Haunted Sawmill closes the crypt for good, holding prop sale this weekend

The screams that echoed through the old building on Hendricks Street for 14 Halloween seasons have faded for good. The Haunted Sawmill, Merrill’s beloved fright attraction and the charitable engine behind the Friends of Vincent Foundation (FoVF), will not return. And this weekend, all that remains of those haunting years goes up for sale.
The Friends of Vincent Foundation announced that the 2024 season was the Haunted Sawmill’s last, as the organization is not in a position to raise the approximately $350,000 needed to install a fire suppression system in the building — the requirement the Merrill Fire Department determined was necessary before the attraction could continue operating for safety reasons. As reported here in September, the FoVF had hoped to find a path forward, but that path has closed.
“It’s just out of reach for us right now,” Jerry Hersil, President of the FoVF board, said last fall when the hiatus was announced. And he’s okay with that. Hersil said he understands the need for a fire suppression system should the haunt have continued, as a fire would have been tragic.
Now the organization is moving on, and that means moving out.

Everything must go

The FoVF will hold a sale of all personal property this Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Haunted Sawmill building, located on Hendricks Street between Seventh and Eighth Streets.
Fourteen seasons of haunting accumulated a lot of stuff, and all of it is on the table. The sale includes antique medical equipment, vintage furniture, large animatronics, and enough skeletons to fill a basement. Among the handmade items available are Buzz Buzz the Clown’s throne from his outdoor circus tent, Phaedra the Vampire Queen’s throne and love seat, and Vincent’s sarcophagus — the one from deep beneath the Haunted Sawmill in the secret catacombs. Foam tombstones from the Morris/Mudgett Cemetery will also be available, along with stage equipment including foggers, lights, and sound systems; coffins; bats; skulls; bins of wiring, lighting, and assorted hardware; power tools; hand tools; extension cords; ladders; wheelbarrows; and a significant amount of lumber, including 2x4s, 4x4s, reclaimed boards, 4x8 sheeting, and miscellaneous pieces and fencing. Chairs, display cases, toys, and all manner of other items round out the inventory.
Hersil said Friday morning is expected to draw the biggest crowds, with the best selection going early. Deals will improve as the weekend goes on, with the goal of having everything sold and cleared out by 4 p.m. Saturday.
For fans of the haunt who want one last encounter with the Scare Crew, Haunted Sawmill characters will be on hand in costume during the sale so visitors can take pictures, Hersil said.
All proceeds from the sale of personal property — as well as any proceeds from the sale of the building itself — will go toward allowing the Friends of Vincent Foundation to continue its charitable mission.

A building with a history
The 20,000-square-foot building the Haunted Sawmill called home has its own story that predates Vincent Mudgett by more than a century. The south side of the building was once Carl’s Brothers Grocery, and before that, in the early 1900s, it served as a feed store, Hersil said. The north side was a school, although he has not been able to locate the name or old photos of the property. The two buildings were later connected by Northern Specialties, a company that produced wood products including windows, hardwood floors, and doors, eliminating the alley that once ran between them. After Northern Specialties vacated, the building sat empty for years.
Joe and Cindy Boehm purchased the property at auction around 2009 or 2010. At the time, the city had slated it for demolition as part of its blight removal program.
“This building was supposed to be razed back when they were doing the blight program,” Hersil said. “This was on the schedule for that — the list of blighted buildings. So at that time we formed a different corporation to purchase the building, and we started working with the city really closely.”
The Haunted Sawmill launched in 2011 as a fundraiser for a local scout troop, using only part of the north side of the building. In 2013, a group of scout parents formed an LLC to purchase the building from the Boehms and keep it from being demolished. After the organization’s connection with scouting ended, the Friends of Vincent Foundation was established as the nonprofit steward of both the building and the haunt’s charitable work.

Over the years, the FoVF improved the building significantly — a new roof in 2019, heating, lighting, plumbing, and other upgrades throughout — and the haunt eventually grew to fill all 20,000 square feet, including the upper level.

End of an era
Over 14 seasons, the Haunted Sawmill welcomed 140,000 guests, the majority of them from outside Merrill, and was voted Best Haunt in North Central Wisconsin for five consecutive years.
“We put Merrill on the map in a lot of ways, and a lot of people came here in October just because of the Haunted Sawmill,” Hersil said. “We’re drawing people into Merrill, which brings money into Merrill, which helps local businesses, which helps the hotels, which helps the restaurants, which helps the gas stations.”
Beyond the economic impact, the FoVF used the haunt’s proceeds to support area families and youth — paying for everything from rent and water heaters to food and clothing. The organization’s Spirit of Christmas Giving Program served approximately 60 families each year, and the FoVF funded scholarships and supported other nonprofits focused on children.

The entire operation was run by unpaid volunteers. All 13 board members served without pay. The Scare Crew, which numbered around 120 people each season — roughly 70 percent of them teenagers and young adults — also volunteered their time.
“When you join the Haunted Sawmill, you become part of the Scare Crew family,” Hersil said. “And we take that very seriously.”
It was that family, Hersil said last fall, that made the decision to close all the harder.
“The hardest thing that I’m dealing with, with all of this, is all the kids,” he said.
The Haunted Sawmill prop sale will be held Friday, May 8, and Saturday, May 9, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Haunted Sawmill building on Hendricks Street in Merrill.