A Jefferson County couple is living their dream, but it might cause others to have nightmares.
Jeannie and Jeff Sengheiser own Graveyard Ghoul Productions, producing and selling Halloween-themed costumes and props for homeowners and those who run haunted houses and similar attractions.
The couple also owns and operates Hell Harvest Haunted House west of Potosi.
“We have always loved Halloween,” said Jeannie, 43, a business coach for the Jefferson Franklin Community Action Corporation’s Small Business Resource Center. “When you bring two enthusiasts together, this is what happens.” The couple turned Jeff’s hobby of making props for their home into their Graveyard Ghoul business.
“I started with costumes and then started making props,” Jeff, 46, said. “We initially just had (the props) at our house to wow people. It escalated and got out of control.”
Then, the couple purchased a 31-acre property near Potosi and turned it into the Hell Harvest Haunted House at 19126 W. Hwy. 8 that includes a variety of haunted outdoor and indoor scenes.
Hell Harvest opened for its fourth season on Sept. 30. It is open from 8-11 p.m. every Friday and Saturday throughout October, as well as from 8-11 p.m. on Halloween night, Monday, Oct. 31. It takes between 40 to 45 minutes to walk through the attraction, and tickets cost $20 for general admission or $28 for a speed pass that allows the holder to enter through a shorter line.
Tickets may be purchased at the attraction or online at hellharvest.com.
The props used at the haunted attraction previously were displayed year-round at the couple’s former homes in Hillsboro and Imperial because they lacked storage space for the props when it wasn’t the Halloween season, Jeannie said.
“We learned how to make props because it was cheaper to make them on our own than buy them. That spiraled,” said Jeannie, adding that she and her husband currently live with their oldest daughter, Katie, in Arnold after selling their home in Imperial to purchase 5 acres behind the Hell Harvest Haunted House attraction in Potosi, where they plan to build a new home.
Entering the fright biz
Jeff said the couple created the website, graveyardghoul.com, to sell his creations in 2016, but after attending the TransWorld’s Halloween and Attractions Show held annually at the America’s Center in St. Louis, the two started selling props at the show in 2018.
“Now, we are making stuff for professional haunts,” he said.
Mark Moomaw, who operates Terror Manor in Roanoke, Va., recently purchased a piece called the “Hand of Glory Table” from Graveyard Ghoul for his haunted attraction.
The round table has a pentagram painted on it, and at each corner of the symbol is a black, wax candle with electronic flickering flames. In the middle of the table is a severed hand with a bloody stump and a black wax candle that flickers on each of the four fingers and thumb.
“I am a resurrected priest in a satanic church in my haunt, and I thought (the table) would look pretty cool in my room,” Moomaw said. “I think it will be an eye-catcher. It is supposed to be a distraction, so while I am hiding in the shadows of the room, (customers) will be looking at the table and not see me coming out of the shadows to frighten them.”
Jeff said his creations cost between $125 to $2,000. One of the more expensive creations he offers is an automated Ouija Board, and three of those were sold this year. One went to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, another to Woods of Terror, a haunted house in Greensboro, N.C., and the last to Pirates of Emerson Haunted Theme Park in Pleasanton, Calif., Jeannie said.
Jeff said he doesn’t produce and sell the really expensive kind of animatronics found in some haunted attractions.
“I am trying to fill a void,” Jeff said. “There are animatronics that cost $10,000 or more, and they have 10 or 12 cylinders and valves. I try to get multi-motion from fewer cylinders and valves so there are less chances for failure. I have been to so many haunted houses that have beautiful animatronics, but it doesn’t work right because something has gone wrong. I try to make my props to avoid having that issue.”
Opening a haunted house
A year after the couple started selling props at the trade show, Jeff said they found the right place to complete their dream of opening a haunted attraction.
“The stars kind of aligned and we started our haunt,” he said.
Jeannie said they purchased the Potosi property in June 2019, and the couple had enough props to open Hell Harvest Haunted House that September.
“We lucked out because this property has highway frontage, which was a big thing,” she said. “It is close to a town, which is a huge plus. There was a garage that used to be a firehouse, so there was a nice big garage that we use as our headquarters and ticket booth. There was a barn, a cabin, a pond, two other houses to use for scenes and a small one-car garage that we converted to look like a hospital. The whole flow of the trail was already laid out. It was like it was calling us for this to be done.”
Jeannie said she and her husband add new props and scenes every year. She also said the attraction pays homage to what the property was before they bought it and turned it into a haunted house.
“People have told us the property was a little town called Shirley,” Jeannie said. “They bring pictures of it and say, ‘There used to be a grocery store here. There used to be a diner here. There used to be a gas station, five other houses, and people used to live in this cabin.’
“We have incorporated the town of Shirley into the haunt. Shirley’s Diner is connected to a gas station that we built last year. People come up and say, ‘This gas station is still here?’ We are like, ‘No it is not. We just constructed that in 2021.’ But when you look at it, it looks like it has been there for ages.”
Jeannie said the haunted attraction is a family business, with their daughters, Katie, 24, and Klaire, 20, who attends and plays hockey for Lindenwood University, performing in the haunted house. The couple’s son, Kamden, 22, who attends and plays hockey at Midland University in Fremont, Neb., helps build sets during the summer.
The business employs 42 people, and they are like a big family, Jeannie said.
She said most of those staff members are employed as actors, and without their work, the attraction would not be successful.
“I always tell our actors they are the heart of this. We can have the most beautiful scenes and most detailed rooms, but they are nothing without someone in it to bring it to life,” Jeannie said.
Business has increased every year the couple has operated the attraction, growing from about 300 customers in 2019 to more than 2,000 last year, Jeannie said.
Jeff said the couple has a simple philosophy to grow the haunted house business.
“We have to put on a good show and make it worthwhile for people to keep coming,” he said. “We got great reviews the first year, and they have continued to come back.”