FERRIER FILES: Haunted House in small Tennessee town is staffed by the city's finest

LINDEN, Tenn. (WZTV) — When you live in small-town Tennessee sometimes you must get creative with your fundraising.

That is exactly what is happening in Linden, population of a 1,000 people, where the city is using an old, historic building to raise money.

Three Perry County state basketball championships were earned in the old gymnasium in downtown Linden. Obviously, that was a long time ago. This building sat vacant for years until inspiration met necessity.

Let's start with necessity.

It is hard to finance a fire department with a tax base 1,000 people and change.

"$800 to $1,200 bucks just for a jacket. Boots are 200 dollars,"Town of Linden fire chief Don Bates said.

This is expensive stuff.

"As you can see, you're looking at $2,000 worth of equipment right here," Bates said.

And so Bates and Mayor Wess ward started talking, which lead to to inspiration.

"It's an older building but its structurally sound and so the mayor and I say, 'hey, we brainstormed we decided on a haunted house man,' and here we are," Bates said.

"Every step you take the floor creaks you know and there are all the dark places and the spider webs it’s a very interesting building to say the least," Ward said.

The fire dept, the city workers, the sheriff's department and inmates, all put the Town of Linden's haunted house together, a Labyrinth of terror.

And here's something you won't find anyone else, .the tour guide is the fire chief. The terrifying crawling cowboy zombie who emerges from the coffin, that’s Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems.

Pennywise Clown is city clerk Bethany Dabbs. The mayor also plays a killer clown. This devilish dungeon is staffed by the city's finest, arguably the safest place in town when its operation.

In fact, in an industry where almost all the actors are teenagers this haunted house is staffed almost entirely by adults.

"We're always looking to do anything to try to bring people to town and give them something to do cheap, family fun, safe and friendly, " Ward said.

The Town of Linden Haunted House is open Friday and Saturday nights. It's without question a bargain: $5 admission, yet it takes a solid 15 minutes to get through the haunt.. There's also some great jump scares, if you are into that kind of thing.