Numurkah’s Tetley family gets involved in the Halloween house fundraiser each year.
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Many would see 666 punters through a door on an opening night as a bad omen.
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But would that seemingly ominous figure be seen more as a good luck charm if the door itself was designed to lead to terrifying dark themes?
Nathan Tetley and his family run a truly terrifying maze in Numurkah every year called Trengrove Terrors and they think it’s spookily poetic.
The harbingers of Halloween put so much effort into their set-up, opening times extend beyond a one-night-only affair on All Hallows’ Eve itself.
This year, the maze will open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, October 26 and 27, and Wednesday and Thursday, October 30 and 31 (Halloween’s traditional date).
The Numurkah CFA received a lump sum after Trengrove Terrors collected gold coin donations to support the brigade last year.
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The spooky space is brought to life with animatronics, eerie projections, flashing lights and atmospheric fog; many of the props 3D-printed and handmade by Mr Tetley and his hardworking Halloween crew.
But there are a couple of things that help truly set this Halloween house apart.
One, it’s full of live actors in dark-themed costumes with daunting make-up to match, who provide heart-stopping jump scares to those who sacrifice themselves outside “scaredy cat hour”.
“It’s open to anyone who enjoys a fright,” Mr Tetley said.
“But we have ‘scaredy cat hour’ where it’s very tame and timid for the young ones.”
Little ones can take their time walking through the maze between 6.30pm and 7.30pm each night without being shrouded in fog or fearful of a terrifying character appearing from it.
But once scaredy cat hour is over, look out.
Mr Tetley, who is a huge Tim Burton fan and has always loved Halloween, has been running the maze for seven years.
Fog machines, animatronics, projections, live jump scares — Trengrove Terrors has them all. But they also cater to the little ones during scaredy cat hour, removing fog and jump scares from the equation.
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He had returned from Melbourne with his partner, Nathan Lee, to live in Numurkah when he set up the first official maze, which was only three rooms separated by sheets in the couple’s carport.
He said Numurkah always had a good group of trick-or-treaters.
“We started off small with only a blow-up ghost and a purple LED and me hiding behind a door scaring all the trick-or-treaters,” Mr Tetley said.
“We then gradually got animatronics and more props.
“Now it’s much much bigger and we do more nights instead of just Halloween night.”
The maze will open for four nights this year in the week of Halloween.
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The other thing that sets Mr Tetley’s maze apart from other ‘haunted houses’ in the town is that it raises funds for local charities.
Visitors can choose to enter by making a gold coin donation, although it’s not mandatory.
Last year, donations were divided between Numurkah CFA and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
“We raised $1667 last year; if we beat that, that’d be great,” Mr Tetley said.
The Tetley family gets right into character to ensure a unique experience for its guests.
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This year, the recipients of donations will be Numurkah CFA and the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Traditionally, there have been more than 2000 visitors each year across the four or five nights the Tetley family operates the maze, which was nominated for a Moira Achiever’s Award.
The maze can be found at 47 Pine St, Numurkah.
It will open on October 26, 27, 30 and 31, with scaredy cat hour starting at 6.30pm.
The maze is open until 9.30pm each night, except for Halloween night, when it will close at 10pm.
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