Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on October 31, 1985.
Halloween fright 1985
Dujmoviches transform garage into custom haunted house
By Elizabeth Cloyd
Staff writer
The garage at 732 Governor looks a lot like any other garage in South Haven.
Once inside, however, the differences are frighteningly apparent.
Inside the garage is the fifth haunted house members of the Dujmovich family have constructed. Randy, John and Scott Dujmovich and cousin Tony Dujmovich have made creating haunted houses an annual family affair.
This year’s edition features Frankenstein’s laboratory, Dracula in his coffin, an automated witch stirring a cauldron and a scene from The Exorcist, complete with Regan screeching and spinning her head around.
According to its creators, the haunted house is guaranteed to spook.
Randy, Tony and John Dujmovich made their first haunted house when they were in the sixth grade. The following year they also made a haunted house, but they took a break from scaring people until three years ago, when the haunted house became an annual family event.
To make the most of the limited garage space, the Dujmovich clan and their friends build an intricate maze with plywood, rails and cardboard to baffle visitors.
Constructing the haunted house took about a month.
The steps, turns and twists of the haunted house make visitors lose their sense of direction, making them more susceptible to the surprises the haunted house offers.
The Dujmoviches, and friends Jim Stewart, Brett Homann, Floyd Vestal and Jay Walker planned, built and staff the house. Members of the group take turns performing the different jobs in the house, from serving as haunted house, from serving as haunted house tour guides to donning masks and scaring people from under bridges and from behind windows in the house.
Randy Dujmovich said the group gets a lot of inspiration from horror movies, although an idea for the haunted house can strike at any time even while he’s at class at Purdue North Central.
“We’ll see something in a movie and try to adapt it to work in the haunted house,” he said.
“Sometimes we’ll be sitting there in school and get an idea and just start drawing.”
Although they charge admission for entry to the haunted house (50 cents for those 12 and under, 75 cents for those 12 and over) the haunted house has never made any money.
“We usually end up $50 or $75 in the hole,” Tony Dujmovich admitted. He said he and his crew continued to create the haunted houses because of popular demand.
“The public seems to like a lot and people were asking about it, so we did it again,” Ton said. “We just do it for fun.”
Randy Dujmovich could not predict how long they would continue to produce the haunted houses, but said they would probably continue.
“We’ll probably still be doing this when we’re 40.”
Brett Homann comes to life as Frankenstein at the Dujmovich Haunted House.
A ghoulish Dracula peers out from his coffin at visitors to the Dujmovich Haunted House in South Haven. Jim Stewart, in monster garb, is one of eight South Haven residents who staff the annual homemade haunted house.
An automated version of Regan, the waif possessed by the devil in The Exorcist, spins her head and screeches while Tony Dujmovich, in the werewolf mask, appears from behind her bed.
(V-M: Kathy Woodward)