PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The haunted house attraction known as spooky acres is made up of 3,500 square feet of fear.
For 28 years, owners Paige and Darren Barton have run the scare floor seasonally, but this year the doors almost didn't open due to a real-life medical scare. For years Darren Barton had built their haunted house from the ground up and then would break it down by the end of the season. Last fall, Barton says he randomly suffered from congestive heart failure.
"I felt it in my breathing and I guess this place pushed it a little bit more and my chest just felt like it was caving in," explains Barton.
Daren's wife Paige Barton says that was just the beginning. While in the hospital, Darren and Paige both got COVID. Doctors believe that led to Darren suffering a stroke that would later impair the left side of his body. Paige Barton says the experience was what nightmares were made of.
"It was terrifying to see the person that you love most in this world curl up into a ball, non-responsive," explains Paige.
The news chilled the bones of the all-volunteer cast of the haunted attraction. One of the attraction's veterans, Franny Godwin, says the love the cast has for the Bartons goes beyond haunted house walls.
"I lost my dad six years ago and Darren is like a father figure to me. He taught me how to build and how to break down these sets. It's something I've come to love and it's always why I come back every year. Because my dad loved Halloween," Godwin said.
The stroke cost Darren movement on his left side. He can walk some but will have to use a wheelchair. Without Darren to break down and build a new set, the owners thought business was over. Then over the summer, the volunteers came out of the shadows to help. The group says that they spent hours breaking down the old set and building a new one that's ready to receive new victims this week.
Some of the veteran volunteers say they plan on taking over this tradition after Paige and Darren are ready to close the curtain, believing that artificial blood is thicker than water.
"The relationship you build with kids like these is amazing. Throughout the years we've received Mother's Day and Father's Day messages from children that weren't yours but are yours in a way now," says Barton.
Spooky Acres opens Friday tickets can be bought at the door. The attraction is 100% wheelchair accessible. The owners say some of the proceeds go to the nonprofit, March of Dimes.
For more details about how you can give back and get a scare or two, click here.
