 birthday, and 13 years ago we just started getting Spirit Halloween props and putting them in the garage for my birthday party," Leo said. "I got really into set design and building interactive sets. In the past two years I've really taken it seriously and made a full walk-through experience."

He spent much of spring and summer last year planning the layout and preparing props, renting a large tent to expand the space and enhance the level of spookiness. This year's edition was more about refining the ghastliness.

Leo led a tour through the frightening walk, which starts in the front yard and winds around the side of the house. Without divulging spoilers, sensory stimulation abounds with virtually every step as one awaits the unexpected. Leo's handiwork is prevalent, including wall panels he acquired at a haunted house industry convention and restyled for the right effect. He also enlisted friends to serve as scare actors along the way.

A simulated swamp appears ahead, shrouded in an eerie mist, and showcasing the teen's creativity.

"The fog machine pumps fog across the area, and the green laser reflects off it so it looks like rippling water," he said.

Not wanting to mingle with the swamp natives, the path advances to the backyard. Hooded figures in white masks are already there, looking like cast members of the most terrifying opera ever. The red lights projecting on them don't help. Hustle ahead to "Chainsaw Alley" flanked by corn stalks that limit visibility as to what may be lurking behind.

Leo, who dates his interest in haunted houses to middle school, said he delights in the interactive tension they engender.

"There's so much you can hide in the background, and you're only seeing so much of it," he said. "It's really putting people in the show rather than watching the show."

The show also serves a greater purpose, as donations by visitors go the The Lovey Project, the Dean family's philanthropic outreach to provide stuffed animals and other resources for children in need of stability and mental health support. Mom Jen Dean said her son helped inspire the charity as a child.

"It's based kind of on Leo because when he was little he always carried around a stuffed animal because he had a lot of anxiety," Jen said.

Today Leo is a master at making other anxious. The tour now heads inside to nearly pitch black surroundings, heightening the edginess. The frights come from both sudden happenings and the anticipation that something could happen.

"I don't have too many startle scares. I'd rather focus on developing a story," he related. "People really freak out because they don't know where to go, and it's kind of disorienting."

Leo's ability to transform perfectly good doors into peeling, rotting wood and a simple shower curtain into ghoulish decor confer a nightmarish quality. Milk jugs tied in plastic resemble body bags suspended from the ceiling.

"A lot of this is recycled material," he remarked of the budget-friendly yet authentic result. "I try to keep it interesting rather than your typical haunted house."

His favorite elements are the disfigured skeletons he created for gruesome effect using melted plastic. They serve as the perfect backdrop for survivors' selfies.

Leo learned the day before the opening earlier this month that he'd been accepted to the Savannah College of Art and Design to study themed attraction design. His application portfolio featured much of his Massacre Manor work. To generate more donations, Leo created customized gravestones for people to have for their own Halloween collection.

Younger brother Cole was a key haunt helper.

"It's been a really fun experience," Cole said. "Not everyone gets a haunted house in their backyard."

To commemorate the project, Leo had guests sign, appropriately enough, the lid of a crypt. It may be a little big to display in his dorm room next year, but the keepsake will help preserve his gratification.

"I like seeing the kind of wonder in some of the little kids when they go through this, and they want to keep going again and again," Leo said. "It makes me happy and reminds me of how I was when I was their age.

"I get to do what I love and still support a good cause."