Rescue squad seeks to rebuild haunted house

Members of the Lake Robinson Rescue Squad are on a mission to rebuild their famous haunted house by Halloween, but they’re going to need the community’s help to do it.

“It’s going to be an amazing feat to get it done in this short a time,” Lake Robinson Rescue Squad Capt. Jason Cooke said. “But we’re going to make every effort to pull it off and be up and running again this Halloween.”

The rescue squad’s haunted house in the Pine Ridge community, which brings in around $40,000 a year for the volunteer squad, burned to the ground Sunday night.

This was the 30th anniversary of the house being opened, and rescue squad members already were working on getting the house ready for this year.

All proceeds from from the haunted house, which was located off Old Camden Road between Hartsville and McBee, went to the Lake Robinson Rescue Squad for ambulances, fuel and other expenses. The squad was established in 1967.

The haunted house began as a Lake Robinson Rescue Squad fundraising tour of haunted places in Hartsville. Originally a house tour, the event grew in popularity until it was expanded to include a trail.

The rescue squad discovered the current location 11 years ago. The house that burned held deep sentimental meaning for squad members, Cooke said, because own of their own was killed in an accident in the process of building it.

“Scott Walters, who was one of our squad members, fell off the roof and was killed,” he said. “So that has made this whole thing that much worse for us. The haunted house means a lot to the community, and it means a whole lot to us, too.”

In addition to helping provide funding for ambulances and fuel, Cooke said, the proceeds from the haunted house have helped purchase a dive boat and a vehicle extrication truck.

Cooke said it will take both funds and volunteer laborers to rebuild a 3,200-square-foot haunted house in less than a month.

“We need plumbers, electricians, builders,” he said. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

Anyone who would like to help in the rebuilding effort is asked to meet at the site of the old house at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Victor Webster of Florence said he will be at Saturday’s meeting and hopes Pee Dee residents will rally to help the rescue squad accomplish its goal.

“I know how much that haunted house meant to them. They depend on that haunted house for funding to keep ambulances on the road, and that community depends on them a lot,” Webster said. “Rescue squads don’t get all kinds of government funding and tax dollars. They depend on fundraising to survive, so it’s crucial we get this haunted house back up and running by Halloween.”

Anyone who would like to donate money can send a donation to the Lake Robinson Rescue Squad Haunted House Fund, c/o Heritage Community Bank, P.O. Box 2255, Hartsville, SC 29551.

For more information about the rebuilding effort, call Cooke at (843) 861-3669 or e-mail him at .