KNOXVILLE, Tenn — The Luwana Haunted Trail is back for the second year in a row. The trail includes a maze and is located in Joey Howell's backyard.
He says he was inspired by another free haunted yard attraction nearby and he asked his kids, who said they wanted to go through it. The trail is completely free to visit, but donations are accepted for actors who help with the scare.
"I wanted to kind of do something for the whole community, you know, not really necessary," said Howell. "It isn't about, you know, making money or anything, I just, I wanted everybody in the area to, you know, have fun."
Howell said he spread the word through the trail's Facebook page, putting up signs around his neighborhood, and by word of mouth. He said a couple hundred people showed up for trail last year. He also said this year, he hopes even more attend.
"I think it's gonna be so much fun," said Howell. "I got a lot of positive feedback last year. And so I hope that happens again this year. That's that is kind of what I would like to happen."
Howell said putting the trail together takes a lot of time and work. He said he's been planning it for a while, ever since he bought the wood for the maze walls in July.
"First, I have to design it," said Howell. "And I have to do all my drawings and everything and figure out what I'm gonna have in each section. And then I have to get all the animatronics for each section. And then I had to build all the walls. And I have to build all the framing for all the walls and then put all the walls up. And then do all of the all the decorations and all the sound and all the lights and everything."
He says he wants to continue to host the haunted trail from now on.
The trail is located at 3105 Luwana Lane, in Knoxville. It's open on Oct. 27, Oct. 28. and Oct. 31.
Howell says the haunted trail will begin when it's dark enough, after 7 p.m., and will end depending on when the crowd slows down on Friday and Saturday. On Halloween night, he said he'll probably shut down around 10 p.m. or 10:30 p.m.