Chills and thrills abound at Bridgeview’s Roeback’s Nightmare

Tony Roeback (dressed as the Ringleader holding the cane) and his creepy friends serve up the thrills and cheers at Roeback’s Nightmare in Bridgeview.

By Bob Bong

Bridgeview’s Tony Roeback begins looking forward to Halloween when most people are grilling burgers and cooling off in backyard pools.

Roeback begins working on Roeback’s Nightmare in mid-July to be ready to serve up chills and thrills when October rolls around.

For the past two years, he has turned his home at 7216 W. 72^nd St. into a haunted house. It’s a continuation of a family tradition that dates back to 2000 when he lived in Justice.

Roeback’s Nightmare is not just a haunted house there’s also a show two times a night featuring three to five people dressed up in scary costumes.

“We start getting ready at 2:30 each day,” he said. “We show projections on the house. There are lights tied to music. The show lasts 32 minutes.”

Shows are performed nightly until Halloween except when Roeback is on duty as a Bridgeview firefighter/paramedic.

“On a good night we’ll have five performers, most nights we have three in costume,” he said.

Costumes include Michael Myers from “Halloween,” a scary clown from “It,” a demonic jester, a character called Whisper and an inflatable creepy clown. “We all take turns.”

Roeback dresses up as the Ringleader and directs the show even though his wife orchestrates most of the special effects. “She loves it.”

Roeback creates the horror show for a simple reason: He loves Halloween.

He said the Nightmare draws a big crowd nightly and they accept donations but put on the show mostly to let people enjoy the holiday.

He said neighbors love the show and even get in the spirit by dancing around with the visitors and will even chase the older kids.

The only drawback to Roeback’s Nightmare is that sometimes the show is so real people call the authorities.

“We have had four calls to the fire department because our smoke machine was too intense,” he said. “My wife is on the radio and she’ll say, ‘Turn down the smoke.’”

Roeback’s Nightmare is a family affair. “My son Tyler, 19, is part of the show. He’s worse than I am.”

Shows are staged at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on nights Roeback is not at the firehouse.