Sometimes the things that spook us most have an eerie way of bringing the community together.

Ed Perry of Montgomery said he and his neighbors had no idea the Halloween haunted house experience they started six years ago would become an annual tradition attracting about 700 “brave souls” just last year alone.

The “Nightmare on Emma Avenue Haunted House” returns 6 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

The haunted house experience includes thematic haunted rooms linked by a “mysterious tunnel that has become the stuff of local legend.”

The free experience is located at 2113 and 2115 Emma Ave., Montgomery. Donations are being raised for the Oswego High School Band and gently or new winter gear is being collected for the Hesed House in Aurora.

Since beginning as a collaboration between longtime friends Perry, Chris Rowald and Dennis Tarnowski, the experience has blossomed to include around a dozen community volunteers lending a hand to construct the spooky rooms and pathways, with some teens even acting as ghouls and ghosts.

“We’ve all devoted countless hours trying to make something we hope continues being a mainstay for our neighborhood that people and families want to be a part of,” Perry said.

“We wanted to build something meaningful and memorable for the kids, something they’d talk about for years and maybe even recreate with their own families someday,” he said.

Perry said this year they wanted to focus on the classic Halloween films that have terrified generations. From “Psycho” and “Killer Clowns from Outer Space,” to the familiar faces of Freddy Krueger, Jason and Michael Myers, they want to trigger fear wrapped in nostalgia.

Chris Rowald said the duo-haunted house experience began as a way to entertain and scare their own kids. Over the years, it’s become “something that brings the community together and makes Halloween unforgettable.”

Members of the Oswego High School band are no stranger to the experience’s “spine-chilling” frights. Each year they are invited to pass through the haunted house and then donations are collected for their program.

The organizers are also collecting donations for the Hesed House to help support the work they do providing for a “great need” in the community.

“It’s become more than just a haunted house, it’s a celebrations of creativity, connection, and the joy of shared scares,” Perry said.

You can learn more about the Nightmare on Emma Avenue Haunted House by visiting their Facebook page.