Haunted houses

Some of us cringe at the thought of spooks invading our homes.

Not Joe Marquez. He made up a cushy coffin bed in the living room for one wicked monster and helped another fiendish fellow set up a human rotisserie out by the driveway.

And not Dee Rice. She plays hostess for one scary-looking couple’s “Wedding of the Dead” on her front lawn, complete with guest seating for all of their creepy friends.

Meet the creators of the Top of Utah’s home haunts, the folks who throw out the welcome mat — blood-splattered though it may be — for all kinds of ghastly creatures come Halloween.

Bats and cobwebs fill the trees in the haunters’ yards, half-dead things crawl across their lawns. When October rolls around, it’s time for Marquez, Rice and others to work their magic and turn their seemingly home-sweet-homes into home-haunted-homes.

As sure as pumpkins are turning orange and leaves are fading to gold, the shrieks and screams pierce the autumn air.

Can you hear them, rattling out of the dark and vacant building sitting just off the busy highway? Or listen -- what's that unearthly noise, drifting out of the shadows of the murky swamp?

Sounds like another haunting season is under way in the Top of Utah -- monsters and zombies are back on the prowl after months of rest in their cobwebbed hideaways.

The scares are out there for 2011 in a myriad of forms, from indoor and outdoor haunted attractions to the puzzling -- and spooky -- configurations of numerous corn mazes.

We caught up with three local haunters for a peek at the season ahead: Andy Wilson and Sean Murray are newcomers to the Top of Utah, opening the Carnival of Chaos on Riverdale Road; Bill McCalmant manages the Haunted Hollow, a long-standing West Haven attraction getting back in action after floodwaters hit earlier this year.