Scream, Inc.

As a sophomore at Texas A&M, Leonard Pickel and friends created a haunted house in the basement of their dorm. They spent $300 on props and materials, charged 50 cents a person and made $1,000 in two nights. It was a frightfully good time. After graduating with a degree in environmental design, Pickel worked on architectural projects, but continued to volunteer with haunted houses.

In March of ’91, Pickel quit architecture for the work he loves best-scaring people. He and his wife Jeanne started the Elm Street Hauntrepre-neurs. They own part of four houses around the country. Last October, his creepy house in Deep Ellum frightened around 15,000 people.

“Our target is a 21-year-old male. He’s with a date. He’s cool, macho. He can’t appear to be frightened.” Pickel says. “If we can get him. we’ve got everyone.”

And they can get him. Visitors don’t just walk through a Pickel house; they’re chased through by 25 actors in monster garb. In one house people feel a fiend groping from a grate beneath their feet. Pickel says that sometimes people panic and have to be prodded on.

“People always ask me how long it takes to go through. I tell them that it depends on how fast they can run,” Pickel says, laughing. The house at 2725 Canton will be open from October 1 through Halloween Night from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wed., Thurs. and Sun., and from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fri. and Sat. Admission is $6. Not recommended for children under 10.