Buckingham Avenue in Lakeland looks peaceful.
"It's the best place to stay around here," says a "gas station" attendant.
Yet the Red Hollow Inn behind the filling station has seen better days.
"They tell me, once you check in, you can't never check out," the same attendant says, before an out of control car comes crashing through a wall.
Check in at Campfire's fictitious haunted house and find a 15 year old making the decisions.
"The fright foreman basically prepares everyone, and tells them where their rooms are," explained high school sophomore Zachary Roth.
Zachary has a lot of responsibility at "Buckingham Terror," the name of the annual fundraiser.
"We're almost their first responders if there is a problem and we'll go and fix it," he says before getting on a walkie talkie that will be at his side all night.
Moments before opening, a fire alarm goes off outside in the backyard where the majority of the haunted house is staged.
"It's a smoke detector?" Zachary asks while squeezing behind a fence to investigate.
Before the haunt opens, Zachary also makes sure each actor knows where the safety equipment is located.
“Can you sign there for me?" he asks of another student, handing over a pen and checklist.
But this is anything but child's play. The kids are learning something in the haunting process, namely responsibility. However, if they should need help, there's always an adult around the corner.
Older actors will keep their eye on visitors and operate the chainsaw.
The character-building event provides community service hours, while generating donations that fund community service projects.
Yet, the scares can be intense.
"My son wanted to hold the candle in the front, and then they gave me the candle and go in the front," said one dad when exiting.
On the night we visited, the actor at the end of the house jumping out of the bushes and scraping a shovel across the asphalt has a walkie talkie on his belt. He’s the guy in charge, pulling double duty. Here Zachary discovers what happens when one of his actors is a no-show. And he takes it all in stride, hoping for a scream.
Buckingham Terror, the Campfire haunted house is now open through Halloween Night.
Learn more about opening hours here.
Tankful on Television
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Scott Fais joins Travel Monthly
Catch our own Scott Fais as the Florida Correspondent on the On Demand travel magazine, Travel Monthly. Each month, Scott joins other travel reporters from across the United States as they showcase a wide variety of attractions, diners, parks and landmarks from across America. See Travel Monthly nationally on Time Warner Cable channel 411. And here at home on Channel 999. Or see more of Travel Monthly here, courtesy of NY1, a service of Charter Communications.