Haunted Mine offers hair-raising scares at abandoned Fawn site

Enter if you dare.

Dark and dank, the narrow passages that wind deep underground at Tour-Ed Mine and Museum in Fawn have transformed into a frightening Halloween attraction seeking only the bravest souls to wander through.

“We play off your natural phobias here, so we’re talking rats, bats and spiders,” said Nathan Derringer, a Springdale engineer who helps to build the attractions from scratch.

The Haunted Mine opens at 7 p.m. Friday.

The cost is $20 per person.

Hemmed in by hills and forests, the “abandoned” mine is so dark that guests wouldn’t be able to see their hand in front of their faces without light, volunteer Justin Gombos said.

Inside, the slender shafts lend to claustrophobia.

Water seeps from the walls as pneumatic skeletons — old miners who were left behind, Derringer said — jump from barrels.

Timbers appear to fall from the ceilings, and walls simulate a semi-collapse.

“We have the perfect natural environment here,” Derringer said. “If we had to build this atmosphere, the cost would be astronomical.”

Visitors will be guided through three chilling sections: “Scary Larry’s Psycho-delic Sanitarium,” “The Cemetery” and “The Avenue Mine.”

“Scary Larry’s” is the first portal and the least frightening. Filled with black-lit skeletons and creepy clowns, the space is a mad science experiment gone wrong.

Fog-filled rooms dare you to find your way out while furry bats swing from above and mummies hang from the ceiling as obstacles.

Headless horsemen stand beside neon rat skeletons and signs that read “Laugh until you puke.”

“It’s not all about scares,” Derringer said. “We want you to laugh and have fun.”

With as many as 900 people a night, volunteers are positioned every 30 feet to make sure crowds flow safely.

Visitors will meander down a dark wooded path into the next section, “The Cemetery,” where they will find two-headed dogs, gargoyles, a horse-pulled hearse and a slew of ambling undead creatures.

“It’s a blast,” said Gombos, of Plum.

“This is a year-‘round effort, and we want people to enjoy it.”

Tour-Ed Mine dates to 1850. It was once known as the Avenue Mine and was operated by Allegheny Steel and mined by the Leechburg Mining Co.

It now is offered to schools and other groups for tours to learn about long-gone mining operations.

The Haunted Mine is a fundraiser to support the site’s museum, said its director, Bob Black.

“We are nonprofit and our mission is to educate the public about coal mining,” he said.

In the final section of the Haunted Mine, visitors travel 300 feet below ground and are dropped off to navigate their way back out. Some of the adventure requires people to hunch over because ceilings are only 4 feet high.

As a result, hard hats are required.

Spurts of air are pumped along the ground to simulate the feeling of rats running about your feet. Steel cages hang from the ceiling with zombies and other gory creatures.

“We hope it’s a Level 10 scare factor, but we really just hope everyone is entertained,” Derringer said.

The adventure typically takes about 30 minutes, Derringer said, “depending on how fast you run out.”