Max’s last haunted house is this year

For years, Max Mastropierro, a sophomore at Center Moriches High School, has collected, maintained, and designed props and costumes for his annual haunted house. His loving and supportive parents have let him use the house to bring people along on a spooky ride through whatever theme his mind creates.

But this year will be the last instance of Max’s haunted house, as his family will be moving out of the Center Moriches district. They will be splitting their time between a home in Florida and a condo in Manorville. While in Center Moriches, their basement and garage have become storage spaces for Max’s props and equipment, but he will sell some of that to another haunted house host, while keeping some of the more rare and collectible items. 

Max has been planning this year’s event for a few months, and has had the idea since Halloween last year. It will be a little different this year, as Max will bring visitors through the house and out back into the woods for the first time. Max will act as a tour guide, taking you through the roughly five-minute journey (of which the contents are top-secret).

“It’s exciting and a little bit stressful, but in the end we all have a good time,” Max said. 

The annual event is a fundraiser for Spirit of Children, the nonprofit wing of Spirit Halloween. Max has developed relationships with the executives there, and hopes to work there when he is old enough. He earned $2,000 for the charity last year, and hopes to break that record this year. Spirit of Children works with hospitals and children’s care centers to improve life for children who are terminally ill or are forced to stay in the hospital. This year, Max is connecting Spirit of Children with Stony Brook’s Children’s Hospital. Max and his family recently returned from a trip to Spirit headquarters, where they brought back some costumes to donate to Helping Makes U Happy. 

To attend the haunted walk, the Mastropierros are asking for a donation to their cause. Volunteers from Center Moriches High School will contribute to the event by dressing in costume or with help organizing. The themes are circus, farm and swamp, each in different sections throughout the space.