Donated Trailers to Replace Those Stolen From Braintree Haunted House

Two weeks after the non-profit that runs the Braintree Haunted House lost its year-round storage space to theft, donors have committed to replacing the stolen 53-foot storage trailers.

Two local men, seeing reports of the crime on the news, decided to donate trailers to the organization, which for the past 32 years has raised money for Highlands and Liberty PTOs.

The Brew House, on Granite Street in Braintree, also raised $500 after the theft.

"The generosity of these individuals and the community has afforded us the opportunity to continue on," coordinator Sharon Gallagher said in an email. "We are grateful and overwhelmed by the selfless acts of these donors and plan to come back next year, stronger than ever."

Despite the incident, organizers kept the haunted house open for all three nights this year. F.X. Messina, which provides free space for the show at its property on Plain Street, is allowing the non-profit to store its equipment in the warehouse while the organization figures out how to get the trailers to Braintree.

That will likely happen within the next two weeks, Gallagher said, adding that Messina will then allow the group to store four trailers instead of the two it previously owned.

Chris Graham, whose family owns Hanover-based Graham Built Inc., said in an interview that he saw reports on TV about the theft during the week before Halloween. It made him think of a 53-foot trailer he had purchased for a client to remove office furniture and was now sitting unused.

Gary Jenks ran a haunted house in Waltham for 20 years. But recently Jenks decided he was getting too old for the labor involved, and after seeing a news report on Channel 7, decided to donate three 45-foot trailers full of haunted house equipment.

Jenks visited the Braintree Haunted House the Friday after the theft and saw that it was a good place to carry on his haunting legacy, he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Organizers recently found one of the locks to their trailers behind the warehouse, but Gallagher said she did not know of any leads yet in the case. She said the organization will be as prudent as possible to avoid any more thefts, and that the community and business owners nearby are now aware of the danger.