Last modified: Friday, September 26, 2008 3:04 AM EDT Veteran ghouls Bill Wivell (left) and Tom Whiffen (right) are pictured at the Foxboro Jaycees Haunted House at the Orpheum Theatre in Foxboro in this Oct. 6, 2006 photo. The haunted house is set to open next week again at the Orpheum Theater — only for the first time in 20 years, it won’t be run by the Foxboro Jaycees. (File photo by Martin Gavin) Foxboro Jaycees opt out of haunted house BY ALEX SPEREDELOZZI FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE FOXBORO - The Foxboro Jaycees will not hold its annual haunted house fundraiser this Halloween season - ending a 20-year tradition - but the Orpheum Theatre will pick up the jack-o-lantern and carry on. And Mansfield is entering the Halloween business this season, too. The haunted house was the Jaycees top fundraiser, but the group is looking to other events to raise money, including a Nov. 8 craft fair at the Knight of Columbus. This year would have marked the 20th Jaycees haunted house. "It came down to lack of manpower," Jaycee President Mike Savage said. Membership in the organization is down and it is difficult to find people willing to give their time for the haunted house, which took 60 people a night to run, Savage said. The Jaycees still hope to provide the same level of financial help to area causes. The organization donates funds to more than two dozen organizations and charitable causes, including the Breast Cancer Walk and the Kennedy Donovan Center's Rodman Ride for Kids. The Jaycees also award three $2,000 student scholarships and many small donations. "We're hoping to streamline operating costs and don't see that we'll have to cut back donations," Savage said. For the past two years, the Jaycees teamed with the Orpheum Theatre to operate the haunted house. "We split the manpower and profits," said Bill Cunningham, executive director of Bay Colony Productions at the Orpheum. Cunningham said he was informed about the Jaycees' decision on Sept. 4. The Jaycees are loaning the theater their costumes, props, set pieces and other materials, he said. Though the Orpheum will go it alone this year, Cunningham said he is confident the theatre can make it work. "It takes about 20 to 30 volunteers," he said. The theater will revise the program. "It will be more of a walk-by, darker, scarier," Cunningham said. And it will be "less skit-oriented," he said, requiring fewer people. About 3,000 people attended the haunted house in 2007, about the same number as 2006, Cunningham said. The event will raise "potentially between $20,000 and $30,000, depending on expenses, advertising," he added. The proceeds will benefit the theater, though Cunningham is open to other organizations benefiting and contributing volunteers. The Orpheum has already reached out to the Foxboro High School Drama Club, he said. And the town of Mansfield is getting into the act this year with Mansfield Haunted Hollows in a wooded area at 60 Maple St. "We hope to get 400 to 1,000 people a night, which equals $4,000 to $10,000 a night," said Ben Yeransian, a Mansfield High School student who is coordinating, constructing and running the show with three others. Overall, they hope to raise $20,000 to $40,000, with proceeds benefiting the Mansfield Animal Shelter, he said. Yeransian and his colleagues have participated in other haunted houses, including those run by the Jaycees.