NATCHEZ — Screams and squeals were coming from inside the walls of historic Longwood Saturday night.

No one on the outside knew why until a shaking Jordan Petty, 10, came crawling out to the exit tunnel.

“It is freakish,” she said.

Petty had just completed a tour of Longwood, but it wasn’t like the normal Monday through Friday tours.

The historic and unfinished Longwood was transformed into a haunted house as part of the Longwood Halloween Carnival, a fundraiser for the Pilgrimage Garden Club.

Five rooms of the house were decked out in themed decorations — the entry room, dot room, surgery room, doll room and the exit tunnel. The frightening house was the handiwork of the Catholic Youth Organization at St. Mary Basilica.

And once visitors crawl out of the exit tunnel, careful to avoid the dungeon, they still can’t relax. Because, just as they are getting to their feet, Darren Cowart, disguised in coveralls and a hockey mask, greets them with chainsaw in hand.

Still startled and not quiet steady on her feet, Petty had a little trouble forming the words to describe the most terrifying part of the house tour.

“When the person jumped out of that thingamadoodle, whatchamacallit, wheelchair and grabbed my arm,” Petty said.

For Thomas Vincente, the dot room was the scariest part of the tour because it was hard to tell where the characters were coming from.

“Because his costume was just like the walls,” the 6-year-old said. “You couldn’t hardly see where he was.”

But, despite the tales of terror that came out of the house, there was still a long line of anxious visitors waiting for their chance to enter.

According to Amanda Hudson, a volunteer working at the haunted house, a few people weren’t even able to make it through the first room.

“We’ve had a few turn around and come right out the entrance,” Hudson said.

For the ones not ready to enter the darkened halls of Longwood, there were plenty of other games and crafts set up on the lawn.

The youngest attendees formed lines at the inflatable jumper that rivaled the lines at the haunted house.

Children were also able to choose and decorate their very own pumpkin at Picasso’s Pumpkins and take a whack at the pumpkin-shaped piñata.

Carnival co-chair Gina Cauthen said she was pleased with the turnout for the festival.

“It has just been wild out here today,” Cauthen said. “The weather has been great. It was just a beautiful day.”

Cauthen said the money raised was going toward the continuing restoration efforts and maintenance for the antebellum home.

A final tally for the exact amount earned at the fundraiser may not be ready for a few days, but, Cauthen said, she expects the results to be good.

“The crowd today has been just great,” she said. “I’m very pleased.”

The crowd-pleasing haunted house was added this year to the carnival that was resurrected last October after 20 years.

Other attractions were pumpkin shaped balloons, a picture booth and, of course, a haunted trail ride.

Once Petty regained her composure after the haunted house tour, she said she would definitely be headed for the haunted trail ride.

“I can handle the trail ride for some reason,” she said. “I just can’t take the house.”