Haunted attraction set up in Shelby County

ANNA — Volunteers spent about 45 minutes transforming into scary creatures — putting on makeup and masks and warming up to scare visitors for the opening night for Chainer’s Field of Screams Friday night at 16396 County Road 25A in Anna.

The event raises money toward the Shelby County Relay for Life team.

Owner Craig Pence and other volunteers have lost people due to cancer and found that scaring people could be a fun way to raise money for the cause.

It started when Pence’s grandfather had cancer. His dad and sister have also had cancer.

“I don’t know a single person who cancer has not touched,” Pence said. “Tonight is the first night we are going to show how much we’re going to fight back.”

The haunted field has been in other places but the last couple of years has operated from its Anna location and opens at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Pence’s children Raven and Jaden also take part in the festivities.

Jaden dressed in a clown outfit said scaring people was like playtime for him.

Pence said it can be an outlet for volunteers.

Nicholas Karper, who plays a butcher in a pig mask, has been a part of the effort for over four years and said scaring was a stress reliever.

“You can take all the drama, all the pent up anger, and you can actually throw it at somebody,” Karper said.

Pence said actors use everything and anything. He has built wooden structures and has added a blacksmith’s work station to the scenery. He uses decoys and lighting to draw attention away from the actors and said they have shortcuts through the haunted path to help with additional scaring.

Pence said it gives volunteers an opportunity to scare some of their classmates.

“Kids say they are afraid of the dark,” he said. “Truth be told, you are not afraid of the dark, you are afraid of what’s in the dark.”