"Aaarrrgggggg," the piercing screams echoed across the hillside.

Ironton resident Shayla Perkins dashed out of the gaping mouth of the tunnel with a look on her young face that was somewhere between sheer terror and pure enjoyment.

Fittingly enough, it was Shayla's 13th birthday Friday and she got just what she wanted - a good scare. Short on breath that fear had stolen, the only thing that erased her smile was the faint sound of the chainsaw in the background - the object that helped inspire such terror.

Shayla and her friends were among the many brave souls who battled back their fears to visit the Ironton Lions' Haunted Tunnel at the intersection of U.S. 52 and State Route 93 Friday on its opening night.

"It is frightening," said Shayla, who visited the tunnel six times last year. "It gives you an adrenaline rush."

Then she went back for some more.

Each journey starts the same - in the past. Visitors learn of the tragic accident that occurred when a school bus collided with a fuel tanker. The gruesome scene was so grisly that the tunnel was sealed for years, only to be opened later as a ghoul-filled madhouse.

OK, so that part is not true but it makes for a good story.

For 6-year-old Mason Slagel, Friday was the first time that he journeyed into the darkness. But that doesn't mean he hadn't tried before.

"Mason has been trying to build up his courage. This is year three," said his father Rob. "Last year, we made it to the mouth of the tunnel and had to turn around."

So how did he feel after he narrowly escaped the eclectic crew of monsters?

"That was scary," he said with wide-eyed seriousness. "I freaked out."

Every year since the Lions began the project in 1991, more than 5,000 make the journey through the 150-foot tunnel that has been transformed into a winding maze of fright. Almost all of them come back out.

The tunnel includes a macabre collection of heartstoppers including a mad surgeon, an escaped gorilla, ghost -filled graveyard and plenty of scary staples.

More than 130 volunteers from Ohio University Southern and the community are helping make the event happen this year.

Phil Hand of Franklin Furnace, aka the convict, found time to talk between his doses of electrocution.

"Shoot, this is for the kids. It puts something back into the community," he said. "This is the good stuff."

Located in the former State Route 75 highway tunnel across from the Ironton Hills Shopping Center, the Haunted Tunnel opens at 7 p.m. every Friday and Saturday until Halloween. The terror resumes Oct. 15, 16, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30.

Admission costs $5 per person but for the Lions it is not about making a profit.

The proceeds go back into the community to fund a variety of projects the Lions support such as the City Welfare Mission, the eyeglass program and assistance to visually impaired Ohio University Southern students and much more.