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Scarevenia: Behind the Haunt

A local haunted attraction, Scarevania, was fueled by the passion of Ball State Alumni, Brian Blair. At Ball State he graduated with a fine arts degree in graphic design but always had an interest in art. As a kid, he was into horror movies and would create sketches and sculpt his own creations. 

"Back in high school I was even making you know monsters in my room and masks and stuff like that," Blair said. 

However, he never imagined he would be doing this for a living. Blair started his company, Pumpkin Pulp, 11 years ago selling original masks and props for haunts. In the same year he also formed his haunt, Scarevania.

"It's just the challenge for me that's what I like doing," he said. "Seeing things brought to life you know the idea brought to life is the big payoff and then when you see people go crazy about it and want it and everything it's really cool."

Blair said he tries to create things that have not been done before and "veer away from movies and hollywood type stuff and do something completely original."

The originality of his haunt, Scarevania, is one reason why participants continue to come back. 

Muncie Central High School student, Misha Moery was attracted to Scarevania because of her love for haunted houses, but she continues to come back because there's always new additions to the haunt. 

"It always has something different... so every time there's something different I just want to come back and see what it is," she said

Blair said they switch about 20 percent of the haunt every year at least, but this year they changed more to continue to keep the haunt interesting. 

A new addition is the greenhouse at the end of the haunt, where you will find Chandler Teal. He has acted at Scarevania for the past four years but was always drawn to the local haunt since he first came through as a kid. It left such an impression that he continues to come back and be a part of the haunt every season.

"I've just made so many friends here, and I'm thankful for this place," Teal said. 

This is the last weekend to visit Scarevania before it closes for the season. It runs from 8 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and is located at 1911 N. Granville Avenue in Muncie. For more information you can visit www.scarevania.com.