Enter If You Dare: Haunted Driveway Brings Scares to Amherst Avenue

There were some scary good Halloween decorations in University Park this year, but the best may have been the Haunted Driveway on Amherst Avenue.

Trick-or-treaters who dared enter the driveway’s evil carnival were greeted by flashing lights, spooky music, and a malevolent looking clown at the ticket booth. 

The scares continued with spooks and animatronics, including clowns, a zombie bride, and a giant spider. Brave trick-or-treaters could hear blood-curdling screams of terror as they dodged a buzzsaw-wielding farmer, and walked through fog and around cobwebs and gravestones. 

Visit our Facebook page for a daytime video tour of the driveway. (It’s more frightening in the dark.)

“It was very scary and fun,” said 7-year-old Bo Oliver, who added that his favorite part was an animatronic figure who could move its neck all around.

“The pumpkin head jump-scared me out of nowhere when it was my first time,” said 9-year-old Hunter Webb. He estimated that he’s gone through the driveway “like 100 times” since it was constructed outside the home of Freddy and Mrs. Krueger, aka David and Amy Fasano.

The Haunted Driveway was born in 2020 when the Fasanos decided to create a fun, outside experience for kids during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, it has grown with help from the family’s friends.

“We love to have a home base for our friends and our kiddos,” Amy said. “We know our kids get older, and we want this to be a memory for them and their friends.”

The Fasanos build their driveway about two weeks before Halloween each year using tailgate tents, tarps, and weights. They don’t begin construction earlier due to the unpredictable October weather and out of courtesy to their gracious and tolerant neighbors.

Halloween night, the family’s two sons and their friends add to the scares by hiding behind nooks in the driveway and jumping out at passersby. In addition to candy, trick-or-treaters who brave the Haunted Driveway are rewarded by treats that this year included pizza and Chick-fil-A. 

The line to enter the driveway sometimes stretches down the road. Even at 9 p.m. on Halloween, when many trick-or-treaters had retreated to sugar comas, it was still tricky to find parking on the Fasanos’ block.

The family plans to continue the Haunted Driveway tradition in the years to come.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Amy said. “If you had asked me if this was going to be my life, I would have told you no. But here we are.”

But this may be the Kruegers’ last evil scheme of the year.

“Come by tomorrow,” Amy said. “You’ll see Christmas lights.”