Fort Wayne, IN — In 1997, Larry W. Baker put a small Halloween display on his porch on Electric Avenue in Fort Wayne. This Halloween, the family that carries on his tradition will build a free haunted maze out of as many as ten carports in its driveway, expect 700 to 900 people in one night, and start each of them in a graveyard with a burial vault dedicated to him.
The Tradition Larry Baker Started
Baker’s House of Horror took its name in 2000, three years after that first porch display, and it has been free on Halloween night ever since. Amanda and Chris Fish have run it for eight years.
“What began as a small Halloween display on the porch eventually grew into a tunnel-style haunt as Halloween decorations and the haunted attraction industry continued to evolve,” Amanda Fish said in written answers to my questions.
The Fishes took over when Baker’s health declined and the haunt could no longer stay on Electric Avenue. It now runs about 20 minutes from its original location.
“We decided to carry on what Larry had started because we couldn’t imagine letting such a special family tradition disappear,” Fish said.
The family’s favorite build is the burial vault for Baker in the front-yard cemetery, which has a full-size portal behind it. “Even though Larry isn’t here to see what the haunt has become, he is still very much a part of it,” Fish said.
Why Baker’s House of Horror Is Free
“The original haunt began in a lower-income urban community where not every family could afford to experience a commercial Halloween attraction,” Fish said. “Larry wanted to create something the community could enjoy, regardless of what they could afford.”
The family has kept it free, and in the last few years it has started accepting voluntary donations, which Fish said help pay for supplies, electricity, and feeding the actors and volunteers at the end of the night.
The SoCal Haunt List, which home haunter Derek Young started in 2013, counts 127 home haunts in Southern California this year, and only one lists an admission price, as I reported in my guide to them.
A New Maze Every Year
The maze is rebuilt as a different one every Halloween, in a build that takes about two months and starts with four to ten 10-by-20-foot carports set up along the driveway, which lead into the garage. For the past four years the family has built many of its own props and set pieces.
New for 2026 are a prop the family calls the Wood Mulcher, or T500, and a new jail scene. The walk takes about five minutes, in this order:
- A yard of inflatables, blow molds, and a cemetery, which the family keeps friendly for young kids
- An introductory room, where an actor sends visitors into the maze
- Several clown rooms
- A swamp
- The new jail scene
- An arachnid tunnel
- A butcher scene
- A mad scientist room
- A photo spot with a 20-foot inflatable, then a tunnel of inflatables on the way out
“Our haunt has also become more PG and family-friendly, although we still make sure there are plenty of scares!” Fish said.
Halloween Night
Twelve to 15 family members and friends work the night in costume, as actors, guides, and line managers.
“We’ve had parents who used to come through the haunt as kids and now bring their own children,” Fish said. “Even after moving the haunt approximately 20 minutes from its original location, some of those families continue to make Baker’s House of Horror part of their Halloween tradition.”
“We’ve had parents leave their kids behind while they ran away from the actors. And one year, a baby was actually handed off to one of our actors!” Fish said. “The baby was safely returned, but it definitely gave the actor, and everyone nearby, a moment of shock!”
The family contacted Haunted Attraction Network at the urging of the owner of Hysterium, the Fort Wayne haunted attraction on my list of certified Top Haunts. “To have an established, legitimate haunted attraction recognize what we have created in our own yard was an incredible compliment and an experience we will never forget,” Fish said.
How to Visit
- When: Halloween night only, Saturday, October 31, 2026. The hours follow the local trick-or-treat schedule, and the haunt stays open about one more hour after trick-or-treating ends.
- Cost: free, with donations accepted
- Kids: the yard is kept for all ages, and the scares pick up inside the maze. “Whether it’s appropriate for a particular child really depends on the child,” Fish said.
- Where: the family posts the location and the night’s details on the Baker’s House of Horror Facebook page.
Fish asked that the credit go to the people who build and run the haunt:
- Amanda and Chris Fish
- Nick, Allie, Lily, Emma, and Ella Clark
- Tim, Sarah, Sammy, Zach, and Rayne Tripolone
- Jennie Minear
- Terri Moore
- Shay and Chris Cirrillo
- Jeremy Fish
Battle Born Home Services LLC sponsors the haunt.
“We may have taken over the haunt, but it will always be Larry’s tradition that we’re honored to carry on,” Fish said.
