Fans of Akron’s Haunted Schoolhouse and Laboratory got an unexpected scare Friday when news broke that the 43-year Halloween amusement tradition had been sold.
But Cindy Johns — who founded the haunted house with her husband, Don Johns — said there’s nothing to fear.
“My daughter called it a new beginning, but I think of it more as a continuation,” she said.
Johns, 64, hand-picked the buyer — John Eslich, owner of Factory of Terror in Canton — who has vowed to honor the history of both the schoolhouse and laboratory.
Eslich said Friday that the Akron space is unique among haunted houses because it’s authentic.
“The schoolhouse was always a schoolhouse. The lab was always a lab. That’s never going to change because this isn’t a strip mall,” said Eslich, whose Factory of Terror in Canton is in an 160,000-square-foot abandoned aluminum foundry, earning it the Guinness World Record for largest indoor haunted house.
Eslich said he’ll likely bring some new, frightening technology to the Akron venues by next Halloween. He’s also planning to convert space in a banquet center on site to a year-round attraction featuring escape rooms — real-life puzzles where people are locked in a room and can’t get out until they work together and solve a series of themed challenges.
Eslich has been working with Johns for months on the sale, which will take effect next year.
“I know it’s not easy to find someone to take over the child you’ve had your whole life,” Eslich said. “[Johns] is going to be my No. 1 fan and consultant. I’m definitely going to lean on her over the next several years.”
Cindy and Don Johns bought the former Thomastown Elementary School on Triplett Boulevard from the Akron Board of Education in September of 1974 and opened what would become one of the oldest, continually operating haunted houses in the world.
In 1981, they added the haunted lab after purchasing the nearby abandoned Guggenheim Airship Institute, where scientists once conducted lighter-than-air flight and weather experiments.
Cindy Johns, who is the events manager at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, said her husband devoted much of his time to the haunts before he died unexpectedly in 2013.
“He was a creative mastermind ahead of his time,” she said. “This is his legacy.”
The haunted venue has racked up between 2.5 million and 2.75 million visits since opening, Johns said. And every scream, every fright, every bit of fun came from local talent and artists who created the sets and special effects in house.
Through the years, she estimates that 5,000 people have worked there seasonally. They’ve also kept a year-round staff of four to six people.
On Thursday, Eslich brought his staff of about 100 from the Factory of Terror to Akron’s Haunted Schoolhouse and Laboratory, where Johns served them apple cider and dozens of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. After Halloween — the Factory of Terror is open through the first weekend in November — the employees from Akron will visit Eslich’s haunted house.
The employees from both haunted venues have lots of ideas for new sets, costumes and collaborations, Eslich said. He’s also bringing in friends with experience from Buffalo and St. Louis to get their input for the haunted schoolhouse and lab, whose last fright under Johns happens Halloween night.
Between now and then, Johns invited people to visit the haunted schoolhouse and lab and share their memories with her.
“Just ask for me at the ticket window,” she said.
It’s a bittersweet moment for Johns.
“On one hand my heart is breaking,” she said. “But I’m at peace with who is buying it and the future and the respect that is being given to us.
“And,” she said, “I will always have a very strong connection to this place.”
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.