Nanty Glo haunted house raising money for gathering place

CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — With any haunted house you need a bit of mystery. Esther’s Haunted House in Nanty Glo has many horrors you may come to expect but it all ends with raising funds for a good cause.

It’s probably one of the last places you’d expect to find a scary situation, but this once Nanty Glo Church is now a haunted house where all must enter at their own risk.

Derek Laney, who bought the church in June did so in hopes of creating a place for people of all ages to come, enjoy and hang out. He has no business background, but he has a vision.

“I’m building what I want and hoping other people want it too,” Laney said.

In addition to games and hosting bands, one of Laney’s goals is to also build a diner and he is looking to the community to help.

“I would love to see an arcade and have like a diner and stuff in my local community,” He said. “So if one person thinks it then other people have to think it too then.”

As for the haunted house, that was his aunt’s idea to help raise money in hopes of getting Laney that much closer to making his dream a reality.

“She goes, ‘I want to have a haunted house. Let’s have a haunted house in here and we’ll help raise money for it,’” Laney said.

Visitors are invited to get their scare on all weekend at Esther’s Haunted House

Friday & Saturday: 6:30 to 11 p.m.
Sunday: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Tuesday (Halloween): 6 to 10 p.m.

They are also doing a scaredy cat version on Sunday from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. There will be a magic show at 1 p.m. with arts and crafts.

Here is a look inside the haunted house, featuring some special effects makeup by Breana Moses who is one of the volunteers. You can find her sitting in a room where there are creepy dolls.

Laney hopes to have his business fully up and running within the next year.

They’re also planning to have a Christmas event where people can come take pictures with Santa.

Reach out to Maggie Smolka if you know someone or an organization that’s making it matter in the community. You can email msmolka@wtajtv.com or message her on Facebook.