Planning to visit Ironton? Only the stout of heart should dare to travel through the Haunted Tunnel.

Those brave enough to challenge the horror-filled passage learn the tragic tale that cause the spirits of the past to haunt the visitors of the present.

It was a cold, rainy, fall night. A school bus filled with football players was navigating the narrow State Route 75 tunnel through the hillside. The driver never saw the lights until it was too late.

The bus collided with a fuel tanker, filling the tunnel with agonized screams. The gruesome scene was so horrendous that the tunnel was sealed for years, only to be opened later as a horror-filled spookfest.

OK, so the story is not true but it has made for great fiction every year since 1991 when the Ironton Lions transformed the 150-foot tunnel into a Halloween attraction and fund-raiser for the civic club's community projects.

More than 5,000 thrill-seekers make the journey each year. Are you brave enough?