{"id":332956,"date":"2025-10-26T03:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T03:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/332956\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T03:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T03:34:11","slug":"st-johns-county-17-year-olds-elaborate-free-haunted-house-becomes-halloween-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/332956\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Johns County 17-year-old\u2019s elaborate free haunted house becomes Halloween hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Towering 15-foot animatronic creatures loom in the darkness. Narrow corridors twist through a maze of shadows where live actors lurk, ready to emerge from hidden corners. This isn\u2019t a professional haunted attraction \u2013 it\u2019s the front yard of a St. Johns County home, transformed into a house of horrors by a St. Johns County teenager.<\/p>\n

Preston Simmons, a 17-year-old Creekside High School senior<\/a>, has converted his home on Fruit Cove Forest Road into a haunted spectacle. The elaborate setup features 74 animatronic creatures and a team of actors who guide visitors through tight, winding passages designed to maximize scares.<\/p>\n

15-foot animatronics tower in the front yard of this homemade haunted house. (News4JAX)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just feels good. It feels pretty good to see all these people lining up coming to my house for this one thing that I made,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n

What started three years ago with a single animatronic purchase has grown into a full-scale production. Simmons has invested over $10,000 in the project, funding it through various jobs and personal sacrifices.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now working at Home Depot. Last year I worked at Spirit Halloween. I\u2019ve been selling a lot of things from my childhood,\u201d Simmons explained.<\/p>\n

Despite the investment and months of preparation and building, Simmons doesn\u2019t charge a dime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love seeing the community come out here and go through everything and see what they think,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The free attraction has become a neighborhood highlight, drawing hundreds of visitors from across the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just has that real grassroots feel. It\u2019s not someone that\u2019s putting it together professionally, but it still feels so awesome and well done. We drive by here almost every day after school just because the kids love to see it,\u201d said Courtney Azzari said with her son by her side.<\/p>\n

74 animatronics surround a home on Fruit Cove Forest Road South for Halloween. (News4JAX)<\/p>\n

Another visitor, Penelope Marino, said she had never been before. She heard about the haunted house from her friends and said she was excited to go inside. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love scary stuff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The setup weaves through the side yard, backyard and garage to create a full haunted house experience. One visitor said they wouldn\u2019t expect it in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, you go to a shopping center to do something like this. Having it here, it\u2019s just a part of our community. It feels like it belongs to us,\u201d Azzari added.<\/p>\n

Simmons admits he doesn\u2019t even enjoy visiting haunted houses himself \u2013 but he loves creating them. He sees potential for this hobby to develop into something bigger.<\/p>\n

Tight hallways, lights and actors bring together the haunted house experience at a St. Johns County teen’s home. (News4JAX)<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want to do something unique versus a lot of people and this is definitely unique, and I feel like this could be a very good career. And it\u2019s great. It\u2019s really cool. I love doing this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Simmons has ambitious plans to expand the attraction. He\u2019s considering moving the haunted house to a warehouse next year to up his scare game.<\/p>\n

For those interested in experiencing the haunted house, the final day of operation will be Sunday, with doors open from 7:45 p.m. to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Towering 15-foot animatronic creatures loom in the darkness. Narrow corridors twist through a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":332957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,94765,3188,723,17810,106326,7310,14638,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-332956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-creekside-high-school","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-halloween","13":"tag-haunted-house","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-st-johns-county","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115438371730783301","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}