The Ames Jaycees are bringing the community a good scare this Halloween with their annual Haunted House Monster Bash.

The haunted house, located by the Cyclone Truck Stop near the intersection of Highway 30 and Interstate 35, is an abandoned house owned by the Ames Jaycees. The Jaycees have held their haunted house in the same location for the past three years.

“People coming out [of the haunted house] have said it’s very good and very scary,” said Danette Kenne, a member of the Ames Jaycees and co-chairwoman for the Haunted House Monster Bash.

Members of the Jaycees and other volunteers rebuild the house’s interior each year to create new sets and mazes for visitors.

“They’ve really outdone themselves this year,” said Doug Bywater, a junior in pre-engineering science at Iowa State and a volunteer for the haunted house. “Anyone who liked the house last year will enjoy it again this year.”

Kenne said this year volunteers started working on the house in the middle of September and have been planning and decorating ever since for this year’s Halloween. Visitors to the haunted house will encounter “lots of darkness” as they weave their way through an extensive maze and five new sets, Kenne said. Several monsters including vampires, mummies and zombies will roam the various rooms and corners of the house.

Bywater said most of the house is a dark maze.

One of the rooms is an operating room featuring a mad doctor. The Jaycees received actual body parts bottled up in jars from ISU’s College of Veterinary Medicine for the set.

“I don’t want to tell too much because there are a lot of surprises that I can’t give away,” Kenne said.

Bywater said he has volunteered for the Haunted House Monster Bash for the last two years. He said the event is a fun way for him to donate his time and efforts to the Ames community.

“The people who are staffing [the event] and being scary are having as much fun as the people who are being scared,” Kenne said.

The admission charge for the haunted house is $5 per person. Kenne said money earned from the event will be given back to the community through service projects organized by the Jaycees.

The Haunted House Monster Bash will open its doors Wednesday and Thursday from 7-10 p.m. On Friday and Saturday the house will be open from 7 p.m. to midnight.