Family Brings Ghosts Every Year With Homemade Haunted House in Miami Township

MIAMI, Ohio. For 65 years, members of the Haile family have built their own haunted house, open only on Halloween night.

“We love Halloween—it’s in our genetics, in our genes from Grandma Haile,” John Haile said.

The family told WCPO that their grandmother, Mary Hale, began building Halloween mannequins in 1959 and then opened the haunted house they run today.

Cousins Chris, Scott, John Hale and dozens of family and friends carry out their annual tradition every October 31st.

Three of Haile's cousins talk to WCPO — Three of Haile’s cousins talk to WCPO

Chris Hale’s house in Miami Township is where they create their own haunted house and scare the neighbors. The family builds sets, chooses new ideas, and even acts out each story.

“All the grandchildren will spend time developing ideas,” Chris Hale said.

This work became a project created to give their neighbors some extra rest.

“We never charged a penny from the beginning, it was all just for everyone’s enjoyment,” Scott Hale said.

This year’s haunted house is themed around one of the most famous scary stories in history: Frankenstein.

Entrance to the Haile family haunted house.

The guests were taken to a dark room when they found themselves stuck in the store. The journey then left visitors trapped in a refrigerator until they found a way out of the darkness.

Slowly making their way through the muddy swamp, the guests found themselves face to face with Dr. Frankenstein and his monster.

Doctor Frankenstein and his monster — Haunted House visitors come face to face with Frankenstein’s monster

Once guests survive the harrowing encounter with the reanimated monster, they will be able to leave the haunted house.

It’s a Halloween tradition that the family has happily continued for decades, just as their grandmother hoped.

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