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Community Sets Up 'Crazy' Haunted House In Home Set To Be Demolished

By Shawn Chitnis

BOW MAR, Colo. (CBS4) – Neighbors in the town of Bow Mar have taken over a house weeks before it is demolished and turned it into a Zombie Mansion in time for Halloween so they can collect donations for a charity building schools in Haiti.

"We love bringing people outside the neighborhood in to enjoy this house and the community," said Tim Dailey, one of the parents that organized the project.

haunted house
(credit: CBS)

Bow Mar dates back to the 1950s as its own small town in Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties, and neighbors have hosted a haunted house there since 1999. One neighbor started the tradition with just one room in a house and then others joined in and expanded the size over the years.

Dailey and two other parents in the town, Jesse Schumacher and Mike Fox, have taken the lead for a second year. This Halloween there are 30 children from the neighborhood acting as different characters within the haunted house.

haunted house
(credit: CBS)

"In this project all of our kids have been instrumental in making this house as good as it is," said Schumacher.

A neighbor offered up a home they plan to tear down in November as the site for this year's haunted house. Parents say this is unlike anything they've put together before for the holiday.

"We've had full reign of the full home to make it ours," Schumacher explained. "To make it as crazy as possible."

"We can just do whatever we wanted to do," Fox added.

These three dads decided to take full advantage of the unique opportunity they were given, granting some of the more gruesome requests from their children.

"A couple of kids wanted there to be a zombie gut-eating scene," said Dailey. "So they're definitely going to get that."

A popular trend among haunted houses and Halloween parties across the country comes from the recently released film "IT," and the Zombie Mansion did not shy away from it.

haunted house
(credit: CBS)

"Of course this year's theme to scare anybody are crazy clowns," said Schumacher.

The Road to Hope is a charity close to many in the neighborhood with members of the town involved in the nonprofit's effort to build more schools in Haiti and help children there get an education. All donations given to the house will go to their work.

LINK: theroadtohope.org

Neighbors got to experience all the hard work their town put into the home on Saturday and now the public is invited to see it for themselves on Halloween night. They will welcome guests free of charge from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday. The Zombie Mansion is located on 4600 Bow Mar Drive.

"This is a haunted house, this unique situation, that rivals any other haunted house in the city," said Fox.

Shawn Chitnis reports for CBS4 News at 10 on weekends and CBS4 News at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. throughout the week. Email him story ideas at smchitnis@cbs.com and connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.

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