The monster called “Steve” emerges from a doorway in the Violet Room at the Prism Haunted House at the home of David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
For weeks, David Fefferman and his wife, Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman, have walked through a dimly lit doctor’s office to get to the front door of their Mission Viejo home.
And this is no ordinary doctor’s office. The doctor, who has replaced his eyes with a microscope, created an ogre who lurks behind anyone who dares to step in.
Monsters, mutants and zombies from the Prism Haunted House pose for a photo in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. The haunted house is located at the home of home of David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman on Chamalea Drive in Mission Viejo. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The haunted attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
David Fefferman, who plays “The Doctor,” is shown inside the Red Room at the Prism Haunted House set up at his Chamalea Drive home in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Fefferman, his wife Shasha, along with friends and volunteers have been working for months to complete the haunted house. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The haunted attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31.(Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman are shown outside the Prism Haunted House set up at their Chamalea Drive home in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Along with help of friends and volunteers they have been working for months to complete the haunted house. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The haunted attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31.(Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“Jasper,” greets visitors in the Orange Room at the Prism Haunted House at the home of David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Fefferman, his wife Shasha, along with friends and volunteers have been working for months to complete the haunted house. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The haunted attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31.(Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
David Fefferman, “The Doctor,” is shown inside the Green Room at the Prism Haunted House set up at his Chamalea Drive home in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Fefferman, his wife Shasha, along with friends and volunteers have been working for months to complete the haunted house. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The haunted attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The monster named “Steve” emerges from a doorway in the Violet Room at the Prism Haunted House at the home of David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Last year the Prism haunted house attracted 750 people. The haunted house will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A scene inside the Green Room at the Prism Haunted House at the home of David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Fefferman, his wife Shasha, along with friends and volunteers have been working for months to complete the haunted house. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The haunted attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
David Fefferman, “The Doctor,” greets guests just before they exit the Prism Haunted House set up at his Chamalea Drive home in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Fefferman, his wife Shasha, along with friends and volunteers have been working for months to complete the haunted house. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The haunted attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31.(Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A caged mutant greets visitors at the Prism Haunted House at the home of David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Last year the Prism haunted house attracted 750 people. The haunted house will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Videographer Melissa Cho, right, from the Chapman News videotapes Chapman News entertainment producers, Gianna Gravalese, second from left, and Brandon Garnsey with monsters, mutants and zombies outside the Prism Haunted House at the home of David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The monster called “Steve” emerges from a doorway in the Violet Room at the Prism Haunted House at the home of David Fefferman and Shasha Jhaveri-Fefferman in Mission Viejo on Monday, October 14, 2019. Last year the Prism Haunted House attracted 750 people. The attraction will be open October 18, 19, 25, 26, and 31. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“That’s how I get home with my groceries,” Jhaveri-Fefferman said. “I can’t even look at the doctor’s mask. It haunts me.”
“You have to run a gauntlet,” Fefferman said. “When you do something this crazy, you have to live with the consequences.”
The demented doctor’s office, which is usually the home’s front porch, is one of seven rooms that make up the couple’s Prism Haunted House, which will open for its second year on Friday, Oct. 18. The haunted house, built in the couple’s garage and front porch, joins a tradition of Orange County residents who go all out to make sure their neighbors enjoy Halloween.
The couple spent a year brainstorming ideas and at least three months physically working on the haunted house, Fefferman said.
About 750 people visited their home last year over three days, and the couple is expecting more this year. The layout has more than tripled in its size –10 minutes of fright awaits visitors, Jhaveri-Fefferman said.
As described by Fefferman, the Prism Research Group, a multinational biotechnology company, has franchised to the doctor a do-it-yourself micro laboratory. But the scientific experiments have all gone wrong — or if you’re the doctor, gone right. The doctor’s assistants have turned into ghouls and ogres.
In one room, 40 eyeballs twitch around visitors. In another room, visitors are looking at severed limbs and at least half a dozen human heads.
“More heads, more better,” Fefferman said, cackling.
Fefferman said as a kid, he knew he loved Halloween when his parents hung a fake spider by the family’s front door. He carved pumpkins with Jhaveri-Fefferman on the couple’s first date.
“We are kind of weirdos,” Fefferman said, standing in front of a ghoul screaming behind a chain-link fence. “Do you see what’s behind us right now?”
Fefferman went on to become a product manager for Paypal, helping people transfer money to each other through their phone.
The experience at Paypal laid the technical groundwork for Prism Haunted House. Microcomputers control the twitching eyeballs. Computer-generated imagery of the doctor greets visitors when they first enter the home. Each room is lighted with the different colors of the prism.
“There’s a lot of labor put into this haunt,” Fefferman said. “We cranked it to 11.”
Several of the couple’s friends have helped out, offering technical expertise of their own and acting as monsters. Last year, Victoria Ducote, 22, of Irvine, just screamed for four hours, she said. “I drank a lot of water and my vocal cords survived.”
Fefferman said he isn’t doing this for money.
“The only thing I want to see out of this,” he said, as an ogre jumped out from behind, “is to see a lot of people scared.
If you go
Where: 24465 Chamalea Drive, Mission Viejo
When: 7 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 18, 19 and 25; 7 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 26; 6 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 31.
