Haunted mine tours raise $28,000

Not many people can talk routinely about mass-producing zombies, but Ralph Bonard does that every year.

He not only talks; he actually produces them.

Bonard, along with a few friends, came up with the idea of mass-producing zombies (and monsters) when some parents were looking to raise funds for the Ogdensburg School’s eighth-grade class trip.

In 2017, they started the Sterling Hell Haunted Mine, a two-day extravaganza of scary Halloween fun held on the Friday and Saturday night before Halloween

The first year, the group raised $3,000 toward the annual trip to Boston. This year, they raised $28,000, enough to pay for the trip and cut a hefty check to the Wallkill Valley Regional High School theater program.

The theater students as well as all eighth-graders, their parents and a contingent of seventh-graders learning the ropes for next year are all part of the show.

The young people are involved in planning, setup and acting. They break into groups and come up with themes for each, Bonard said.

Many places have haunts for the season, but not many have such a perfect setting as the former Sterling Hill zinc mine.

“It’s known to be haunted,” Bonard said conspiratorially, referring to the mine-turned-museum. “Many people died and a lot of paranormal groups have been here investigating. It’s a truly unique setting.”

Most haunted venues are houses or barns or, right down the road, a simulated western town. But not many are tunnels from a centuries-old zinc mine.

Bonard doesn’t let the same setting confine the haunt to the same story. The plot is altered every year, he said.

“We have to keep people coming back,” he explained.

Like many haunts, at least locally, the mine features a “slightly less scary” version earlier in the evening, from 5 to 6 p.m., for young children. The really scary version begins at 6 p.m. both days.

With so many volunteers, the organizers find themselves scrambling for the best costumes and makeup to outfit all the performers.

There are more than 30 committee members, including volunteers from the Sussex County Sheriff’s Office and Ogdensburg Department of Public Works, Fire Department and First Aid Squad. They include noted local photographer Paul Michael Kane and Ogdensburg School Principal David Astor.

The Sterling Hill Mining Museum doesn’t suspend its regular tours, so getting the monsters and zombies in place has be performed like clockwork, Bonard pointed out.

The volunteers work every night during the week before the haunt. On the Sunday after, they show up early and clean up.

“We leave the site better than we found it,” he said.