A cannibal nurse snacks on a prop body in the asylum during opening weekend at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ One of the crazy clowns in the carnival house sticks her tongue out to lick a rat at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A clown laughs as rats crawl on her head at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A creepy clown greets visitors at the entrance of the carnival house at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A wall of faces appears to scream for help during opening weekend at Akron Fright Fest at Kim Tam Park at Melanie Lake on Oct. 6 in Springfield. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A zombie welcomes visitors outside the asylum house at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A clown begs guests for help as they make their way through the carnival house at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ Leatherface waits for his next victim outside of the hillbilly cabin at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A surgeon snacks on the foot of a prop body in the asylum at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ One of the crazy clowns in the carnival house sticks her tongue out to lick a rat at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A clown laughs as rats crawl on her head at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A zombie nurse screams at guests in the asylum at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A clown begs guests for help as they make their way through the carnival house at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ Leatherface waits for his next victim outside of the hillbilly cabin at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ The entrance of the carnival house is made to look like a clown face at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲ A creepy clown greets visitors at the entrance of the carnival house at Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park in Springfield Township. [Jeff Lange/ABJ/Ohio.com correspondent] ▲

Be prepared.

Prepare to be touched.

Hoisted over a stranger's shoulder and carried off.

Shoved into a closet.

And that's if you are one of the lucky ones.

I personally had a knife (I like to think it was plastic) held to my neck, not once but three times, threatening to slice into my jugular.

My manhood, in particular my virility, was challenged multiple times. Not to be left out, they also challenged the womanhood of my sweet wife, Jennifer, who was holding onto my hand for dear life.

We had to crawl to relative safety, bounce on mattresses and even find our own way out of rooms while being showered with insults and swear words.

This is all just a typical Friday or Saturday night for visitors at Akron's newest haunt.

Akron Fright Fest at Melanie Lake at Kim Tam Park is rewriting all the rules.

You will be touched. You will be verbally abused. Some of the scenes are extremely graphic and downright disturbing.

This is not your typical PG haunt, and its owner is not your typical haunted house operator.

Jeremy Caudill, who bought the private swimming lake and picnic park in Springfield Township earlier this year, is a self-described real estate investor and wrestling promoter.

By his own admission, Caudill knows nothing about running a haunted house, so he turned to others who have been scaring up such business for decades in the Akron area.

What he wanted was a way for the park to attract visitors year-round, not just in the summer for swimming and wrestling matches he hosts there.

What he got is a haunt that is already creating a buzz on social media.

"The last time I was in one was eight or nine years ago," Caudill said. "My son was terrified. He ran to the first exit sign. That was the last time I was in one and now I'm in the business."

He is quick to point out his haunted houses — you get three of them for a $25 ticket — aren't family fare.

"These are just not kid friendly," he said. "There are some pretty risque things in there."

The Canton Road haunt's scaremaster is Pete Kolomichuk. He's a mountain of a man who looks more like a wrestler than a special effects guy and master of scares.

Kolomichuk has dreamed up haunted houses all over Northeast Ohio, but this one is unlike any of the others.

He can think of only one other haunted attraction in the state — the Dead Acres Haunted Hoochie in Pataskala — that attacks a guest's fears, moral compass and sensibilities like the Akron Fright Fest.

"We are really doing something special here that no one else is offering," he said. "People really want this. They are tired of cookie-cutter haunted houses."

For an additional $30, guests can go online and book a time for two separate attractions that are even more extreme than the other three. You have to fill out a waiver form, print it out and bring it along.

Once you step inside, you run the risk of being snatched up, dragged to a dingy-looking space and placed in restraints.

There's a good chance your clothes will rip — so don't wear your favorite jeans or lucky T-shirt — and you might also get a bruise or two along the way.

The "fresh meat," as guests are called, are verbally and mentally attacked by the actors, who might even try to force-feed you.

Kolomichuk said in the first weekend 17 guests ventured in, and only one made it to the very end of the experience. Most snap early on, he said, and say a "safe" word that brings it all to a merciful end.

"We are doing something pretty original here," Kolomichuk said.

That's not to say the three haunted attractions included in the regular admission are leisure strolls through a cemetery.

They limit groups to two or three at a time so the actors have plenty of time to mess with you.

First up is the Asylum House.

Let's just say things have gone horribly wrong inside and doctors are no longer in. You have to make your way through the institution that looks like a full-scale riot has broken out and avoid becoming the latest victim.

Next up is a clown-inspired haunt with some pretty cool special effects, and a room with a giant aquarium and a not-so-friendly human-like inhabitant who will spit and splatter water at you.

You have to crawl underneath to make it through — if someone doesn't grab you along the way.

In the Deliverance House, everything's relative and everyone's a relative by marriage. They will hurl both profanity-laced insults and marriage proposals at you in the same bad breath.

Be sure to keep an eye on the lake, because occasionally a Jason-like figure emerges and grabs an actor — at least I certainly hope she was an actor — and drags her into the water.

There are plenty of freaks and scary folks wandering around outside too. Don't be surprised if a zombie walks up, stares you down, invades your personal space and then starts twerking right beside you.

And nothing, I mean nothing, can ever prepare you for a baby being shot through the air out of a pregnant lady, stopped by its umbilical cord within an inch of your noggin.

Trust me. I was at the births of all five of my kids, and that's just not right.

The whole spectacle brings a ghoulish smile to Aaron Swan's face.

It was once Swan's job to supervise the scares at Akron's venerable Haunted Schoolhouse and Laboratory. After a decade or so there, he found himself looking for a different haunt when a new owner took over.

Now he is working to help get the Akron Fright Fest off the ground.

He was almost apologetic as we made our way through the attractions.

Swan would warn us that each one was pretty intense, only to repeat himself again and again as we ventured to the houses that are actually set in the park's picnic pavilions — not that you would ever know that once you get inside.

Swan said these haunted houses may not be everyone's cup of blood, and this is a "whole new territory" for haunts in Northeast Ohio.

"Not everyone wants Taco Bell, some people want McDonald's," he said. "We are trying to bring something new."

If things become too intense for a visitor, Swan said, they can just yell "I'm done" and someone will sneak them out an emergency exit.

Because the haunted houses are so actor-driven — there are 50 or so of them — no two visits will ever be the same and that's what he likes about this latest take on the rite of fall.

"I love this," he said. "It's hard to explain.

"Haunting is just in my blood."

Craig Webb, whose family may be in counseling for months after visiting the Akron Fright Fest, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.