Thousands stolen from popular San Jose 'Bernal Scream' haunted house
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- In San Jose, vandals broke into a haunted house on Blossom Hill Road, stealing thousands of dollars worth of props and equipment.
It's been a Halloween staple in for nearly 20 years. What originally started in the Barrera family's backyard has now grown into a commercial enterprise: a 4,000 square foot haunted house in its first year at Westfield Oakridge Mall.
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"Every day we wake up, pinching ourselves, that we did this," said Abe Barrera, one of the haunted house operators.
Barrera, and his son, Mike, are the masterminds behind the Bernal Scream. They've poured nearly $100,000 into building out the attraction - with the goal of just breaking even.
"When you see someone go in terrified, and go out knowing they had the time of their lives, their facial expressions are priceless," said Mike.
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But this year has been somewhat frustrating as early Wednesday morning, someone broke into the haunted house and stole thousands of dollars worth of sound equipment and decorations.
"Stuff that we worked our whole lives at, just, in seconds, gone," said Mike. The past few days have been tough as they've tried to fix the damage.
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"We're going to stand up, the show's going to go on, and we got four more days to please as many people as we can, and share our passion with them," said Abe.
A GoFundMe account has been created to help cover some of the repairs and they're hoping more people come out through the weekend to show their support.
"We've laughed, we've cried, we've yelled, we've shared the most amazing memories for the duration of this journey, I wouldn't change it for the world," said Mike.
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