The Wayne Ave. Haunted Butcher House
Where: 508 Wayne Ave., Dayton
When: 7 p.m. to midnight Thursdays through Saturdays, and 7-11 p.m. Sundays through October
Cost: $12 adults, $8 children 12 and younger
More info: (937) 848-1134 or www.daytonbutcherhouse.com
Ron Waker has assisted people with a few different haunted features over the years, including a spooky hay ride and ghoul-infested train depot, but he’s always wanted to start his own house of horror. That dream became a reality when he recently started telling Bob Melton about his idea of reimagining one of his underutilized properties on Wayne Avenue.
“I talked about doing this years ago,” Waker said. “I’ve owned this building we’re doing it in for seven or eight years. I own several businesses so I knew I needed other people’s support to even think about doing it. I had threatened to do it and then I finally crossed paths with Bobby.
“I got to talking to him and told him one of these days I might have a haunted house and he got all excited about it,” Waker continued. “He wanted to come on board and help do it. I think he’s the guy I’ve been looking for so we went ahead and got it underway.”
After months of planning and work, Waker, Melton and their crew are ready to open their feature at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. The Wayne Ave. Haunted Butcher House, located at, 508 Wayne Ave., will run 7 p.m. to midnight Thursdays through Saturdays, and 7-11 p.m. Sundays through October. Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for children 12 and younger.
“The building has basically been used as storage,” Waker said. “I own tons of rental properties and I’m basically storing materials in there. The top two floors were apartments and they’re kind of dysfunctional with like shared baths in the hallway. They were in total disrepair. It was actually already pretty well decorated for a haunted house if you ask me.”
While there are plenty of Halloween-themed features in the area this season, the Haunted Butcher House is an ongoing attraction downtown and dedicated to an old school approach.
“It’s going to be pretty good,” Waker said. “There are some good attractions in there. A lot of haunted houses have gone to animatronics or whatever but we’re going to have live actors. There’s some stuff in there that other haunted houses probably won’t have. It’s going to be scary.
“This year we’re only doing it in the second story but there are 22 rooms of terror,” he added. “It’s going to be cool. If we have a good turnout this year we’ll probably expand it into the rest of the building next year.”
Contact contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.
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