Cache Valley family grateful despite tragic loss
The Wentz family has suffered some major setbacks over the years, yet as they contemplate the upcoming holidays, their focus is on what they are grateful for and their dreams for the future. They are famous locally for their annual Halloween haunted yard on Canyon Road, Deads End. Locals may also know that their yard and home were destroyed in the 2009 Logan Northern Canal failure.
Tom and Linda Wentz moved to Logan from Ohio 28 years ago. When the economic downturn of the 1980s caused the shutdown of the steel mills, where his family had worked for generations, Tom found himself looking for work.
Upon the promise of a job, they packed up and headed west. When they arrived in Cache Valley, that job was unavailable. Tom said he eventually found work at Thiokol and they set about raising their family of nine children here in Logan.
In 1996 they settled into what the Wentz’s refer to as “their happiest place,” their home on Canyon Road. Deads End began when they were asked to put on a haunted yard for the local church youth group. All 11 Wentz’s have a passion for Halloween.
“We are Halloween people … it’s a fascinating time to us. Fall’s coming in with the leaves and the color,” Wentz said. “To us it can be a paper skeleton sitting on your door or it can be heavy like us. Halloween is a fun-loving type of thing.”
The Wentzs put all their effort into the haunt, creating homemade decorations and special effects. When the community saw the incredible results of their efforts, they came by to check it out. The Wentzs decided to create an annual tour, free of charge for the public.
Each year they started building new sets in January, and revised their haunts each time. Fall of 2009 was to be their 13th production. To capitalize on that number’s traditionally frightening significance, they worked harder than ever. Then, on Saturday, July 11, 2009, the landslide caused by the canal break devastated the neighborhood.
“About three minutes to noon, we heard the rump that shook the house and we ran out in the front yard … water was everywhere and the gas lines all broke and filled the air with gas, power lines fell down in the water,” Wentz said.
Wentz said the gas was burning their eyes as they rushed to evacuate.
“A young guy across from us ran out into that water – I don’t know how he wasn’t killed – and he took a rake and he held up the electric lines and we all jumped in our cars and took off,” he said.
The landslide caused by the canal break displaced 18 other people and killed a mother and her two children. Wentz said as much as they lost that day, he will be forever grateful that his family is intact.
Having no other family to turn to, they sought help from local organizations to support them. Wentz said they soon found that nobody was prepared to fully deal with the situation. The local church and Red Cross provided them with a few supplies, but they were forced to spend the next three and a half weeks in sleeping bags on their daughter’s studio apartment floor. Their sons slept in their vehicles.
Wentz said when they were finally allowed into their home, the water had destroyed their possessions. The home was unfit to live in and their homeowner’s insurance would not cover any of their losses. They went to 78 landlords looking to rent before they found a house to live in.
Understandably discouraged by the local response to their need, the Wentz’s were amazed when approached by a private citizen right before Christmas of 2009. The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, offered to give them money to compensate the tax value of their former home. Wentz said the man wanted to ease the suffering he was reminded of every time he drove down Canyon Road.
The Wentzs used the money to pay off their mortgage, yet they are now unable to buy another home due to the economic climate. Wentz, who is unable to work due to disability, lost $1,000 per month from his pension due to the country’s financial crisis.
His wife Linda, who had lost her real-estate job, went back east to search for employment. Wentz said she went to seven states, to no avail.
“The economy is even worse outside of Utah,” he said. Upon looking for work in Colorado, they discovered that there were tent cities, full of the unemployed and people whose homes had been foreclosed on.
The family, especially Tom and their youngest daughter MacKenzie, decided to work on a new Deads End this year. Being at a new location, an empty lot and adjacent warehouse, in conjunction with poor weather probably contributed to the dismal turnout this year.
Where before the haunt garnered upwards of 2,000 people, Wentz said less than 100 people showed up this year. They may have also been discouraged by the $5 entrance fee, which they needed to charge to offset the cost of the property they leased from someone else.
Wentz said despite all the difficulties they have faced, they are grateful for each other and look to a brighter future. They have dreams of expanding Deads End to be a world class Halloween attraction.
Wentz said MacKenzie would like to work with the top special effects team in Hollywood, K&B group, which has worked on countless films.
Tom said he wants to do whatever it takes to support the dreams of his kids “because some day when you’re older, you’ll be sitting in a chair somewhere and all you’ll have will be your memory.”
In the face of what appears like an insurmountable perpetual stroke of bad luck, the Wentzs’ positive outlook seems unlikely.
But, Wentz said, “life is too short for always squabbling, always worrying about everything, every morning will just put you in the grave quicker. There are always bills to pay and always the next day.”
In the end, he said they ultimately want to be known as people who contributed to their community.
– tam.r@aggiemail.usu.edu