Dad builds epic haunted house every year to raise money for local hospital

By Ben Barry

A dad builds a haunted house in his garden every Halloween to raise money for a local hospital where his son spent two months in the NICU.

Ken Norris, 39, and Ashley Norris, 36 welcomed the birth of their second son, Austin, aged nine, on January 20, 2016.

Austin was born with a tumor on his lungs so he spent two months in the NICU at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The Norris family are big fans of Halloween and had previously filled their front yard with decorations, but in 2016, Ken decided to build a haunted house in his front garden to raise money for the charity.

The haunted house is 100ft by 80ft and has up to eight rooms including a butcher room, swamp room and pennywise room.

Last year, more than 3,000 people turned up and the family raised just over $2k for the hospital.

Ken, a mechanic, from National Park, New Jersey, said: "I want to do as much as I can for the community and the hospital.

"Me and my older son, Kenneth, 12, would visit Austin in hospital and it wouldn't feel like a hospital.

"It was very calm, it was a warm feeling when we were there.

"When we brought Austin home, the following Halloween I told my wife how I needed to do something to give back to the hospital."

Ken and Ashley were huge fans of Halloween and would have their front yard filled with decorations.

When Austin came home from the hospital, Ken wanted to "make it bigger" and build a haunted house to raise money for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where Austin spent two months in the NICU.

Ken said: "In 2013, we started putting out fake manikins all over the yard.

"I would have them out throughout the whole month of October.

"On Halloween night, I would take one manikin out and become the manikin.

"I would jump out and scare people - when Austin came home I thought 'let's make it bigger'."

The first time Ken built the haunted house was in 2016 and the couple raised a couple of hundred dollars for the hospital.

Over the years, the house has been built with a maze, blackout room, swamp room and black light room.

The house takes three months to build and is built with wood pallets and carports.

Ken said: "Every year, we tear it down and build it back up from scratch.

"It is never the same maze or room.

"I usually start building the house in August and I finish up two weeks before Halloween.

"We create our own costumes too and get the whole family involved.

"We get our sons to build different sections and I will go into the shop and start doing the electrics."

Last year, Ken and Ashley had more than 3000 people over three days come to the haunted house and raised just over $2k for the hospital.

This year, they are raising money for Ronald McDonald House and will host the haunted house from October 31st through to November 2nd.

Ken said: "Growing up, my great-grandmother would make costumes for us and my father used to do a haunted house when we were younger.

"It was amazing to grow up in that atmosphere, I want to give that to my kids.

"I want to give that feeling of building something from the ground up.

"I am hoping to raise more money this year and see more than 3k people turn up."