“Expect the unexpected,” said Todd Josal.

“I’m excited to scare people,” said Alexandria McGrew.

“There’s a saying in the haunt industry,” said James Tubberville, “scare one, and the other nine go away happy.”

One thing Kitsap Haunted Fairgrounds does well, every year, is scare people.

Josal and Tubberville, two of the people responsible for the yearly haunting of Kitsap, have been in the “haunt industry” for well over a decade. The Kitsap Haunted Fairgrounds started in 2003, Josal said, but its predecessor, a backyard haunting, founded by Tubberville, his sister and his brother-in-law, had been going on for about five years before that.

“We did it for about five years there,” Tubberville said, “and then the county approached us. They said, ‘Hey, we have empty buildings, want to put on a show, and we’re willing to sponsor you.’

“That’s kind of how it began. And it’s just been growing.”

This year’s theme is the Hells Motel.

“If you’re looking for luxurious accommodations, the Hells Motel is not for you,” says the promotional material. “If you’re interested in a terrifying experience with unsavory, rude, surly and sometimes homicidal staff — this is your place!”

And the haunting lives up to the name. With three distinct exhibits — black light, swamp and hotel — there’s something for everyone.

“We like to make them feel very unsafe,” Josal said, “while we go to a lot of trouble to make sure everyone’s safe.

“We like to hit all the senses.”

Other than gruesome sights and terrifying sounds, scent packs, uneven floors and a disorienting spinning tunnel attack guests’ senses in a horrifying show not easy to forget.

“Whatever it takes to get them unsettled and not at all at-ease, not sure what to expect when they turn the corner,” Josal said.

The Haunting, formerly sponsored by the county, is not a product of Kitsap Haunted Productions, a nonprofit company founded by Tubberville and Josal. The entire event is run completely by volunteer efforts. Ticket proceeds are donated to various charities including the Kitsap Humane Society, and cans of food are collected (tickets are $1 cheaper if you bring a can of non-perishable food) for local food banks. They also intend to start funding a scholarship.

But none of the haunting would be possible without the ghosts, ghouls, zombies, vampires and other nightmarish figments to haunt the event.

“The first year I did it, it was 2012 and I loved it,” said haunting actress Gabrielle Eash. “I did a dark hallway, and then I did the vampire room. I did the sewer room. It was amazing.

“It’s the atmosphere,” she added. “the people you get to know that are into the weird things that you are. I think it’s the people, pretty much (that I like). And I like scaring kids.”

Jaclyn FitzPatrick, another actress this year, joined the volunteer cast thanks to another cast member, Randy Lewis.

“I got started because I got scared by him,” FitzPatrick said. “And he was like, you should do this next year. So (I am).”

Lewis said, “I like volunteering, helping out our community, but I also really love scaring people.”

He said that one thing he enjoys about the haunting is when people he knows go through. He also said he’s tried to get as many people to volunteer as possible.

McGrew, an actress who is featured in the graveyard, is volunteering for her first year with the Haunting. She sought a part in the haunting because she’s visited in the past.

“I love Halloween,” McGrew said. “I love going through the haunt every year, so this year, I wanted to try and be involved.”

All in all, here are around 200 volunteers Kitsap Haunted Productions keeps track of, and it’s only through the efforts of volunteer coordinator Vickie Josal, better known around the haunt as the Haunt Mom, that it’s possible.

“Keeping everything organized is a challenge,” Vickie Josal said. “But I really love doing this. Every year, when we get together and start building, it’s like Christmas, ’cause everybody loves to get together and see each other.”

Vickie Josal said it really is the people who make the haunt a worthwhile Halloween destination.

“When people put on makeup and they put on a costume, they can be someone they’re not,” Vickie Josal said. “And so people that are normally kind of shy, they can let loose and nobody knows who they are.”

Tubberville said, “There’s been people that have gotten married here, had kids and gotten jobs from the experience. Where do you get to say that? You’re a part of their life that way. I think that’d be the coolest thing.

“The funny thing about it is, all year round, they Facebook and talk and they get excited and do. It’s got a whole ‘nother life. And they call it the Haunt Family.”

The Kitsap Haunted Fairgrounds is open 5-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 31, with 5-6 p.m. being the lights-on, “no-scare” hour. Tickets for the lights-on hour are $5, or $15 for the lights-off hours. VIP admission, good for two times through the haunt plus front-of-the-line privileges is $20. All tickets are $1 off with canned-food donations, to benefit local food banks.

To learn more about the Kitsap Haunted Fairgrounds, visit www.kitsaphauntedfairgrounds.com.

Photos by Michelle Beahm