JACKSON — A group of Jackson Memorial High School students hope to scare visitors into donating money to fight cancer at their Halloween haunted trail this weekend.
The Country Oaks Massacre team — organized by Eric Mika, 17, and Chris Merwin, 16 — hope their “Scream for a Cure” horror trail off Anita Drive will raise money for the Lustgarten Foundation, which funds pancreatic cancer research.
Mika was a freshman in high school when his father George “Marty” Mika was diagnosed with cancer.
“He battled pancreatic cancer for a year and passed away on Valentine’s Day” of 2010, said Mika. “He always loved Halloween, and I guess that’s why I love Halloween.”
Friends Adam Woolverton, 17, and Mike Okulewicz, 17, both of Jackson, joined Merwin and Mika on Wednesday outside of Mika’s Anita Drive home, where they prepared the trail for opening night.
The acre-sized, walk-through trail includes an electric chair, toxic-waste swamp, graveyard, decaying skeleton under glass, and a maze of tight corners and dark doorways.
The group began working on the trail June 12, designing each scene, constructing building facades, and researching special effects.
Near the beginning of the trail, which meanders through the woods behind Mika’s home, a bridge crosses the scene of a toxic waste dump with spilled sludge drums. Black lights give an eerie glow at night to the soupy sludge, which uses fabric softener as its glowing ingredient.
Carefully placed lights are designed to add depth to building facades or draw the eye to an ominous silhouette.
“We like to disorient people and play with their minds,” Merwin said.
Though Merwin and Mika have operated the trail for three years, the death of Mika’s father inspired the two last year to use their talents for cancer research. When they decided to use the trail as a fundraiser in 2010, the trail raised about $800 for the Lustgarten Foundation, they said.
“Me and Eric (Mika) really enjoy Halloween,” said Merwin. “We eat, sleep, breath Halloween. That’s what we do.”
Merwin said he has spent about $2,000 on lumber, nails and other supplies this year, and has accepted gifts of fake coffins and other Halloween paraphernalia to create the scenes.
The fruits of their labor show, overtaking the front, side and backyards of Mika’s home. Storing all the supplies becomes a challenge each year, especially as the trail grows larger.
“It gets so much bigger every year, we have to start months in advance,” said Merwin. “It’s a never-ending process.
“We actually have a contract with Eric’s (Mika) mom that we have to have it cleaned up by the seventh (of November), which is not going to happen,” he added.
“As long as it all comes down, she likes it,” said Mika. “My mom didn’t want us to do a trail the first year…(but now) she loves it.”
Mika and Merwin hope to surpass last year’s donations, and have expanded the event to run for four days with the help of nearly 20 friends.
“We just want to have as many people come and raise as much money as we can,” said Merwin. “And we enjoy so much of what we do. Just us being able to do it is worth it.”
http://www.app.com/article/20111027/NJNEWS/310270109/Scream-cure?odyssey=nav|head
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