Millikens opening haunted house

Halloween isn’t just an evening of donning a costume and knocking on neighbors’ doors to get a piece of candy. It has evolved into a night of parties, festivals, costume contests and residential haunted houses.

One of those spooky houses belongs to Kevin and Lu Milliken, of Oakland. Their home, at 330 N. Tubb St., is a normal-looking place with its front porch and breezeway to the back yard for most of the year. But in October, it becomes something straight out of a horror film. This year, the theme includes a prison.

Lu Milliken said she and her husband love all the holidays — but Halloween has always been their favorite.

The idea of a haunted house started years ago when their grandson, Tristan, wanted a Halloween theme for his birthday party.

“We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if we created a haunted house they had to walk through to get to the party?’” Lu Milliken said. “We kept it up, and word had spread, and everyone was calling to bring their kids to it. It was a young one because we were gearing it for a child’s party. Every year, we’ve been doing it ever since, and it has grown.”

This is the family’s fourth haunted house but the fifth year of offering some Halloween fun to the community. Because of the pandemic, Halloween 2020 was reduced to a movie being played on a loop on the garage door for a small group of children and teens who hung out there.

“People were driving by and were disappointed, so we decided we needed to do it again,” Lu Milliken said.

In years past, the line has extended down the driveway with folks waiting their turn to be scared — or to pretend they weren’t.

“We’re back this year, and it’s bigger,” Lu Milliken said. “It goes through the haunted house and through the backyard and loops all around our house. We kind of anticipate at last as many (people) as the last time. … It’s longer.”

Those who dare to enter the Milliken haunted house should be prepared to come face-to-face with zombies, corpses and many live actors trying their best to work up scares and screams.

The front of the house bears a witch theme — with a sign offering broom-flying lessons — and alludes to the witches room inside.

Lu Milliken said all ages are welcome to walk through the haunted house but warned that it’s “a little on the scary side.” She did reiterate that the live actors will not mess with the younger participants.

“The last time we had kids who were too scared, the parents asked, ‘Is it OK if you watch the kids while we go through real quick?’” Lu Milliken said.

The one-day event definitely is a family affair. She will dress up but said she will be stationed at the front to make sure just a few children at a time go in. Kevin Milliken has plans of his own.

“He’s one of those creepy guys who dresses up and goes to Halloween or Howl-O-Scream,” she said. “He’s going to work the side we haven’t done before. I think it’s always important to send them screaming at the end.”

Their daughter, Crystal Lee Milliken, has played numerous roles through the years, including a nurse tending to a “living” corpse. Her husband, James Christoffel, enjoys making guests scream, too, with the unexpected.

Tristan gets into the act as well. This year, he will be a prison warden, and his best friend, Max Georgiev, will be a prisoner chained to a wall. A few other friends also will have roles in the haunted house.

The 2019 haunted house drew about 230 trick-or-treaters, Lu Milliken said. This year they are expecting even more.