A bloodied Jeff Cooke, 19,
was the doorman on
Halloween night, coaxing
young trick or treaters into
a specially-made haunted
house on Keewatin Ave.
was the doorman on
Halloween night, coaxing
young trick or treaters into
a specially-made haunted
house on Keewatin Ave.
Nightmare on Keewatin Ave.
- North Toronto teens turn house into haunted treat for kids
By: Kris Scheuer
- North Toronto teens turn house into haunted treat for kids
By: Kris Scheuer
Perhaps you remember the one house in the neighbourhood that went all out at
Halloween where kids were both terrified to go into, but drawn to despite their
fears.
In the heart of North Toronto, 258 Keewatin Ave. was such a place on Oct. 31 for
the hundreds of kids who dared to enter.
This particular haunted house is the brainchild of two teens, 18-year-old Will
Sturtridge and 18-year-old Jeff Cooke whose families live on the street.
"Me and Will we created it back in 1997 and have been doing it every year since
(except 1998)," explains Cooke.
They use his parents’ backyard to lay out the scene and enlist friends and family
to dress up and play the part of characters in their plot, which they plan out months
in advance.
Rebecca Hourston played a little girl playing with her doll in front of a "dead
body," Cooke’s sister Joanna was the lost old woman in the room of mirrors
complete with a strobe light. The entire backyard was a graveyard complete with a
fog machine, tombstones and eerie lighting. There were plenty of opportunities for
gory zombies Nick Bartram and Ellis Martin to jump out from behind trees.
Miranda emerged from a well, while Liz Blakley who did the bloody make-up also
played the part of a bride who killed her husband, whose body hung from a tree.
Erin Cassells sat in an upright coffin. Jeff Cooke was in orange prison getup and
greeted kids and tried to entice them to enter.
While no violence was played out in front of kids’ eyes, the special effects were in
place and children have active imaginations. One little girl, after leaving the scene,
immediately broke down crying in her father’s arms, while another two girls went
through half a dozen times. Some youngsters refused to find out what awaited
them behind the backdoor.
"I told my mom only four more years (at her place) and then I will trash my own
house," Cooke says with a laugh. "I am sometimes surprised at how scared they
(kids) get. They have bigger imaginations than I thought."
He says last year, they saw 150 kids and that doubled this year. That is, in part,
because Cooke created a website to build awareness called: The Keewatin
Horror.
On the site, you can read about what they did in previous years and view pictures.
"We put bios so people knew what we looked like (without stage makeup) . . . We
put signs up with just the website.
"When I have my own house we will do it inside (as well) even if we have to take
all the furniture out to do it. We get a lot of our ideas from movies. Other than that
Will and I are twisted, so we brainstorm . . . We are not crazy, we just have a
bunch of crazy ideas."
Halloween where kids were both terrified to go into, but drawn to despite their
fears.
In the heart of North Toronto, 258 Keewatin Ave. was such a place on Oct. 31 for
the hundreds of kids who dared to enter.
This particular haunted house is the brainchild of two teens, 18-year-old Will
Sturtridge and 18-year-old Jeff Cooke whose families live on the street.
"Me and Will we created it back in 1997 and have been doing it every year since
(except 1998)," explains Cooke.
They use his parents’ backyard to lay out the scene and enlist friends and family
to dress up and play the part of characters in their plot, which they plan out months
in advance.
Rebecca Hourston played a little girl playing with her doll in front of a "dead
body," Cooke’s sister Joanna was the lost old woman in the room of mirrors
complete with a strobe light. The entire backyard was a graveyard complete with a
fog machine, tombstones and eerie lighting. There were plenty of opportunities for
gory zombies Nick Bartram and Ellis Martin to jump out from behind trees.
Miranda emerged from a well, while Liz Blakley who did the bloody make-up also
played the part of a bride who killed her husband, whose body hung from a tree.
Erin Cassells sat in an upright coffin. Jeff Cooke was in orange prison getup and
greeted kids and tried to entice them to enter.
While no violence was played out in front of kids’ eyes, the special effects were in
place and children have active imaginations. One little girl, after leaving the scene,
immediately broke down crying in her father’s arms, while another two girls went
through half a dozen times. Some youngsters refused to find out what awaited
them behind the backdoor.
"I told my mom only four more years (at her place) and then I will trash my own
house," Cooke says with a laugh. "I am sometimes surprised at how scared they
(kids) get. They have bigger imaginations than I thought."
He says last year, they saw 150 kids and that doubled this year. That is, in part,
because Cooke created a website to build awareness called: The Keewatin
Horror.
On the site, you can read about what they did in previous years and view pictures.
"We put bios so people knew what we looked like (without stage makeup) . . . We
put signs up with just the website.
"When I have my own house we will do it inside (as well) even if we have to take
all the furniture out to do it. We get a lot of our ideas from movies. Other than that
Will and I are twisted, so we brainstorm . . . We are not crazy, we just have a
bunch of crazy ideas."
