Bowie Resident's Haunted House Open Weekends Until Nov. 2

BOWIE, MD — A Bowie resident's famous haunted house is back again this year on weekends through Nov. 2, and he promises an extra-scary surprise for visitors — as well as more donations for the local food pantry.

Tim Jumbelick's haunted house at 5016 Patuxent Riding Lane will be open from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights (Oct. 25-26), as well as Halloween night, Oct. 31. And for the first time ever, he'll be open past Halloween, on Friday and Saturday night that week (Nov. 1-2).

It's the fifth year Jumbelick has done the haunted house at this location. For years prior, he did it at Prince George's Stadium.

Every year, Jumbelick tries to do something different, and this year he says there will be a surprise for visitors — although he says you'll have to come by to find out what it is.

"The challenge is doing different things with the same stuff, so it's completely different every year," said Jumbelick, who pays for the entire operation out of pocket and doesn't receive any proceeds.

However, visitors can bring cash donations and canned goods for the Bowie Food Pantry, which the house benefits each year.

"The 100 percent most rewarding thing is knowing that we're feeding people," he said. "I grew up poor, we were hungry — we had plenty of dinners with tomato soup poured over top of toast. No kid deserves that."

He said this is a good time of year to donate because the cupboards of food pantries are bare. People like to donate around Thanksgiving or Christmas, but there is a lot of need during Halloween, too, he said.

Whatever you bring, Jumbelick promises you'll have a good time, and the house has certainly been one of Bowie's top Halloween attractions over the years.

"We've had thousands of people come through," he said. "Literally they were lined up and down the street."