Dressed in creepy clown attire and standing next to a coffin, Maya Yukselen and Izzy Vismara directed victims who entered their dimly lit room to choose from one of three doors to pass through – each leading to horrors like body parts hanging from the ceiling and waiting mad doctors.

Of course, the body parts weren’t real, and the mad doctors were actors in costumes for the YMCA’s annual Halloween event. Yukselen and Vismara, likewise, aren’t real clowns but played the part in the indoor haunted house.

“We were going to sing Britney Spears’ ‘1-2-3’ but we decided not to,” Vismara said. “It wasn’t scary enough.”

Elsewhere in the haunted house – designed by the YMCA’s Sam Fagundes in a creepy carnival style – Aaliyah Garcia greeted visitors dressed as a spooky fortune teller. She wore a mask on her head and hunched over her crystal ball and surprised visitors with screams.

“I’m the second person they’ll see, and I love the idea of a being fortune teller,” Garcia said.

This year, the YMCA hosted its annual Halloween event early and combined it with a fall festival usually held in September, Fagundes said, although rain persisting throughout the day put a damper on the festival, but cleared up in time for the nighttime events.

The haunted houses were also open on Friday, and Fagundes estimated about 200 people passed through on the first day, although Saturday is usually the busier day.

The Halloween festivities included the indoor haunted house, and an outdoor walk through haunted trails on the YMCA’s property.

“I tried to do a twisted carnival theme,” Fagundes said, adding that Dan King, the YMCA’s Farm Director, designed the outdoor haunted trails and simply went for a “terrifying” theme.

“It’s kind of a competition to see who can have the scarier spot,” Fagundes added.

Proceeds from the event, including admission sales for the haunted houses and various fall festival activities, goes to support the YMCA’s Annual Campaign, which provides membership and programming fees to those who otherwise would not be able to afford YMCA programming.