By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer       

VINCENT— Three years ago, Tim and David Miller and Vincent Police Chief James Srygley decided to open up their own haunted attraction. With a creepy corn maze, a spooky swamp and the haunted house, each year gets bigger and bigger at Hellbilly Hollow.

The attraction is set in the perfect location, according to Tim Miller. At 425 County Road 467 in Vincent, the hollow is about 18 miles away from Pell City and 15 away from Inverness.

“We call it a one-of-a-kind attraction,” Miller said. “We have a swamp we carry you through and we also have a corn maze, and then we have the haunted house, of course.”

Its location is also how the Millers got involved in the haunted house business. They started out doing it for free for the schools because the kids couldn’t have a Halloween carnival.

What started out as 20 to 30 kids grew to about 400 the last year the Millers ran it for free, so they decided to do it for a living. They teamed up with Srygley, and the three came up with a plan.

It helps that each member of the team has a specialty. According to Miller, David is mechanically inclined and can build anything, Srygley is great at design and handles security and Miller is a people person, handling PR and scares.

“We talk about it just 24/7 around here,” Miller said. “We go to a lot of haunted houses and we look at what works for them. We don’t do the exact thing, but we try to come up with (similar attractions). I know what scares me.”

Hellbilly Hollow features about 30 actors who bring the haunted scenes to life, and Miller also gets in on the action. He said he loves popping out and scaring people in the haunted house.

“We have a surgical scene this year and the doctor, he’s real good,” Miller said. “Our clowns are the best in the state of Alabama. They are good.”

People go into the house in groups of four or five, and Miller said the actors love to gauge how scared people are while winding through the house.

A crowd favorite, he said, is the swamp.

They pull groups of through the trail on tractors. In the chill night air, with fog rising off the water, guests travel through a cemetery, an old cabin and around the swamp where surprises lurk around every corner.

“The people who came out this week…they wanted to go back through the swamp again,” Miller said. “That’s what they were interested in. They loved it.”

Each year, Hellbilly Hollow has seen more guests and has grown to accommodate the audiences.  Miller said they have plenty of room to add onto the attraction, and they have big plans for the property.

For tickets and hours of operation, visit Hellbillyhollow.com.

“Come on out and bring (your) young ones,” he said. “We’ll scare them.”