Blood on Borden: Sycamore home transforms into spooky attraction

SYCAMORE – A Sycamore family has transformed their house into a haunted attraction, called Blood on Borden, for Halloween weekend, and everyone is welcome to enjoy the family-friendly spooky experience.

Blood on Borden, at 848 Borden Ave., will be open from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 4 to 8 p.m. on Halloween, Oct. 31. Admission is free.

Home owner David Elleson – of Elleson’s Bakery – said he hopes the public stops by to check out what he and his family have created, but he emphasized that the name of the haunted house isn’t necessarily indicative of the fright levels.

“It’s scary, but it’s not too bad. I mean, because I’m right next to [South Prairie Elementary School], I have to kind of keep it PG-13. There’s no, like, blood spilling out everywhere,” Elleson said.

A minute-long YouTube video was produced to promote the haunted house. The production portends the spooky and uncanny haunts that visitors will find at the family-friendly house of horrors.

Elleson has hosted the family-run haunted house for the past three years, taking after his brother, Erick Elleson, who began the tradition 17 years ago.

“Then my brother got into it, and now since he’s been doing this extravagant thing – I have an 18-month-old kid, I want to go trick-or-treating – so I gave, on loan, some of my stuff for him,” said Erick Elleson, 38. “He’s got a good haunt. He took it to the next level.”

The spill-chilling attraction weaves through the family’s home before sending visitors through a tight labyrinth of classic horror movie haunts. There’s an exorcism room, a prisoner tied to an electric chair, spiders on the wall, and moving and talking ghoulish figures.

Strobe lights, fog machines, metal chains and various lighting fixtures add to the experience, but the attraction may not be for the faint of heart or those susceptible to light-induced seizures.

The haunted house isn’t the only thing on the minds of the Ellesons this weekend. The tourism brought to town from the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival means the last week of October is big for business at Elleson’s Bakery.

It also means more than candy will be given away at the free haunted house in Sycamore.

“I’m here helping the family out baking for Pumpkin Fest, since we own Elleson’s Bakery,” Erick Elleson said. “I think on Halloween [my brother’s] actually giving away pumpkin-spiced doughnuts. I mean, people get weary about fresh things given out during Halloween. [But], hey, this is an Elleson who owns Elleson’s Bakery, and the doughnuts are coming from Elleson’s Bakery.”