For over 11 years, Mike and Siobhan Koroll of Chestermere have been opening up their home around Halloween to the delight of haunted house fans across southern Alberta.

Those that love Stephen King’s books and dark imagery and who love a good scare at Halloween, will love Dr. Giggles House of Pain.

The details to the displays in the House of Pain are so striking that they resemble a real movie set. The haunted house is dark and creepy and equipped with narrow spaces where you might feel, or hear a bump in the night.

“This is year 11 now. The first bunch of years we didn’t have a name for it and I think it just came to me one night in a dream,” explained Mike Koroll.

“As we have been building, and building on it, more of the neighbours have been getting involved. Now it’s a huge community event out here that everybody is looking forward to every year,” he said.

“We are at the point where we’ve got to step our game up continuously, but that is part of the challenge and all of the fun,” he said.

Koroll explained that he and his wife Siobhan began creating Halloween displays in their garage as a fun event for the community.

“Halloween is a nice time of year. There’s a chill in the air and it’s exciting,” he said. He also added, “We all have a great life here, we live on a great block. It’s just nice for everyone to be able to work together and collect some food for the Chestermere Food Bank.”

“The first bunch of years my wife and I funded it as we were building the haunted house. It started with literally one display in my garage, and then we just went from there and started creeping down the driveway,” said Koroll.

“An event this size is just way too much for one family to fund, so last year I started looking for corporate sponsors and then this year, my buddy Rick Grier and myself we went out and we locked down a bunch of sponsorship and we set up a pub night fundraiser,” he said.

Koroll and his friends have been working on the haunted house since about April, in addition to organizing the pub night fundraiser.

The structure is typically standing by September 1, but this year the region suffered a horrible snow storm that dumped about a foot and a half of snow on Chestermere.

Organizers were also looking for a carnival-style tent to go with the ‘Carnival of Fears’ theme.

“It all came together and we had more people than ever help out with the build,” said Koroll.

The way it works is for a donation to the local food bank, visitors can check out the Koroll’s haunted house. But for those who want a sneak peek, the Korolls had special viewings on October 19 and 20. There will be another on October 26 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and more as it gets closer to Halloween. The house is located on Westchester Boulevard in Chestermere. Check out Dr. Giggles House of Pain on Facebook for details.

There were a number of sponsors and volunteers that helped support this year’s haunted house.

“I just want to give a huge thanks to my buddies in the neighbourhood. We couldn’t do something this huge without the involvement,” said Koroll.

“As far as the sponsors we have so many I couldn’t list them all. Without the sponsors, none of this would be possible either, it’s an expensive undertaking and the community of Chestermere loves it. We’ve got people coming from all over the place, like Okotoks and Calgary,” said Koroll.

There are a couple more sneak a peek dates on October 26 and October 28 before the big show on October 30 and 31.

He explained that the food trucks will be there, and there will be a fire pit in the middle of the street. The food trucks will also be donating a portion of their proceeds to the Chestermere Food Bank. The streets will also be blocked off to traffic for safety of the children and families visiting the show.

“Hopefully we drum up lots of scares this year,” he said.

Be sure to come out with a food or cash donation for the Chestermere Food Bank, and have a good scare at Dr. Giggles House of Pain this Halloween!

Top 35 Sponsors:

McIntyre Crane & Rigging (Calgary), Kerridge Concrete (Calgary), United Association Local Union 488 (Calgary), Peak Scaffold (Calgary), Michelle Eldjarnson (Chestermere), Chinook Glass (Calgary), We Build Decks Inc. (Chestermere), Mountainview Building Materials Ltd (Calgary), Back to the Mat BJJ (Chestermere), Saunders Landscaping (Chestermere), Aztec Machine Works (Calgary), Lakeshore Spa (Chestermere), James Electric (Calgary), Obsidian Rose Tattoo (Chestermere), Spear Grass Golf Course (Carsland, Alberta).

Belinda & Bacham Cheema (Calgary), Back in The Day Band (Chestermere), Chatters (East Hills Calgary), Tommy Guns (East Hills Calgary), Kerri’s Hair Salon @Elev8, Butler Built (Highway #1 Langdon Turnoff), Real Storage (Chestermere), Rona Forest Lawn (Calgary), Battery World (North East Calagary), Pro-Active Automotive Inc (Calgary), B&P Cycle and Sports (Calgary), Gwen & Daryl Aarons, DWC-Dave’s Wood Creation (Chestermere), Rainbow Tots Dayhome (Chestermere), MW Photography (Chestermere), DJ Marvin Culture (Chestermere), JSA Painting (Chestermere), CTC Martial Arts & Fitness Centre (Chestermere), Kung Fu For Life (Calgary), Fire Wood Guy (Calgary).