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A house of horrors

Hundreds of kids continued the seven-year tradition of visiting the local fire department's haunted house in Rankin Inlet on Halloween evening.
This year's edition featured a talking vampire, plenty of spooky lights, a modern-era Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies and a not-quite-so-dead body – in casket and all – at the end of the haunted house's little maze.

And, of course, there were plenty of tasty treats to go around.

These two terrifying ghouls won't utter a sound at the fire department's haunted house before vanishing into the night in Rankin Inlet on Oct. 31, 2018. Darrell Greer/NNSL photo
These two terrifying ghouls won't utter a sound at the fire department's haunted house before vanishing into the night in Rankin Inlet on Oct. 31, 2018.
Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Rankin Fire Chief Mark Wyatt said the department's haunted house is one more thing for the kids of Rankin Inlet to do on Halloween.

He said a few firefighters also take the trucks out around the town during the 6 to 8 p.m. trick-or-treat time to toss about some candy treats and help make sure the kids are having fun in a safe environment.

"We patrol in the truck to help make sure things don't happen like young kids having their candy taken away by older kids and that sort of stuff," said Wyatt.

"It's just a good presence, having the trucks out there and setting up the hall up here is good as a safe place for people to come and trick-or treat and have fun at the same time.

"I don't know exactly how many, but we had hundreds of kids drop by."

It took the Rankin firefighters about two days to get the hall ready, setting it up as time permitted.

Wyatt said it's always awesome to see how the kids react to the haunted house.

He said you never know just what to expect from each group that arrives.

"Some kids were too scared to come in, some didn't think it was scary at all and some had a great time.

"It was like some of them just like to be scared, so they'd go outside and then come back in to be scared again.

"In my three years in Rankin, I haven't seen anything like older kids stealing candy or anyone handing out bad treats, which really speaks to Rankin's sense of community.

"We had a fire a couple of years ago right before Halloween, but that had nothing to do with the occasion itself."

Wyatt said about 10 firefighters were really instrumental in making the haunted house happen and having a presence out on the street.

He said every one of them enjoyed the evening with the kids.

"It's always more special when it's about the kids," he said.