Ironton’s favorite Halloween attraction, the Haunted Tunnel, reopens for screams on Saturday, Oct. 5.
The scary attraction has been scaring people for the better part of 25 years and serves as the Ironton Lions Club’s only fundraiser for its charitable activities.
“So we try to have a really good turnout every year,” said Lou Pyles, who has been a member of the Lions Club for over two decades. “We change the tunnel up so it is different for people and really give them a good scare. We want people to come out and have a good time.”
She said that it is scary enough that “we have had people faint. We have had people have ‘accidents,’ you know,” Pyles said. “It is a lot of fun for all the volunteers and helps usher in the Halloween season.”
The Ironton Lions Club has leased the tunnel across from the Ironton Hills center at the U.S. 52 and Ohio 93 intersection. It was used for road traffic as part of State Route 75 from 1924 until 1960 after the route for highway was moved and expanded into a four-lane road.
The story of the Haunted Tunnel is that sometime in the 1950s, a terrible accident befell the bus hauling a sports team and the bus crashed killing everyone on board and that to this very day, their spirits still haunt the tunnel.
Pyles said that there will be some new monsters this year and there is a rumor that the unfortunate bus driver may “make an appearance this year. He has been in the tunnel for a long time and his spirit is very restless and anxious. So, he decided to help out this year and we are grateful for that.”
Pyles wouldn’t say what other terrors lay in wait for those brave enough to enter the tunnel.
“We just want people to come and have a good time,” she said, adding that they get around 200 to 450 people on most nights. “We get people coming in from Athens and Columbus. It is a tradition for a lot of families.”
The Haunted Tunnel is open each Saturday through the end of the month and the cost of admission is $10. Hours of operation are 7:30-11 p.m.