Neighbors clamor for return of Springville drive-by haunted house

SPRINGVILLE — Like Frankenstein, Pete Widtfeldt has created a monster that is now beyond his control.

But unlike Frankenstein, this Springville resident's creation has gone horribly right. Now in its third season, Widtfeldt's front-porch animatronic re-creation of Disney's Haunted Mansion has become an annual tradition for many locals.

In fact, Widtfeldt wasn't even planning on setting up the show this year until people started clamoring to know why the drive-by haunted house wasn't in full swing yet.

"They'd say, 'Hey, you don't have anything up yet ... what's the deal?"' Widtfeldt said, then added with a laugh, "I'm a slave to my own creation at this point."

For the past two Halloween seasons, Widtfeldt spent weeks sychronizing lights and animatronics to a remixed soundtrack of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. Passersby then park on the curb in front of his home and listen to an eerie audio recording broadcast on FM 106.7 by a 2-watt transistor as the 10-minute show plays out.

Last year, some cars waited in line nearly two hours before they could take a turn watching the show, Widtfeldt said. In 2006, Haunt X — a Los Angeles-based organization for Halloween fanatics — awarded him for Best Novice Haunt in the United States.

But this year, Widtfeldt was planning on skipping the annual tradition. He and his wife were going on vacation, and he didn't think he'd have enough time to improve on last year's show. He broke the news to his colleagues in the Rocky Mountain Haunters — a group that shares an interest in Halloween. They were disappointed, but Widtfeldt thought that was as far as it would go.

Then the phone started ringing.

"Where is it?" people asked. Finally, with permission from his wife, Widtfeldt relented and spent three days setting up the drive-by haunted house.

"It's gone full circle," he said. "It's like a tradition."

Widtfeldt said he's always had a fascination with Halloween that stems from an old Disney's Haunted Mansion record that he'd listen to until he wore the grooves out. As a teenager he'd decorate the doorway of his home with hanging corpses. Then in 2006, he built the drive-by haunted mansion using a computer, three circuit boards, 48 outlets and countless extension cords to control the action on stage, including a ghoulish, automated butler, or ghost host — the break-out star of the production.