Oct 3, 2017

At the Nevermore Haunt, a haunted house in a former furniture store on the Old Town Mall, staffers prepare to scare and be scared this Halloween season.

: Before its most recent incarnation as the Nevermore Haunt, the building was a clothing store called Kaufman’s. Before that, it was grandly called “the Great House of Isaac Benesch and Sons.” (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: The Old Town Mall contains some of the oldest inhabited areas of the city. It was refurbished in the 1970s, but has fallen into disrepair in recent years, with many buildings now vacant. However, some are eyeing a comeback for the neighborhood. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: The Old Town Mall contains some of the oldest inhabited areas of the city. It was refurbished in the 1970s, but has fallen into disrepair in recent years, with many buildings now vacant. However, some are eyeing a comeback for the neighborhood. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: The Old Town Mall contains some of the oldest inhabited areas of the city. It was refurbished in the 1970s, but has fallen into disrepair in recent years, with many buildings now vacant. However, some are eyeing a comeback for the neighborhood. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: The Old Town Mall contains some of the oldest inhabited areas of the city. It was refurbished in the 1970s, but has fallen into disrepair in recent years, with many buildings now vacant. However, some are eyeing a comeback for the neighborhood. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: The Old Town Mall contains some of the oldest inhabited areas of the city. It was refurbished in the 1970s, but has fallen into disrepair in recent years, with many buildings now vacant. However, some are eyeing a comeback for the neighborhood. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: The Old Town Mall contains some of the oldest inhabited areas of the city. It was refurbished in the 1970s, but has fallen into disrepair in recent years, with many buildings now vacant. However, some are eyeing a comeback for the neighborhood. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Some of the buildings on the Old Town Mall are freshly painted, signaling, perhaps, the comeback in store for the neighborhood. Building owner Steve Tsamouras said he’s worked hard to remove trash and make other improvements in the area — such as getting the Mall back on the city’s electrical grid. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: The Old Town Mall contains some of the oldest inhabited areas of the city. It was refurbished in the 1970s, but has fallen into disrepair in recent years, with many buildings now vacant. However, some are eyeing a comeback for the neighborhood. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Before its most recent incarnation as the Nevermore Haunt, the building was a furniture store called Kaufman’s. Before that, it was grandly called “the Great House of Isaac Benesch and Sons.” (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Hudson purchased the building in 2014 to turn it into the Nevermore Haunt. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: “Rust is a surprising color,” said Joe Hudson, owner of the Nevermore Haunt. “You cant just use any old brown.” But fortunately, when looking for a reference: “We have plenty examples in the basement and on the fourth floor of rusted pipes.” (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: The basement of the old furniture store has provided plenty of inspiration to set designers at the Nevermore Haunt. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Joe Hudson, 31, owner of the Nevermore Haunt in the Old Town Mall, stands devilishly in the set of the haunted house he has spent months working on with his friends. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Before its most recent incarnation as the Nevermore Haunt, the building was a clothing store called Kaufman’s. Before that, it was grandly called “the Great House of Isaac Benesch and Sons.” (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Old wallpaper adorns a room on an upstairs floor of the former furniture store that houses the Nevermore Haunt. These areas are off-limits to most visitors, but Hudson said set designers sometimes turned to the building itself for inspiration. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Hudson said set designers sometimes turned to the building itself for inspiration. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Hudson said set designers sometimes turned to the building itself for inspiration. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Hudson said set designers sometimes turned to the building itself for inspiration. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Before its most recent incarnation as the Nevermore Haunt, the building was a furniture store called Kaufman’s. Before that, it was grandly called “the Great House of Isaac Benesch and Sons.” (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Fake foam oozes out of pipes in a wall of the Nevermore Haunt. The haunted house opens to visitors Oct. 6. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Hudson didn’t want to reveal too many plot details, but Baltimoreans can imagine the horrifying possibilities for this sewer set within the Nevermore Haunt. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: To create the ghoulish skeletons that appear throughout the Haunt, Hudson and his friends layered materials on top of artificial skeletons, and polished them off with fake blood. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: “The joke is kind of that we had to clean up the first floor,” Hudson said of the former furniture store he has turned into a haunted house, “and then try and recreate the way that it used to look.” (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

: Hudson purchased props like this coffin at various antique stores near Gettysburg, Pa. Hudson said it cost him $300 – and some surprised looks from store owners. (Christina Tkacik/Baltimore Sun)

Dolly Parton famously said, “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.” At the Nevermore Haunt in the derelict Old Town Mall, it takes a lot of effort to look this creepy. Owner Joe Hudson and his friends have spent much of the past year meticulously refurbishing the interior of an abandoned furniture store to look rusted and old, in preparation for the visitors that will soon start coming to get scared.

“The joke is kind of that we had to clean up the first floor,” adding plumbing, drywall, and more, Hudson said. “And then try and recreate the way that it used to look.”

In a sewer scene, puffy faux slime drips from rusting pipes. Skeletons hang from the walls; they resemble the Iceman, Otzi and are drenched in glistening fake blood. A piano sits near the historic entranceway. Blue and white the tiles on the floor read “THE GREAT HOUSE ISAAC BENESCH AND SONS.” Benesch ran a furniture store in the building through the 1800s and 1900s.

At times, the Haunt’s set decorators used the decay of the building for inspiration. “Rust is a surprising color,” Hudson said. “You cant just use any old brown.” But fortunately, when looking for a reference: “We have plenty examples in the basement and on the fourth floor of rusted pipes.”

It’s the Nevermore Haunt’s second year running. For this upcoming season, Hudson, 31, said he’s reworked spooky scenes that worked well last year to make them even more horrifying.

“It’s about perfection,” said John Ratkoff, 28, the Haunt’s lead technician, while a thunder soundtrack played overhead. Beginning Oct. 6 through the first weekend in Nov., 50 costumed actors will overtake the first floor, hiding in its secret crevices, popping out at just the right time to terrify guests. Hudson said some of the actors refuse to actually walk through the rest of the set – it’s too scary for them. They just want to scare people.

Outside, the entire block will be closed off, allowing visitors to purchase concessions and be entertained by sideshow acts like a man sticking nails in his own body. Last year, the Haunt drew thousands of visitors to the Old Town Mall, said staffer Tom Wingate, 31. They’re hoping for even more this year.

In addition to the Nevermore Haunt, a few other new businesses have opened in once-abandoned storefronts, said Steve Tsamouras, who owns 14 buildings in the area.

“It takes a lot of work,” said Tsamouras. “I have probably spent $125,000 at the dump.” The area recently got streetlights for the first time. And just last year, developers unveiled new plans for the surrounding areas.

In short, the Old Town Mall may be coming back to life.

The Old Town Mall’s haunted house reopens for a second season

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