Inverness serviceman raising funds for others at scare

Lt. David Mulay is shedding his Army fatigues in favor of a bloody chain saw and Jason mask - at least for Halloween.

Just two days before he'll report for active duty in Fort Sill, Okla., the 23-year-old Mulay will amuse and terrorize visitors alike with the haunted house he built at his mom's Inverness home at 1326 Dunheath Dr.

"I just love everything about the holiday and thought it'd be fun," said Mulay, a graduate of Loyola Academy and the University of Arizona.

Twelve rooms playing to fears from insects to the supernatural are housed in a 56-by-44-foot structure he constructed using wood from an old deck.

Count an insane asylum patient, demon and Jason from "Friday the 13th" among the characters he'll channel as the timid inch their way through a smoky maze. Siblings Mike and Jacque Tessmer also have parts.

Mulay's third - and best - haunted house started out as just a fun project, but it's since turned into a fundraiser. Starting at 3 p.m. Friday, friends and neighbors are invited to stop by and make a donation. Mulay's colonel will deliver the money to an organization that sends care packages to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mulay, who married wife Erin in July, believes he'll be deployed to south Baghdad sometime next spring. The Eagle Scout will first go to Oklahoma and then Fort Lee, Va., and Fort Bliss, Texas. A logistics officer, he works in transportation, supply, equipment and planning. He also blows up IEDs.

Veronica Mulay believes the haunted house has been a welcome distraction from thinking about her son's impending departure.

"He's going to be gone for who knows how long, and this is kind of his last hurrah," she said. "I've been without a garage for two months and the poor dogs have no place to go, but I told him to knock himself out."