MASON, Mich. — By day, Shawhaven Farm is pumpkins, corn and kiddos.
"I just counted up, we had about 23 field trips this year," owner Tami Shaw said.
But once that sun goes down, the farm gets...spooky.
"I love Halloween, Doug loves Halloween," Tami said.
An old dairy farm that has been in the family for seven decades, this is the 17th year of their "haven of fear."
"The first year we had about 125 people," Tami said. "Now, we're close to 4,000 a year."
The Shaws have been putting in the work to keep up with demand. What was once a wagon-ride is now a haunted house with a runtime of about 20 to 25 minutes.
"I gave out six chicken pins last weekend—that are just pins saying, 'I chickened out of the haunted house,'" haunt worker Bob Szalankiewicz said.
"At least a third of it we change every year," Tami said. "We go to haunted house conventions, so we get ideas there."
Tami said she tries to go to at least two a year—one in St. Louis and the other in Chicago.
"My children that are older keep saying, 'Can't you take a break?' Tami laughed. "But we don't, because you have to come up with new stuff all the time."
Apart from escorting "chickens," out of the haunted house, Szalankiewicz has been scaring at the haunted house for nine years.
"I have a great time and just to watch some of these kids that go through here and work, and the ones that go through here and just—have a great time," Szalankiewicz said.
Their last day of the season is Oct. 30, but the last night for the haunted house in Oct. 29.
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