Yikes! A line of ghoulish-looking figures visit the trick or treat booths inside the school at the 2008 PTO Safe Trick or Trunk. (Buscovoice.com file photo)

CHURUBUSCO, Ind. (Oct. 27, 2009) – The PTO Safe Trick or Trunk will be Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 6:30-8 p.m. at Churubusco Elementary School.

Children (and adults!) are invited to dress in costume and collect treats from costumed hosts who will pass out candy from the trunks of vehicles in front of the school.

Other Halloween events in Churubusco and Whitley County include:

• Trick or treat hours in Churubusco are on Halloween night from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Residents who wish to participate are urged to turn their porch lights on.

• The Churubusco/Smith Twp. Fire Department will host a community trick or treat night at the fire station on Line Street beginning at 5:30 p.m., Oct. 31. Firefighters will be handing out candy to trick or treaters and brewing up apple cider, roasting hot dogs and poppinChurubusco g kettle corn for all ages. Everyone is invited to attend.
  

  A scarecrow and her guardian pirate line up for treats at the 2008 PTO Safe Trick or Trunk. (Buscovoice.com file photo)

• Don’t forget to visit the Green Center Haunted School Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30 and 31 – the last nights of the season. The spooky 35-45 minute tour is offered from 7-11 p.m. both nights at The Green Center Community Center, located between CR 300S and CR 300E in Noble County. Cost of the haunted house is $8, but visitors may go to the haunted Web site at hauntedgreencenter.com and print a coupon good for $1 off admission price. Maps also are available on the site.

• The City of Columbia City has set Saturday, October 31, from 6-8 p.m. as the official hours for trick or treating this year. The Whitley County Courthouse will be open so that residents can have their candy scanned if they wish to do so.

• The Columbia City Fire Department will host an open house that evening and give candy to kids in costume at the fire station on West Market Street.

• South Whitley will also host community-wide trick or treating on Saturday, October 31, from 6-8 p.m. Trick-or-treating in other neighboring towns will be held on Saturday, October 31, in Larwill from 6-8 p.m. and Sidney from 5:30-7 p.m.

• Oak Grove Church of God is hosting a Family Harvest Party on October 31 from 6-9 p.m. at the church. The event is designed to be a fun and safe way to come together with your family with a “truck or treat” to allow families the chance to get some sweet treats and stay safe. They plan to have food and other activities will be going on as well.

• The Humane Shelter of Whitley County is having a Halloween party for ghosts and goblins of the four-legged, furry kind. There will be treats and costume contests with prizes for the best costume, two legged and four legged! The event will be held on Saturday, October 31, 2009, from 1 – 5 p.m. at the shelter on 951 South Line Street in Columbia City.

• The Peabody Public Library will host some Halloween fun from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, October 31. Christie will create balloon animals from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Children are urged to wear costumes and enjoy games, puzzles, crafts and other fun activities. There is no admission to attend.

Piles of fish and tenderloins await hungry guests. (BV file photo)

GREEN CENTER, Ind. (Sept. 28, 2009) – The Annual Green Center Fall Festival will be held Saturday, Oct. 3, beginning at 4 p.m. at the Green Township Community Center. The all-you-can-eat fish and tenderloin dinner will kick off the opening of the Green Center Haunted School, which will open at 6 p.m.

In addition to the fish & tenderloin fry, there will be a country store and a kids’ game room.

In addition to Saturday, Northern Indiana’s frightening, intense experience – the Green Center Haunted School House – will be in operation every Friday and Saturday from 7-11 p.m. during the entire month of October.

The Green Center Community Center is located between CR 300S and CR 300E in Noble County, between Albion and Churubusco.

Cost of the haunted house is $8, but visitors may go to the haunted Web site at hauntedgreencenter.com and print a coupon good for $1 off admission price. Maps are also available on the site.

A spinning vortex room at the Green Center Haunted School – designed by precision machinists at Pro Systems in Churubusco – delivers high tech fantasy and a surreal experience that is well worth the price of admission.

A suspended bridge offers a way out, but once on the bridge, as the lights flash and the room seems to spin in endless circles, visitors lose their balance and become disoriented and unsteady on their feet.

Fishing for a prize in the Green Center Fall Festival game room. (BV file photo)

The Green Center Haunted School was started in 1982 by Bill and Betty Pappe, Green Township residents, as a fundraiser for the Green Township Community Center, which is where the Haunted School is housed.

“This one fundraiser pays for the heating and utility bills to keep the center running for the rest of the year,” Bill Pappe said, while wearing a blood-splattered apron and taking a break from cooking body parts in the school cafeteria.

Helping Bill and Bette Pappe out are co-managers of the Haunted House, Gary and Rick McDowell. There is no shortage of volunteers who will gladly spend the night scaring the daylights out of strangers and friends and neighbors alike.

Twenty-six years ago the building started out as the Green Center Haunted House, but about five years ago made the natural transition to a haunted school, Pappe said.

Bodies arising from the grave – rotting corpses in caskets – bloody body parts – there are plenty of old fashioned thrills, chills, ghouls and monsters. But the amount of work the Pappes and McDowells have put into the facility is really apparent in the high tech rooms that plays with visitors’ minds and equilibrium.

There’s a steep upward climb on slanted stairs that are at times impossible to maneuver. And, there’s the White Room – bright white walls and lights and a fog machine that emits a continuous, thick white mist that makes it nearly impossible for visitors to find the way out.

Several other rooms of terror make for a terrifying 30-45 minute haunted tour.

The principal of Green Center Haunted School greets visitors in his office. (BV file photo)

Bill Pappe in the vortex of the Green Center Haunted School. (BV file photo)

Night of the Living Dead? Two ghastly looking creatures - aka Joe Reef and Justin Konger - are on theri way to work at the Green Center Haunted School.