Have you driven past 715 W Alice St. after dark this month? Then you've seen the gates, the graveyard grounds and the shapes moving between them. That's Ravenfell Manor, on the west side of town off State Road 8 and Highway 49.
It's easy to file the manor as one family's very ambitious decorating habit. That leaves out what the place has been for years. Ravenfell is a food drive, and the haunt is how the food gets collected. Every pumpkin and werewolf on that lawn helps bring nonperishables in the door before the holidays. This weekend is the last chance in 2026 to walk through and bring something with you.
A Book Came First, Then the Yard
Ravenfell grew out of a story. The manor describes itself as a mostly DIY yard haunt built on the dark fantasy series Ravenfell Chronicles: Origins by Brand J. Alexander. The Times of Northwest Indiana reported that the haunt was founded in 2010. The Times also reported that Brandon Johnston, who runs it with Carl Pyles, wrote the whole book about the backstory, and that it sells online and at the haunt's gift shop.
That explains why a walk through the grounds has named characters instead of generic monsters. The manor's own description introduces Beaumont Ravenfell, "an avid collector of monstrosities and summoner of demons," along with Fenris the Werewolf and Arachnea the Broodmother. There's also the Witches' Hollow, lair of Hildegard Ravenfell, and the Raven King, who "slips between shadows in the dark of night." The Times listed Goliath the Pumpkin King and the Harvest of Souls as part of the same mythology.
The gift shop started for a practical reason. According to the manor's About page, visitors kept saying "You should make this stuff and sell it," so the owners opened the Ravenfell Gift Shop to help pay for running the haunt. Keep that in mind, because it means the food drive wasn't a way to cover costs. It was a separate decision.
By 2012, the Haunt Took On a Second Job
The manor's own history puts the turning point in plain terms. "By 2012 the manor was expanding beyond our wildest imaginings," and the owners "decided to use those dark powers for good." They joined Haunts Against Hunger, a movement among home haunters, to help restock the local food pantry before the holidays.
Ravenfell named the effort the Spell to Scare Away Hunger, and the numbers show how much it has grown:
- 2017: 422.2 pounds of donations, by the manor's own count.
- 2018: a goal of 500 pounds.
- A later season: the Times of Northwest Indiana reported that Ravenfell had collected more than 300 pounds so far and still needed 890 pounds to break its all-time record.
Add those last two figures together and the record stood above 1,190 pounds at that point. That's nearly three times the 2017 total. A yard on West Alice Street turned into a real supply line for a food pantry, one October at a time. In the same report, the Times called the display "a regional destination" and described visitors who appreciate the work the "Halloween guys" put in.
The Food Now Stays in Pleasant Township
Where the food goes has changed. The Times reported that donations went to the Boone Township Food Pantry, with any extra going to the Hebron Food Pantry. This year, Indiana 105 reported on October 16 that the owners are once again "casting the Spell to Scare Away Hunger" for the Pleasant Township Food Pantry, which serves Kouts, and that they want to beat last year's total.
That puts this weekend's cans much closer to home. The Pleasant Township Trustee's assistance page places the pantry at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 507 S. Rose Ave., with regular hours on the fourth Monday of every month from 1 to 3 p.m., holidays excluded. That page went up in 2021, so call 219-766-3216 to confirm the current schedule before you plan around it.
If that once-a-month schedule still holds, the timing works out neatly. The fourth Monday in November 2026 is November 23, three days before Thanksgiving. Food collected at the manor through October 31 would be on hand for the pantry's last regular day before the holiday. Restocking the local pantry "before the holidays" has been the stated goal since the drive began.
What's Left of the 2026 Season
This post goes up Thursday, October 29, and the first walkthrough weekend of October 22 and 23 is already over. Here's what remains, combining the schedule PanoramaNOW published for 2026 with the manor's own walkthrough hours:
| When | What's open | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Oct. 29 | Street-side viewing | Dusk to 11 p.m. |
| Friday, Oct. 30 | Street-side viewing | Dusk to 11 p.m. |
| Friday, Oct. 30 | Walkthrough and gift shop | 7 to 10 p.m. CST |
| Saturday, Oct. 31 | Walkthrough and gift shop | 7 to 10 p.m. CST |
| Saturday, Oct. 31 | Trick-or-treat at the manor | 5 to 8 p.m. |
The walkthrough times come from the manor's walkthrough page, which lists the gates as open 7 to 10 p.m. CST on the last two weekends of October, with the Ravenfell Antiquities Giftshop open during those hours. PanoramaNOW lists the walkthroughs as starting at dusk and gives Halloween hours of 4 to 11 p.m. Plan on 7 p.m. for the gates, and come earlier if you want to see the yard from the street first. Weather closings and changed hours go on the Ravenfell Manor Facebook page, so check it before you load the kids into the car on Saturday. Indiana 105 also reported a "new special event this year" from the owners. The manor sends visitors to its Events Calendar for special weekend events.
For trick-or-treating around the rest of town, the Town of Kouts website hadn't posted 2026 hours as of mid-October. FrightMaps listed last year's hours as 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, October 31, 2025. Check koutsindiana.org for anything the town posts before Saturday.
What to Carry Up the Walk
Ravenfell's walkthroughs are free. The only request on the walkthrough page is that visitors "consider bringing a nonperishable item" or a cash donation, and the manor keeps a list of most-needed items on its Facebook page. The Times listed what the drive has collected in the past, which gives you a starting point if you haven't checked the list:
- Canned vegetables
- Soup
- Cereal
- Pasta
- Toiletries
- Household items
Pantry drives count by weight, so a bag of canned goods moves the total more than a single box of pasta. If you can't make it to West Alice Street at all, the manor takes PayPal donations and uses the money to buy more food.
After the Gates Close
The Spell to Scare Away Hunger runs through October. The pantry it feeds keeps going after that. Pleasant Township runs it as a service for township residents at the back of St. Paul Lutheran Church on South Rose Avenue. Call 219-766-3216 to ask about giving in November or later, or to set up help outside regular hours.
Anna loves the people who make Kouts feel like Kouts, and Carl and Brandon have been doing their part on West Alice Street since 2010. If you're walking the grounds Saturday night with a bag of canned soup and get to wondering about the homes on your own street, Anna Steuer is glad to talk it through. Schedule a Consultation whenever you're ready.
