CAN'T WAIT FOR HALLOWEEN PLANS AFOOT TO SCARE ALL YEAR.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff writer

VALENCIA - It's not unusual to see a gravestone with a cherub looming over a cemetery, but this cherub has her hands over her eyes, a warning to those entering the spooky surroundings of the 5,000 square foot warehouse.

To Denise Larson Kivett and Ralph Esacoff, the cherub was another kind of angel - one that brought them a dream come true.

Kivett remembers growing up in a household where Halloween was king - her parents and brother dressed up to scare trick-or-treaters. As she grew up, she continued the tradition with her children, holding Halloween events of legend in her Canyon Country neighborhood, culminating in a 2005 haunted house that drew 500 people by word-of-mouth only.

So when she and friend Esacoff visited TransWorld, a national convention of "haunters" who live and breathe Halloween, they knew it was time to go bigger and better.

"We were walking around the convention center like zombies," Kivett said. "I told Ralph there are a lot of demented minds here."

Returning home, a chance encounter at their storage facility near Sand Canyon led to them meeting Dr. Ron Singer, owner of Molar Manor, which just happened to be for sale.

The dentist, who shares the couple's affection for things macabre, offered to show them the warehouse. They were stunned and excited at the same time.

"This was the answer to what we were looking for," Kivett said. "Last year, the UPS guy couldn't even get his truck off our street, there were so many people. We knew it was time to move on. We couldn't do that to our neighbors again."

It didn't take long before a checkbook came out and the manor changed hands. They've already ordered a new attraction and are working on new designs to draw shrieks and shudders from the crowds.

And they're planning on giving the moaning ghouls and screaming corpses regular employment, making Molar Manor a regular attraction, available for special events for corporate groups, cocktail parties and birthdays. They're even inviting film companies to take a look around and use them as a backdrop.

According to those in the haunting industry, Molar Manor has already taken on a life of its own and has a chilling reputation. If Kivett and Esacoff make it year-round, it will be one of a handful across the country offering patrons a chance to scream their way to a good time 12 months a year - and the only one in California.

"There are between 3,000 to 5,000 seasonal haunts, which are open in October, but only a few year-round," said Leonard Pickel, editor of Haunted Attractions magazine, which hosts its own convention of freak fans.

"People build and attend haunted houses for the shared experience," he said. "When I built my first haunt, not only was I able to see people's reaction, but both of us got an adrenaline rush, them from being scared and me from being able to scare them.

"A lot of people start by decorating their house for trick-or-treaters, then they get more elaborate and it takes over their front yard and back yard and sometimes the garage, until their spouse says `no more.' Then the person has to make the choice of either scaling down or jumping into the professional ranks, where they find out it's not an easy undertaking," he said.

Kivett and Esacoff are already looking forward to an open house in June when they hope to debut the renewed manor. They plan on keeping the charity weekend that Singer established to raise money for the Foundation for Children's Dental Health and other youth health services Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, then have it open as a commercial haunted house the rest of the Halloween month.

"We even want to decorate it for Christmas," Kivett said. "There's so much you can do."

While they are making some changes, they want to let the community know Dr. Singer will remain in his post as a greeter at the front door.

"He'll be there to remind people of the rules," Esacoff said. "Basically, don't touch the creatures and they won't touch you."

For information on Molar Manor, call [phone] or e-mail molarmanor(at)earthlink.net.

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) The new owners of Molar Mansion, a haunted house in the Valencia industrial center, are, right to left, Denise Kivett, with her daughter Lindsay Norris, and Ralph Esacoff. The owners plan to keep the house open for a very scary eternity.

(2 -- 3 -- color) Ralph Esacoff, above, tries to keep "grandma" from falling down the stairs at Molar Mansion haunted house in Valencia. The haunted house, left, not only is one of the more elaborate ones in the area, but could be one of the few in the nation open year-round. That is the goal of the new owners.

David Crane/Staff Photographer