Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
“It has four scenes and it is packed from start to finish with amazing detail, character(s) and scares,” David Whiller said. “It’s roughly based off of, ”House of 1000 Corpses.””
When guests enter the 875-square-foot garage, they will start in a cabin-esque living room that’s very dirty. They will then walk through a closet that leads into a hallway where they will find the dirtiest bathroom they’ve probably ever seen. The haunt will finish in a chop shop/mud room.
There will be actors.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The brothers started designing and planning the home haunt in October 2024. Building started in February and they’ve worked on it six to seven hours a day, four or five days a week.
“It takes a lot of money, that’s for sure, and obviously a lot of planning,” David Whiller said. “We had to measure out the whole garage to get a design and layout laid out and then kind of build and think about what we wanted it to look like from there.”
Daniel Whiller described it as a “passion project.”
“We both have our own homes now,” Daniel Whiller said. “This is a way we can still have a project we work on that’s me and him together.”
The brothers graduated from Miamisburg High School in 2020. During the day, they work in landscaping and at night, they work in security.
They recalled trick-or-treating and watching horror movies as kids.
Their first job in the haunt industry was at Slash Moraine at Wax Park. They also worked at the Springboro Haunted Hayride, Brimstone Haunt and Haunted Hoochie.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
As scare actors, they most recently were the “chainsaw hillbillies” at Brimstone Haunt’s hayride.
Last year, they stepped away from acting and started building props for haunted attractions. They’ve build static props for graveyard scenes, pillars for indoor mausoleum scenes and a lot of tombstones.
Everything in their haunt has been hand built. Most of the practical props have come from thrift stores.
“As soon as we’re done this year, we’re going to start planning out the expansion for next year’s haunted house, which will lead to the back of the house,” David Whiller said.
They’re hoping to start construction in the next two months and to keep expanding as long as the city allows.
Eventually, they hope to get a building where they can operate a haunted attraction.
The brothers wanted to start a home haunt to create a memorable experience for their community.
“If we can just get people here and they can come and say, ”Wow, that was a great time." That’s really it. That’s really what makes it all worth it," David Whiller said.
MORE DETAILS
Those under the age of 13 planning to attend the home haunt should be accompanied by an adult.
For more information, visit the home haunt’s Facebook event page.
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