Is Horry County trying to shut down a popular haunted house in Carolina Forest?

For seven years, the Oakbury Haunted House at Carolina Forest has been a Halloween delight — shocking, scaring and satisfying fans of jump scares in the name of charity.

But Randy Dorenbos, a local businessman whose family runs the homemade attraction, says Horry County regulators are threatening to turn off the lights for good, citing violations of the state’s building code.

Dorenbos told The Sun News he met with officials from the county’s code enforcement department last week after “pre-complaints” were lodged about noise and traffic emanating from the site on Halloween.

“They wouldn’t tell me who it was, or what the complaint was, so I kind of left it there, not thinking anything of it,” Dorenbos said.

County officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

On Monday, Dorenbos posted to the house’s Facebook page an Oct. 12 stop-work order issued by the county that said permits were needed for the project, which also was deemed an unsafe structure.

Dorenbos said the haunted house continues a 21-year tradition within The Farm, one of Carolina Forest’s largest planned communities.

There’s never been a complaint, he said, although the number of people that live at The Farm continues to increase.

“The population of the neighborhood is now over 1,500 homes, so the traffic was already coming, and it’s here whether I am or not,” Dorenbos said.

Although he doesn’t charge admission, Dorenbos accepts donations on behalf of the Rhonda Brown Breast Cancer Foundation — a Myrtle Beach linked organization named for a long-time city employee who died of the disease in 2012.

Last year, the family donated $2,000 to the foundation from proceeds of the haunted house.

Dorenbos launched an online petition Oct. 18 to alert people of the haunted house’s possible closure. As of Oct. 21, 350 people had signed it.

This story was originally published October 21, 2023 at 5:35 PM.