House of Horror

Sanitarium-turned-haunted house offers unique setting to scare people this Halloween

By Daniel Kenney

The haunted house attraction in Clovis, “Scream if You Can,” is no run-of-the-mill spook house.

One hundred thirty workers have been preparing to scare prospective customers since August, learning their positions, setting up a sound system throughout the house and former sanitarium, working on the ghoulish animatronics laid around the property like pitfalls and recreating horrific scenes from fright films such as “Freddy vs. Jason,” “Rose Red” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” to provide a quality scare for its patrons.

This year, “Scream if You Can” has partnered with local radio station KISS Country to hold a contest in which the “winner” will be picked up by a hearse at his or her home, put inside a coffin and driven to the house, where he or she will be unloaded from the hearse by six friends acting as pallbearers. The unofficial name for this prize is the “Nearly Departed Funeral Service.”

The effort the staff has put into providing scares for the Central Valley is morbidly admirable.

But the most chilling aspect of the Andleberry Estate, the name of the property on which “‘Scream if You Can”’ is run, is its reputation for being truly haunted.

Formerly an actual sanitarium, then a convalescent home until 1992, the property has a history that seems ripe for stories of ghostly occurrences. It is viewed with uneasy eyes by its neighbors.

“ Well, I’ll tell you something about that house,” said Trevor Hammett, manager of the Twin Palms Deli, which is adjacent to the Andleberry Estate. “I knew a guy that worked there for two years, a brave man. He would not stay there by himself. If there weren’t others with him, he’d run outta there.”

The ghostly reputation of the property goes beyond its local infamy. Entering the word “Andleberry” into a Google search engine yields documented evidence by paranormal researchers who have captured “glowing orbs and vapors” on film, picked up voices and an infant’s cry on audio recordings, and actually made contact with some of the spectral inhabitants of the house through the use of psychics.

The most famous of these phantoms is Mary. This ghost has been known to open and shut doors and cause havoc when her room in the former convalescent home is disturbed.

“ Once, we tried moving a rocking chair that came with the house out of (Mary’s) room, into the hall, and it started rocking violently back and forth by itself,” said caretaker Jeff Luna, who lives on site.

“ We had some psychics come in after that, and they told us that Mary was angry with her stuff being moved out of her room. So, we moved the chair back to its original spot, and we didn’t have any problems for a while with Mary.”

The more faint-hearted staff members of “Scream if You Can” react with looks of fear when Mary is mentioned, or suggest changing the subject. In such an eerie working environment, staff members who quit because of problems with their incorporeal co-workers are not uncommon.

“ Yeah, quite a few people get freaked out by this place and quit before we open to the public,” Luna said.

Staff and paying customer alike can both agree that for whatever reason, the Andleberry Estate is quite an unsettling place.

Those who brave “Scream if You Can” in search of a scare this Halloween season will not be disappointed.

Blood-stained sanitarium walls, animatronic creatures triggered by footsteps, pitch black maze-like corridors and beings adorned with masks holding machetes, are all in store for those who buy their ticket to explore the haunted house.

Those easily frightened need not apply.

“ Scream if You Can” offers two tours: the house and the hospital. Each tour is $10 per person, but both tours may be purchased for $16.

Andleberry Estate is located on Clovis Avenue between Shaw and Gettysburg avenues in Clovis.