North Vancouver haunted house on track to raise more than $15K for charity

Vancouver -

Every year, Jim Myers has one of the most elaborate haunted house set-ups in Metro Vancouver, and he’s hoping 2021 will be his biggest fundraising event yet.

Jim Myers has been scaring people at his home for 11 years, which he enjoys immensely.

“I hate to be scared myself but scaring people is actually quite addictive, it’s a lot of fun,” Myers said. “People come, they look at you, they want to hit you, then they start laughing and then they donate more after that.”

Admission has always been by donation with all funds going to Ronald McDonald House BC. This year Myers asked for a $5 minimum, and he’s now on track for a record fundraising effort.

“We’re hoping to reach $15,000, the year before was about $10,000 so we’re setting a record this year,” Myers said. The haunted house opened two weeks ago and before Oct. 31, Myers and his team had raised about $12,000. More than 1,000 people were expected to visit on Halloween.

Myers said his connection with Ronald McDonald House started about eight years ago.

“I went to the Ronald McDonald House just to see what it was all about and I saw a father with a young child about the same age as my daughter and it really touched me,” he said. Every year since then he’s raised money for the charity.

Each year the set up has grown with more than $150,000 spent on decorations, smoke and fog machines, animatronics etc. It also takes up to an hour to turn everything on and off each night.

“There’s probably 60 to 70 items that are battery operated and they have to be turned off manually. Some of the other animatronics are plugged in and if you hear any moaning or groaning in the middle of the night you have to get up and turn it off,” Myers said.

The set up is open until 9 p.m. on Oct. 31, Myers and his team will start the two-week process of taking it down on Nov. 1.