REDMOND – At the Haunted ”Were” House, silent ”theater patrons” wearing black cloaks and bloody masks sneak up behind people and tease them with their skinny, black fingers.

Old clips from classic horror films like ”Psycho” play nonstop on huge wall and screams of sheer terror emanate from every direction.

And that’s while you are waiting in line.

”I’ve been to haunted houses before,” said Jami Erickson. ”But nothing compares to this.” Erickson, her two children and a friend drove all the way from Gilchrist and then waited in their car for three hours before having the bejabers scared out of them.

Morgan King, 11, who came with the family, claims it’s all worth it.

”I was scared,” she said, calming her nerves with a candy bar outside the darkened building. ”I closed my eyes the whole time.”

For Scott Wegner, owner of Display Dynamics and producer of the haunted house, the chorus of screams means his work is a success. The numbers – 500 people went through the house on Saturday night – reveal the same.

”People love to be scared,” he said. ”But they usually come out laughing at the end, pointing at each other and remembering something funny from inside.”

One of those ”funny” things is 16-year-old Stephanie Pelham, dressed as a clown-gone-bad with a mask guaranteed to frighten even the most devoted clown-lover. Clowns, Pelham noted, are a natural fear.

”I like making the adults scream,” she said. ”And I love making the college guys scream because they think they’re too good for haunted houses.”

Hearing the footsteps of Death – the grim ripper guides groups through the house – Pelham pulled her face back on and got to work as an unsuspecting mass of giggles made it’s way around the corner.

Laugh now – and many people were – but Pelham and clown cohort Tristan Price, 15, made quick work of the group, turning the snickering teen-agers into a huddling blob of screams in a matter of seconds.

Pelham and Price are part of about 35 volunteers that act in the ”were” house, which is sponsored by Redmond Economic Development.

The clowns were one of several theme rooms. Wegner said many of his ideas for the haunted house came from horror movies, new and old, from the insane asylum on one end to the vampires lunging out of coffins at the other.

”Lots of haunted houses are focused on gory stuff like someone sawing off a guy’s leg, but that doesn’t scare me,” he said.

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”For this house, I was thinking more of just some good, wholesome fright.”

The wholesome fright, however, does get to some people.

Haunted house volunteers have had to remove crying children and freaked-out adults from the show.

”We give them a refund,” Wegner said. ”And bring them out to the front where there’s some popcorn and snacks.”

For crazy clown Price, crying kids and adults demanding to be let out come with the territory.

”On one hand, I feel it’s good because that’s what we’re supposed to do,” Price said. ”On the other, I sometimes feel bad afterwards because I think, I just made a kid cry.’ ”

The haunted house is targeted for an adult crowd and may be too scary for young children. The tour through the house, in a large building near the Redmond airport, takes about 15 minutes.

And for Allan Herauf, of Bend, the house provided 15 minutes of fun.

”It was spooktacular,” he said.

The Haunted ”Were” House will be open Monday through Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and then on Halloween from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Admission is $6 and the house is located at 2502 SE First Street in Redmond.

Kelly Kearsley can be reached at 541-504-2336 or kkearsley@bendbulletin.com.