Last modified: Friday, October 31, 2008 10:03 AM EDT Jack in the Box clown Stephanie McCarthy of Mansfield scares guests with her saw. Horror at Haunted Hollows BY ALEX SPEREDELOZZI MANSFIELD - From deep within the dark woods between Oakland and Maple streets, the roar of chain saws and screams shattered the quiet night. Chopping, banging and shouting echoed through the trees, sending chills down the spine. Welcome to Haunted Hollows, where the macabre minds of Mansfield teenagers come "alive" on Friday and Saturday evenings this month. And all for a good cause: the Mansfield Animal Shelter. The event is the creation of Ben Yeransian, 17, and friends Tate Shephard, Tyler Schmidt and Lauren Tillsbury, all students at Mansfield High School. Assisting with the production are fellow students from the high school, including many from the Drama Club. "Diehards from previous haunts," Yeransian called some of the volunteers. The show at Haunted Hollows, titled "Nightmare Nation," opened last Friday with 160 brave souls taking the 10- to 15-minute "press" tour through a winding maze, guided by "reporters" from Necro News Corp. Visitors met an array of characters, including Lizzie Borden-like parent killer Tabitha. At the blood-splattered asylum, a crazed doctor yelled, "Brains, that's what I want!" just moments before her "daughter" blew out the flame on the asylum's lone candle. And there was the butcher shop where Dr. Mincus held court with a knife the size of a man's forearm. Throughout the tour, ghouls in black lurked nearby, startling their prey at the time and place of their choosing. Sounds and sights continually ambushed the senses. A haunted attraction enthusiast since age 10, Yeransian said he and his friends pitched the idea for Haunted Hollows to the Mansfield Board of Selectmen in January, requesting permission to use town land. Though the planned production was bigger than anything they had ever done, the youngsters had a track record. Yeransian said that, when they were in elementary school, he and friend Tate Shepherd would create haunted houses for their parents. Later on, they attended and then volunteered for the annual haunts sponsored by the Foxboro Jaycees and by Jack Sharpe, a local haunt aficionado. "It was horrifying to us," said Yeransian. Last year, they held a small haunt in a barn on the Shephard property, raising $600, which they donated to the shelter. This year, however, they hope to raise at least $10,000 to $15,000. Construction began last May and the youngsters have been working all summer, intent on horrifying area residents this Halloween season and raising funds to help build a new animal shelter. "It's a creative outlet for him," said Ben's father, Tom. He said his son and his son's friends have been going to haunts for several years. Now he said, "they don't go as people to be scared. They go in as people who are studying haunts. They extract ideas from each of the haunts." To help fund the project, the young "social" entrepreneurs, with some modest help from their parents, solicited local organizations and businesses. IBEW Local 104 became the official sponsor and donated $2,500, said Tom Yeransian. Calare Properties, whose land abuts the woods, is letting Mansfield Haunted Hollows use its parking lot and providing free lights and electricity, according to Sharpe. The firm also donated 300 wood pallets, which the youngsters used as building material for the maze and other structures. Home Depot also donated materials and Mini Warehousing loaned out two trailer-size containers to store equipment and materials. A host of other businesses including Mansfield Municipal Electric Company, Pedini Electric, area supermarkets and others have pitched in as well. "It's a real production. A big deal," said Jack Sharpe, who served as a consultant to the youngsters and loaned them equipment he has acquired through the years of producing his own haunts. The production includes 70 extension cords, about one mile altogether, he said. A telephone pole was installed to bring in electricity. Biting down on a cigar and leaning against his red Ram 1500 pickup, Sharpe said, "The high school kids, they're driving this. They (the kids) made this work." "There are about 40 of them in there," he said, referring to the teen volunteers in the woods working the event. Sharpe stopped staging haunts himself after last year, when 1,700 people visited his home-based event. "My wife said, 'You go, or they go. I'm not going to have all these monsters and people in my house.'" Producing a successful haunt requires a great deal of work and coordination. They worked on the haunt "almost every day in the summer," said Tom Yeransian. Since school started, they have been at the site after school and on weekends. The final week before opening was the most challenging. "We thought this would be too much for him," said Tom Yeransian. "When he wants to do something, there's no stopping him. He's very focused, a hard worker." At the start of the tour, guides Olivia Khoshatefeh and Jessica Simons, both students at Mansfield High, held up the seven people in their group from proceeding until they listened to the recorded rules. "Touch nothing, and nothing will touch you," warned the ghoulish voice. "This is not for people with pacemakers, heart problems or young children." "You are entering at your own risk," is the final caution. Khoshatefeh then signaled the group to move forward along the dimly lit path. Suddenly, everything went black. The tour had begun. ALEX SPEREDELOZZI is an intern at the Sun Chronicle and is pursuing a master's degree at the Harvard Extension School. He can be contacted at asperedelozzi@hotmail.com.