Madness at the Mill

Stan Windhorn

Fast Facts

Price- $5.00 kids, $7.00 adults
Dates – Every day of October
Address- 623 Lafayette, Greenville, MI 48838
No. of Rooms- 25 –30 (40,000 square feet)
People per hour (groups of 15 with four minute intervals)

It is my guess that most haunters can trace their special love for this wacky business back to one defining event. I remember the night that hooked me like it was yesterday. It was a chilly October night, just on the outskirts of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Halloween had always been my favorite holiday. I mean, what other time of the year could you spend hours filling an old pillowcase with candy? This year was special because my Dad had taken me to the “House of Dark Shadows.” I will never forget my first glimpse of the old foreboding mansion. It had huge columns in front and rotted shutters hanging askew from dust covered windows. My Dad told me that it had been around for many years and was once a stop on the old pony express route. It was now owned by Jim Westra, better known to us kids as ‘Mr. Jim.’ A local celebrity, Mr. Jim hosted a television show about animals and had raised himself to hero status by going to jail for rescuing a litter of orphaned raccoons.

Now as young and impatient lad of ten I could hardly stand the anticipation as the queue line moved closer and closer to the massive wooden doors that opened a fascination in me that has lasts to this day. Once inside I was enthralled with room after room of scary scenes and seemingly endless wonder. It was, however, one room in particular that is without a doubt responsible for my lifelong infatuation with thrilling others during the most magical time of the year… Halloween.

In my minds eye I remember the room looking like a small bordello’s parlor from the old west. With its red tapestry and ornate wooden furniture, I remember imagining the dusty and tired pony express riders taking a break from the trail to sit in this room and enjoy a brief conversation with a lovely young lady. I too was about to have a conversation with a lovely young lady with one major difference… the lady I was talking with had no body.

Now, when I say that she had no body, I do not mean that she was a women who was out of shape or too skinny… I mean she had no body… none… no legs, no torso, no arms or hands. To my astonishment I was looking at a table that I could clearly see all the way under, and on top of the table was a live human head, carrying on a very witty conversation with me and the rest of our group.

That was it! I could not stop thinking or talking about my experience at the House of Dark Shadows. I enjoyed visits to Mr. Jim’s (or James the Butler as he is known each October) incredible haunt each year until my family moved out of state. But, there was just no way I could just sit around during October, without reliving that thrill of fear.

I would wait all year for the leaves to change color, (a sure signal that the magic month was at hand), and then begin to build and host my own haunted attraction in my basement, the garage or even at the school carnival.

Over the years I have been to many haunted attractions and have found something special at nearly each of them. But I have been frustrated because none could compare with the detail and quality of the over all look of Mr. Jim’s Mansion.

After many years I had the chance to return to the old neighborhood to catch up with old friends. On the way into town I looked up just in time to see the old mansion standing like a monument to my memory on the same old grassy hill. (My apologies to the family in the Blue Suburban that I cut of as I pulled the wheel hard to make the exit that led to the time worn structure.) To my immense pleasure the old place looked exactly the same as I had remembered and better still… Mr. Jim was there! At the old house of dark shadows.

I think Mr. Jim was a little surprised that this now grown man could remember so many minute details about the old House of Dark Shadows. He informed me that they were forced to close the attraction down due to some zoning regulation or something, but that he had recently opened “The Haunted Mill” in nearby Greenville, Michigan.

Mr. Jim seemed pleased to take such an enthusiastic guest on a personal tour of the Haunted Mill. As a haunter, what more could one ask for than a huge house that is well over 100 years old to start with? Well… how about an ancient, forty thousand square foot, wood timber, potato mill? To this day, I can honestly say that I have never seen a more impressive building to produce a haunted attraction then the Mill.

As guests enter the Mill they gather in the creepy little foyer. There they are startled into the proper mood as a picture suddenly comes to life. It is none other than James the Butler who welcomes his guests and warns them of the terror that awaits them. A hole in the wall with a picture frame around it, decorated like a painting, and at the appropriate time, Mr. Jim then pops up from underneath.

The Great Room, as Mr. Jim calls it, is astonishing. From the first floor you can look straight up through four floors of old timber and cobwebs to the bell tower where a lonely hunchback toils at his trade. The great bell rings with the sound of his broken heart. I just about lost it when a huge section of marble floor opened with a jolt and slowly slid to one side as a strange light glowed, blood red through the expanding hole. Then out of the fog of the dungeon below a massive hydraulic lift rises up as the master of all mad scientists, Dr. Frankenstein himself. The Doctor reveals his hideous creation, stretched out on a cold metal table. The room has a tendency to become quiet and still as the creature slowly rises from the table, and then fills with the sweet sound of screams as Frankenstein’s monster steps down from the table and clumsily reaches for the crowd.

In another part of this incredible dwelling resides the Phantom of the Opera, his music bellows from the massive pipes of the antique organ enveloping you. The driving melody of his haunting song forces you to share in the sorrow of his tortured soul. The basement of the old Mill is a haunter’s best nightmare come true. Old stone and brick walls create the perfect atmosphere for the subterranean graveyard; the electrified laboratory and the pool of ooze that is home to some insidious, gilled creature.

The Haunted Mill is filled with many highly detailed rooms of varying themes. Much of its layout has been designed to allow a single actor to scare his victims two or even three times. There are dimly lit mazes that allow the mind to create the scares and plenty of room left over for expansion. It is Michigan’s largest and definitely most impressive haunted attraction and is well worth the drive out to the little town of Greenville.

You might say that this article has been written as a tribute to Mr. Jim Westra. Over the years he has thrilled many with his awesome haunts and has lifted our spirits with his warmth and sense of humor. although he is as young at heart as ever, he is ready to retire and move to a warmer climate. He is in search now of someone who can take over the “night shift” at this incredible haunt. Believe me, if obligation were not keeping me on the West Coast, the little boy inside of me that still comes to life each October, would be honored to carry on his haunting tradition at The Haunted Mill of Greenville.

Stan Windhorn lives in Mission Viejo, CA and has produced haunts for “Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament” His award winning home haunt is called “Dr. Nero’s Gallery of Horrors.” He can be reached at (949) 829-0601or via email at teamvision@acninc.net

FOR SALE

Presently the Haunted Mill of Greenville is for sale. You can contact Jim Westra at (616) 754-0044 for further information.