Brock Rogers dedicates time, energy, money to offer thrills to community
Brock Rogers’ home haunted house wasn’t operating Oct. 22, but he was still hard at work on this year’s Halloween costume.
For the Milton-area resident and Cape grad, Halloween is his Christmas. His Neptune Road home can’t be missed. The front yard is filled with dozens of skeletons, ghosts, ghouls and other ungodly creatures. But that’s not even the main attraction.
Old Crow Manor is a walkthrough haunted house in Rogers’ garage. After a successful first year in 2023 through word of mouth and a little social media marketing, Rogers upped the game this year. A home electronics expert by trade, Rogers tapped into his skills to craft new creatures this year.
“I do it just for the fun of it,” Rogers said. “The kids need it nowadays.”
When Halloween rolled around again this year, Rogers posted a few videos on social media to let the community know the haunted house was back, and it will be open 7 to 10 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25, and 7:30 to 10:30 p.m., Halloween night, Thursday, Oct. 31.
“On Halloween, I’ll run it until the last person is in,” he said. “Last year, we had a line down the driveway.”
In 2023, he said, more than 200 people went through the haunted house on Halloween night. The spooky spot is typically open Fridays and Saturdays in October, but closed the Saturday before Halloween to accommodate a private party for family and friends.
The haunted house takes visitors through a series of dark rooms that are mostly lit by strobe lights or not at all. Four to five actors – usually family and friends in handmade costumes – are stationed throughout the experience to provide a few jump scares. Rogers said it’s appropriate for anyone over about 9 years old, but he’s had kids as young as toddlers go through it – he can communicate with the actors to tell them to tone it down.
“The kids are screaming their eyes out – or laughing – and the parents just love it,” Rogers said.
The haunted house is free, but Rogers does accept donations. He has a small sign with QR codes to send money, which he uses to offset the costs of operating the attraction and to up the ante in the future. While many of the front-yard decorations were purchased from big-box stores, Facebook Marketplace or other places, he spends months each year handcrafting many other props such as skeletons, tombstones and coffins. He also builds everything that’s inside the haunted house. He has amassed so many decorations, he keeps a shipping container next to his garage for storage.
Although this is the second year Rogers is inviting the public, he said he’s been decorating his home on Neptune Road since he moved there in 2020. Halloween has always been a big holiday for his family, he said. They always handed out candy, then went to his grandparents’ house for a Halloween party. He said he’s the only one in the family who decorates to this extent, though, and with a functioning haunted house and a garage bar, his house is the perfect place to keep the Halloween party going each year.
Rogers’ home is located at 23266 Neptune Road, Milton. Visitors are asked to follow a path around the garage to park out back. To learn more about the Old Crow Manor Haunted House, search for Brock Rogers on social media platforms.
