DAVENPORT, Fla. – One Davenport couple has been building haunted houses from scratch for years, bringing the community together for some fear and fellowship.
“Near the entrance of the haunted house, we have an emergency exit. Some people wait in line and are too scared when they get to the entrance and leave before walking through the front door,” Carlos Silva said.
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It’s the house on the corner of Therese Street and Lake Davenport Boulevard that everyone’s been talking about.
“I can hear everyone screaming and running when we’re open,” Silva said.
Homeowners Silva and Brian Nuse are inviting neighbors and visitors to experience the Lairs of Fear haunted attraction.
They’ve been creating the haunted house for five years now.
“I love Halloween. That’s my favorite holiday. Five years ago we set up a little walk through in front of our home in Apopka and our neighbors loved it,” Silva said. “From then on, we started improving every year, putting in more money, buying animatronics and then people started getting to know us better and it gets bigger and bigger every year. Last year we had over 700 people go through our haunted house.”
Silva and Nuse now live in their new home in Davenport, but continue the frightening tradition, opening a haunted house.
The attraction took about a month to put together, all while working full-time jobs.
“It’s a lot of work. Working on the structures itself takes the longest time,” Silva said. “Days and nights of working and no sleep.”
Spending thousands of dollars on animatronics, speakers to bring in the spooky sounds, smoke and light machines. Every year collecting more items to grow the attraction.
There are seven lairs in the haunted house including the Devil’s Den, Demented Manor, Garden of Souls and Strawmen Forest.
The attraction is immersive with a trail that appears to go on and on. Of course, there are plenty of surprises around every corner. The couple hiring scare actors that are staged throughout the haunted house.
The Lairs of Fear haunted house is free and open to the public attracting people from all over Central Florida.
Silva and Nuse said it’s all about bringing the community together.
“Every year we meet more neighbors and the families always thank us and say they had a great time. It’s just a rewarding feeling,” Silva said. “It’s going to be a scary fun moment. We tried to make it fun and scary for every age.”
“It’s cool that people get to know us this way. Just watching people have fun and talking with people. That’s what makes it worth it,” Nuse sasid.
The Lairs of Fear haunted house, located at 315 Therese St. in Davenport, will be open Friday through Halloween. The line cuts off at 10:30 p.m.
Reservations are not required, but you can let Silva and Nuse know you’re attending by making a reservation HERE. You can also visit the Lairs of Fear Facebook page for more information.
While the attraction is free, the creators are accepting donations to help maintain the haunted house and purchase more items for the next year. Yes, they do plan on continuing the haunted house tradition for years to come.
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