Albany couple bring ‘tunnel of horror’ to area trick-or-treaters

ALBANY — If you happened to be riding along East Doublegate Drive in Albany on Halloween night, that looooong line of people you encountered was not a protest group that had lost its access to food and insurance to an inept government.

No, the ghosts and ghouls in that blocks-long group were eagerly awaiting their turn to make their way through Tonette and Wayne Allen’s Halloween Tunnel, where creatures of the macabre waited to scare the bejesus out of them.

The Allens’ tunnel is fast becoming one of the highlights of All Hallow’s Eve for southwest Georgia kids who like a little spookiness with their candy and treats. And this year’s tunnel was laid out to scare up enough thrills and chills to last until next Oct. 31.

“We moved in here about five years ago, and we noticed a lot of neighbors put out decorations on their porches and in their yards, but no one in the neighborhood had anything for the kids to do,” Wayne Allen said. “Tonette and I are not ‘normal’ trick-or-treaters; we want to make it fun.

“Our kids are grown, so the first year I just put on my Ghillie Suit (hunting camouflage), hid behind our big brick mailbox, jumped out and scared the kids. But we wanted to do something bigger, so we came up with the idea of our Halloween tunnel. And it’s gotten bigger and bigger each year.”

The Allens’ tunnel this year twisted and turned for some 130-140 feet, with three separate rooms filled with as grisly a collection of spooks as there is this side of Transylvania. Wayne Allen introduced a visitor to each member of the collection: a ghoul here, a soul reaper there (complete with smoke that represented the soul of the reaper’s victims), a horrifying boogyman, the spider den, Barney, the caged lunatic, and an 8-foot or so werewolf among them.

“I have my stereo set up outside with speakers for the different characters,” Wayne Allen said. “We have a fog machine with dry ice, all kinds of effects … I promise you it will be fun-scary for anyone who comes through.”

Folks in the Allens’ East Doublegate neighborhood have been supportive of their fun display, so much so that Tonette Allen decided to make this year’s tunnel something of a community outreach project.

“One of our neighbors likes what we’re doing so much, he’s paying for security for this year’s event,” she said. “And we’ve gotten nothing but support from our neighbors, no complaints.

“The folks at Mark’s Greenhouse heard about the tunnel and donated building materials this year, which is a big help. Many in the community have offered to donate money to help with expenses, but we’ve not taken any money. This is our gift to the community. But this year, I decided to accept donations on behalf of Liberty House. They do such great things for our community, so this year if anyone wants to donate, we’re giving 100% of any money collected to Liberty House.

The Allens started welcoming guests to their fright night as the sun went down, Wayne in his “very realistic” devil mask and Tonette in her gorilla suit. They gave out out light rings, wands and bracelets to help keep trick-or-treaters highly visible as they moved along on their quest for sweet treats.

“Halloween was different when we were young; I still remember the feel and smell of those plastic masks we used to wear,” Tonette Allen said. “We wanted to bring that kind of Halloween fun back, just good family fun.”

Of course, with the frights and thrills that the kids experienced at the Allens’ tunnel, the kind of “family fun” they experienced was the kind of fun one might get by visiting the Addams Family.