Chiller Haunted House

As a child, Chiller Haunted House creator Jim Coon, always loved the scary dark rides that lined the midway of the New York State Fair… at least from the outside. “I would never go in,” Coon says, “but I was always fascinated with the hand painted panels depicting ghosts and monsters.”

Coon has always had a penchant for “scary stuff”.

“I would spend Saturday afternoons at my grandparents house and at 1:00 sharp the TV would get turned over to Monster Movie Matinee.”

Coon would spend his Saturdays watching the old black and white horror movies. Giant insects, space aliens and Vincent Price were regular companions on winter afternoons.

“I blame my parents for my love of horror movies.” Coon states. One of his earliest childhood memories was staying up late on Saturday nights to watch Chiller Theater. “I remember so many of those movies scared me as a child but I just kept coming back for more.”

His love of all things scary, though, ended outside the haunted houses and dark rides. “I would never go in.” he says. ” When I was little my dad took me to a haunted house and a man in a pumpkin mask jumped out and started yelling at me, WHO TOOK MY PUMPKINS! DID YOU TAKE MY PUMPKINS? That was it for me. I cried the rest of the way through. I later found out the Pumpkin Man was a neighbor. Whether he felt any remorse over making a 4 year old cry I don’t know.” 

At 16 Coon worked his first haunted house at the Cortland Fairgrounds. “I was a werewolf” he says” and I was in a cage and as people would turn the corner I would lunge at them and howl. I knew then I enjoyed being on that side of the scare.”

That same year, Coon with the help of his Dad created his first haunted house in the family garage and what started as Davey’s Dungeon became The Chiller Haunted House now in it’s 43rd year. The haunt has moved over the years starting on Lamont Drive to Madison Street. Then onto the Burch Building in Suggett Park in Cortland and then to The Center for the Arts of Homer. In 2023 the haunt moved back to Madison Street.

“I’m 58 now and though I still enjoy creating and building the haunt…well, I’m not as young as I used to be.” Coon says with a smile.

The haunt began as a place for neighborhood kids to come to and get a quick scare along with their candy but it’s legacy has become more than that.

“I ran into a friend’s younger brother the other day and he told me how he remembers going through the haunt and how so many of the Lamont Circle kids remember Halloween nights because of  the little free haunted house my family put on every year. He told me how special it was and to hear that is what makes doing the haunt all worth it. It keeps me pushing year after year and hopefully I can make it to 50 years.”

If you would like a little scare yourself, The Chiller Haunted House will be open this year October 30th from 7:00pm – 9:00pm for a non-scary/low scare tour. Only animatronics and limited live actors on this night. Then on Halloween night, October 31 from 6:00pm – 10:00pm the Haunt opens with a full compliment of ghosts and ghouls for hair raising tours through “The House of Nightmares” which is this year’s theme. Admission is free but donations are accepted.