The Scary Shed

One year, the adults of our church decided to create a scary shed and a bonfire near Halloween to entertain the youth and have an evening of fellowship. Several days before, I helped others move a few things stored in the abandoned, two-story chicken coop. After we made sure that all loose boards, projecting nails, and other possible dangerous situations were removed, we started to make the maze and set up frightening scenes. We moved the kids into the scary shed in pairs.

The maze was on the first floor and was the entrance to the scary shed. It involved finding the way through a series of hay bales: over, around, and even under. It opened up into a dark room, only lit by a black light that shone on cow skulls with fluorescent paint in their eye sockets. The bones shone white while the sockets were glowing orange, green, and purple.

In the next darkened room, one of the parents had his chain saw, minus the cutting chain. Someone would turn on the light as soon as he started and revved the chain saw. The loudness of the saw and the sudden light really startled the kids and elicited a few screams. It caused the kids to go into the next room filled with headless torsos. Dress forms and dummies along the walls with Styrofoam wig heads on the floor.

The kids were headed up the stairs to the second floor. Unbraided binder twine hung in clumps like thick cobwebs. Moveable doors made a moving maze and several old mattresses made an unsteady floor on which to walk. Overhead, we rolled dried black walnut shells down an aluminum rain gutter, sounding a lot like rats running just above their heads. Another wall of unbraided binder twine greeted the kids, just before they took the slide down from the second floor and escape into the cool, frosty night.

Once all the youth made their way through the scary shed, we ate hamburgers and toasted marshmallows on the bonfire. Bellies filled, the kids relaxed and the youth leader gave a Bible lesson about being afraid.