KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Northeast Knoxville haunted attraction is making some changes this year after the crowds last year were bigger than anticipated.
In 2022, the "Luwana Haunted Trail" was started by Joey Howell in his backyard. It's located on Luwana Lane, off of Washington Pike.
"My kids were excited about a haunted house that was happening down the street. So I looked at my yard and I thought, 'I can do that.' It turns out that those people down the street actually moved, so they're not here anymore. So now ours is the only one in the area and hopefully we can keep the tradition going," said Howell.
He said the first year there were an estimated 200 people who participated, and last year after a WBIR story, it grew to nearly 500 participants.
Courtney Moore lives on the street and said she witnessed the crowds firsthand.
"It blew up and we had so much more traffic, which was awesome, but it did pose a little bit of a problem for the neighbors and just the street in general because we were running it on Halloween night and there were gonna be trick-or-treaters," said Moore.
Moore said after the amount of traffic, she knew she had to step in and help. She said she has a background in live events planning and management, so she used those skills to make a traffic and crowd control plan.
"We threw together a little bit of a traffic control plan that worked really well, but this year we're changing it up some to make it less invasive for the neighbors because we wanna be able to keep the event going," said Moore.
This year, attendees are asked to either be dropped off at the haunted trail or park at Alice Bell Ball Park and walk to the trail, which is about a half-mile away.
"It's all flat ground over to the trail. So folks can walk in and walk out. It won't cause trouble with traffic, and no danger for kids. And folks will not also be walking on the main roads because they'll be able to walk straight from the parking lot over into the neighborhood," said Moore.
Howell said the walk and wait are worth it for the haunted trail. He said there would be free candy and a movie in the kids' area, as well as a maze to go through. He also said there will be a part where participants have to be able to go through a space that's 43 inches high.
"We always tell everybody it's not for the faint at heart. It is actually really scary. There are a couple of new surprises that I don't wanna tell anybody about yet, because I want you to just see them and then we've got some other surprises at the end that will have to be found out by people who come through," said Howell.
He said months of planning go into planning the haunted trail, and he's been building for the last month. He said he was able to reuse the plywood from last year for this year's trail.
"Just the construction took about a month solid because of the maze. The maze is really labor-intensive. I actually counted this year, and I used 244 pieces of plywood in it. So it's a lot of construction materials," said Howell.
Although the haunted trail does lead to more traffic on the roads, Moore said he believes the neighborhood still loves having it around.
"Everybody thought it was so much fun. It's a great trick-or-treating neighborhood. So doing it on Halloween night in addition to the other nights is always fun for the trick-or-treaters because it is a free event. So, just a little extra fun for everybody," said Moore.
The address of the trail is 3105 Luwana Lane. It's free to enter, but donations are accepted for the actors.
The haunted trail runs from Oct. 30 through Nov. 1. There is no set start time, it opens once it is dark outside. On Thursday and Friday, Howell said at 9:15 p.m., he would stop letting people in the line since those are school nights — but on Friday he will go as late as people want.