The newest ride at the Sanctuary of Evil Haunted House is literally the last ride at the 1¼-acre scarefest now in its eighth year. Add an extra $2 to the $5 admission for the privilege of lying in a closed coffin and taking a simulated ride from the funeral home to the grave — bumps, dumps, bugs and all.

The haunted house and corn maze at 936 Carpenter Road in Oakley is not for the faint of heart. In addition to chain saws and vampire pirates, there are medical procedures gone awry and spooks of every ilk waiting to make revelers scream.

Also new this year is an element called "Claustrophobia." Let's just say it's a tight fit.

Founder Andreina Sanve and partner in fright Yvonne Fee are Halloween people. The pair lives and breathes for the frightful holiday. Sanve admits it's an obsession. Her husband was a bit miffed when she installed a permanent display of a 22-foot pirate ship in the front yard. This year, a Western town was built along one side of the home. And she and Fee have been nurturing the corn maze since spring. The fun house is twice the size it was last year, they said.

Sanve bought the pirate boat for $200 from Delta Vista Middle School after it served as a float in the Oakley Almond Festival.

"I always wanted a pirate ship," she says, as she showed off its active octopus and multiple haunted crew members.

Fee is proud to announce that two families got lost in the maze and had to call for help during the opening the first week of October.

The women, also co-leaders for local Girl Scout Troop 31437, are so hopped up on haunting that they hope to open a professional venue in the next few years. Until then, Sanve's home, a preschool and day care by day, will continue to scare the pants of locals during the spooky nights of October (and Nov. 1). Proceeds go toward the year's activities for the Girl Scout Troop and Boy Scout Venture Crew 152, which joined the effort last year.

The teen Scouts are a big part of the venue's appeal, says Venture Crew adviser Bill Fee, Yvonne Fee's husband.

"All the kids are live props," he jokes, adding the characters tend to refrain from going after younger visitors. "But the bigger kids are fair game!"

For Sanve and Yvonne Fee, the Scouts' performances are key. Scouts are tutored in bringing the same sort of passion to their scaring as they do to their merit badge work, or more so.

Girl Scout Jessica McCuan, 13, is one of the more excited cast members. She's been working at the haunted house since the Girl Scout troop got involved in 2005 and raised more than $600 for the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief fund.

"Some of my friends think it's cool. Some of my friends think I'm weird and strange for liking it so much," she says, adding that she has three costumes for the haunted house.

McCuan isn't about to be dissuaded by peer pressure. She'll be haunting the halls every weekend possible, and often pipes up with new ideas for terrifying visitors, says Sanve.

There's more to the event for Scouts than creeping out the customers, the leaders say. The teens depend on this as a major fundraiser for yearlong activities that include everything from white-water rafting to spelunking to the long-term savings for a trip to Disneyland a few years ago.

The haunted house has grown up, and grown scarier, with the Scouts, Sanve and Fee say, so they are sensitive to younger and fright-challenged visitors. Those unwilling to brave the dark recesses of the tour can wait the estimated 20 minutes at the "Scare Care Center," where crafts and face painting offer a less terrifying experience.

Sanve and Fee, however, are already cranking up ideas for next year's fun. Sanve rattles off a narrative about a hapless fellow on the front lawn who lost his head over a drunken driving experience. She would like to eventually create a narrative thread for the haunted house. She and Fee plan to attend a party convention this year to look for more rides similar to the coffin.

"We try to change it up every year," Sanve says.

She and Fee count their success in screams collected. Be prepared to pay, and pay, and pay.

(Tammy Hansen, “Sanctuary of Evil open for business in Oakley,” Contra Costa Times, 7 October 2009, ContraCostaTimes.com.)