Family creates horror every year with a self-built haunted house in Miami Township

MIAMI TOWNSHIP, Ohio – For 65 years, members of the Heile family have created their own haunted house, open only on Halloween night.

“We love Halloween – it’s in our genetics, it’s in our Grandma Heile genes,” John Heimele said.

The family told WCPO that their grandmother, Mary Heile, started building Halloween dummies in 1959 before opening the haunted house she runs today.

Cousins ​​Chris, Scott, John Heile and dozens of family members and friends bring their annual tradition to life on October 31st each year.

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Chris Heile's house in Miami Township is where they build their haunted house and scare the neighbors. The family builds sets, decides on new ideas and even acts out each story.

“All the grandchildren will spend time developing ideas,” Chris Heile said.

This work has become a passion project, created to give their neighbors a little more vacation.

“We never asked for a dime from the beginning, it was all for everyone’s enjoyment,” Scott Heile said.

This year's haunted house focuses on one of the most famous scary stories in history: Frankenstein.

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When the guests found out they were trapped in a supermarket, they were led into a dark room. The journey resulted in the visitors remaining locked in a refrigerator until they found a way out of the darkness.

After slowly moving through a gloomy swamp, the guests faced Dr. Facing Frankenstein and his monster.

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Once guests have survived their harrowing encounter with the reanimated monster, they can leave the haunted house.

It's a Halloween tradition the family hopes to carry on for decades, just as their grandmother had hoped.