The new Haunted House in Whitesville, W.V., raised about $4,000 on its first two nights after opening. Photo by Turn This Town Around Whitesville.
By Tim Preston/The Daily Independent
FALLSBURG, KY – From an annual trip for eighth-graders to new uniforms for the high school’s softball and basketball teams, funding from the Fallsburg Fearplex pumps cash into the economy every Halloween season.
“We are 10 times as busy,” said Carol Perkins while working at the Fallsburg Country Store alongside Taylor Levering as Friday’s Fearplex crowds began to find their way to Fallsburg.
“We sell 50 pizzas every Friday and Saturday,” Levering said, noting they sell “maybe 10” on weekend nights with no nearby haunting.
“They get gas, cigarettes, pop … a lot of people come for hot coffee,” Perkins said, adding the zombies, ghouls and the rest of the gang from the fearplex are also big-time supporters of the grocery.
Levering and Perkins agreed the haunted house, as well as the added attractions not far down the road, bring in customers they would never otherwise meet.
“We get a lot of out-of-town people. We talked to four boys who said they drove five hours just to get here, but we didn’t ask where they started from,” Perkins said, citing visitors from Louisiana as well as a Russian lady from West Virginia who found Fallsburg purely for the haunting action in the formerly abandoned old house across the road.
“It was basically falling in when they got it,” Perkins said, recalling the history of the old white house that now serves as a starting point for those who appreciate a good scare.
Chuckling, the women at the country store also agreed they enjoy a bit of incidental business from people who can’t seem to find the haunted house.
“It’s right across the road, but a lot of people stop and ask where it’s at,” Levering said.
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