MUSCATINE, Iowa–Something scary has brewed at 911 East 11th Street for the past two decades. Each year on Halloween night, Troy “Stinky” Philpott has transformed his home into Stinky’s House of Horrors, the regions’ premiere haunted house. More than just scaring the socks off of Muscatine residents though, Stinky’s House of Horrors collects canned goods through their Frightening for Food Need to Feed food drive, which donates thousands of pounds of food to the Salvation Army each year. After holding a drive through food drive and haunted trailer last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Philpott has announced Stinky’s House of Horrors will return to a full haunted house experience this Halloween. With an extended food drive, more opportunities for Halloween lovers of all ages to enjoy themselves, and new scares certain to unnerve even the most jaded haunted house veterans, Stinky’s House of Horrors will provide experiences no one will want to miss.
Though the pandemic may have stopped Stinky’s House of Horrors from pulling out all the stops last year, it did not stop the community from generously donating to its food drive. In a year when hunger touched so many lives, the Frightening for Food Need to Feed food drive brought in a whopping 7,203 pounds of food, breaking all previous records. Philpott found that holding the drive over several days made it possible for more people to donate. Inspired, he will hold the drive over multiple days again, allowing people to drop off canned goods between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. from Oct. 26 through Oct. 31. Anyone who brings 24 or more cans at once will receive an “axe-press” lane voucher, letting them skip the line at the haunt Halloween night.
This year, Philpott has a new goal in sight. If guests can donate more than 4,000 pounds of food, the drive will have collected more that 50,000 pounds of food in total. Philpott has a passion for preventing hunger in Muscatine and hopes people will once again join him in this cause. “A lot of people don’t realize that there are 4,600 people in Muscatine who don’t know where their next meal is coming from and 1,700 of them are kids,” he stressed.
To entice people out, Philpott promises this year’s event will prove bigger and better than ever. Along with crowd pleasers like the clown house and the ghoulish slide that takes patrons deep into the bowels of the haunt, several new secret attractions will make the night one to remember. “The clowns have been getting restless,” said Philpott. “We’re doing something at the beginning of the night that will really open some eyes.”
Stinky’s House of Horrors will open at dusk and remain open until all guests have a chance to go through. Along with enjoying the haunt, children can enter into the first ever Stinky’s House of Horrors coloring contest. Visitors can also purchase lanyards, buttons, prosthetic costume pieces, other memorabilia, and some of the most flavorful cotton candy around as well. To transport all the food collected, Menasha will generously donate as many boxes as needed.
