By Michael Vitez "The Philadelphia Inquirer," October 1994
"Aghast at the ghastly, his visitors delight
in fright at haunted stable"
Allan Erush wears Halloween underwear - all year round.
"He just bought fraidy cats with glow-in-the-dark eyes," says his wife, Sarah.
"He's very proud of them."
Erush's visible wardrobe is black, black and more black, from his boots and
jacket to his own jet-black long hair.
"For somebody's wedding," admits Sarah, "he might wear gray."
He owns three cats - black, of course - and a pet rat. His answering machine
greets callers in Peter Lorre`s voice.
He converted his Volkswagen Beetle into a hearse.
His favorite relaxation is watching horror movies.
"He calls it research and development," says Sarah.
Not surprisingly, Allan Erush's passion - and his livelihood - is building
haunted houses
"I built my first at age 7," he recalled this week. "It was a dog house with
Outer Limits cards stapled to the walls.
Kids would go inside with flashlights. Every year I expanded the dog house,
ultimately to 11 rooms. But our neighbor was a tax assessor, and he told my
dad they'd start taxing it, so my dad made me tear it down. I think our neighbor
just hated kids."
Then Allan converted his parents' home into a haunted house every year. "I
could not believe any parents would let their child tear the house up that much
for one day," said Sarah, who met her husband-to-be back in the 70's when a
boyfriend - fatefully - took her to Allan's house on Halloween.
Finally, Erush's parents had enough.
"My dad was sick of coffins in the basement," he said. "So I was forced to build
haunted houses in the real world."
For which the world should be greatful.
For the next three nights - as they have for the last few weeks - the foolish
and courageous may wander through Erush's haunted house, Grisly
Gothic Gables , (currently) a converted barn at Cathedral Road and Wissahickon
Avenue in Andorra.
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