By STEPHANIE BRUMFIELD / Staff Writer

VINCENT – Although, historically, Halloween and Christianity are known for butting heads, Vincent resident Tim Miller has entirely different view on the matter. Miller, who grew up going to church, said his parents “used to scare the hell out of us” on Halloween.

Returning the favor, Miller has helped produce a haunted house for the students of Coosa Valley Academy for the past six years. This year, he’s opening up his haunted house to the public.

“We travel to all of the haunted houses, and we always have to stand in line and wait,” Miller said. “We have such a nice old farm with old buildings and old equipment (that we thought) they could be riding a hay ride while they’re waiting to go through the haunted house … It’s an old dairy farm with a creek view setting. Folks really enjoy that.”

Dubbed Hellbilly Hollow, the haunted house opened Sept. 27 with about 200 in attendance the first weekend. The house, located at 425 Shelby County 467 in Vincent, is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays starting at 6:30 p.m. until Nov. 2.

Miller said he and a group of about five others started working on the house last November, working mainly on weekends. It takes about 25-30 individuals to staff the haunted house each night, Miller said.

“We’re going to add scenes and kind of tinker with it,” Miller said. “We hope it grows and grows. We hope to do a haunted corn maze next year.”

Miller is also a proponent of safety.

“We have metal detectors for (participants) to go through. We want to make sure it’s a safe environment for everybody,” he said.

Admission is $15 and includes a wagon ride swamp tour that drops participants off at the haunted house. The cost for non-scary hayrides is $5. A 20 percent discount is also given to students.

Hours for Hellbilly Hollow are Thursdays from 6:30-10 p.m., Fridays from 6:30-midnight and Saturdays from 6:30-midnight or later.

For more information, visit Facebook.com/Hauntedswamp.