A huge shout out to Kirk Kirkpatrick for inspiring this post today.  Yesterday afternoon, he shared a photo of a button from the annual JC's Haunted House here in Owensboro.  Do you all remember those?  When I was a kid, I both loved and dreaded going.

I have no clue how old I was when I first went into a JC's Haunted House, but I was so scared and scarred by the experience, I can still remember two specific scenes from it.  In one of the scenes, there was a staged car wreck (it may have involved a Volkswagon Bug).  I remember seeing the headlights and smoke (fog) rolling out of it, the horn blaring and some awful clown-thing running out of the wreckage.  Translation.  TERRIFYING and yet another reason why I still loathe clowns.

And, I distinctly remember walking into a corridor and there was a gigantic spider sitting up near the ceiling. As we stared at it, the thing leaped down right in front of us.  It scared the holy crap out of me.

Well, Kirk's post conjured tons of memories from locals who either went to the JC's Haunted Houses or worked in them.

Karen Glenn: I remember being SO impressed with the costumes and talking with my friends about if they were Hollywood quality. Although, quite honestly, I gotta say, I prob didn't really see alot, due to squeezing my eyes shut and screaming!

Shirlene McLimore: Scared the living daylights out of me.

Tammy Barnett: Those were so much fun!

Kelly Clark Arnold: Those were the best!  Wish this town still had those.

Barry Dennis: I was a monster in 78-79.

Dan Lanham: Nothing is more fun than scaring a group of teenagers.  Man they can scream!

Donald Nall: My children had to go and got well scared. Need to bring it back.

As terrified and traumatized by them, I agree with Mr. Nall.  I think we should bring them back.  Owensboro hasn't had a quality haunted house for years and years and you could always count on a fun and horrific experience with the JC's.

Do you remember the JC's Haunted House?

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