Nightmare on Bank Street gives the green light to a Halloween scare

The haunted house experience David Raines has designed at his Bank Street residence can be so scary, he said, that he's developed a red light, yellow light, and green light system so that actors in the attraction know when to tone down the level of fright.

This is the sixth year Raines has opened the haunted house to the public and it's his most elaborate yet, he told The Batavian.

"I've actually lived here for 17 years and I love Halloween," Raines said. "There's nothing like this in Batavia. I've had people say this is the best thing in town. So it just keeps me going."

The haunted house, dubbed "Nightmare on Bank Street," is free, but Raines is asking for donations in order to help cover his cost, and also to help expand the attraction, perhaps in a larger venue in Batavia.

It will be open from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday and from 5 to 11 p.m. on Halloween. The address is 209 Bank St., Batavia.

This year, the attraction has spilled out into his front yard. It also takes up all the space in his back yard.

"This is just something fun that I love to do," Raines said. "I like to see kids have a good time, and adults have a good time and enjoy it. And I like to scare people, too."

Gaines hasn't done all this work by himself. His daughter and her friends as well as his girlfriend, he said, helped with the setup. Work started on the project on Sept. 1.

He explained the red light, yellow light, and green light system, which aren't actually colored lights but him yelling out to actors what light category they're in.

• Red light: The haunted house is fully lit.  Guests can see all the details of the exhibits and the actors don't try to scare anybody.
• Yellow light: The lighting is off and the actors tone down the scare factor.
• Green light: All bets are off. No lighting, full-on scare from the actors. There's also fog, strobe lights, and laser lights.

"Then Greenlight is, you know, you're entering at your own risk," Gaines said. "If you don't come back out, I don't know what to tell you."

And if full scare is too much for you, there are emergency exits.

"I want to say I think I had a couple of people last year ask me where the bathroom was because they were so scared," Gaines said. "I had people running down the driveway screaming because they were scared. So to be honest with you, the more fun that I see the public have the more fun I have."