Boy Scouts Haunt Lansing

: By Rick Vaughan; Around Town; | Nov 2, 2006 |

This past weekend the Lansing Community Center was bustling with activity as the Troop 48 Boy Scouts held their annual Haunted House on Saturday evening.

Each year the scouts in Lansing plan for the Haunted House during their troop meetings in October. Everyone gets to contribute ideas for what they would like to see in the Haunted House. After selecting what they want to include in the current year’s event, the boys volunteer for parts in the various scenes or to act as tour guides.

This year the scenes included a wizard, an ape trying to escape from behind bars, the Three Tenors singing - just their heads, that is, a deranged dentist wielding a cordless drill on his patient, a swamp with only a rickety bridge with a very sticky handrail to get across, a reappearance of our spooky Theremin player, a ninja and pirate, and an insane hard rocker torturing a music fan with his music. Frankenstein appeared to be relaxing during the entire evening, even as ghosts and skeletons were flying about, startling visitors.

The activity gives the boys responsibility for planning and carrying out a program that the whole community can enjoy.

The program included snacks and activities downstairs for younger kids to enjoy, in case they didn’t feel brave enough to go through the Haunted House. Many younger visitors came dressed in their own costumes and enjoyed the crafts, video, and coloring projects that were provided. A black “witch’s brew”, cookies, candies, pretzels, cider, and donuts awaited the visitors as they emerged from the haunted house.

Parents pitched in to help the boys start setting up on Friday evening, finishing up on Saturday afternoon. Makeup and costuming started around 5pm and everybody was in place by 6pm.

Amazingly, after three hours of performance, and in spite of everyone being tired, the whole Haunted House was disassembled, the Community Center was cleaned up, and tables were set up for the Lions Club Pancake Breakfast, which was to be held on Sunday morning. All of this was accomplished in a little over an hour.