'Twelve O'Clock At Night, It's Pretty Scary': Real-Life Fright Reported At Man's Haunted House

FLORISSANT, Mo. (CBS Local) -- A Missouri man who goes all out every Halloween to make his house as frightening as possible says he had a real-life fright of his own.

Ted Piekutowski of Florissant spends about a month making his home one of the scariest places in the St. Louis area, covering it with zombies, tombstones, skulls and gargoyles.

His Brenthaven Manor Asylum of Screams walk through haunted house is open for free to a fearful public the weekend prior to Halloween and Halloween night.

But the fright turned real for Piekutowski on Tuesday night, just before midnight.

"I heard a ruckus out on my front porch," he told KSDK.

Someone was trying to break into Piekutowski's haunted house.

"He had the screen off the front window and he had taken some wood and he was trying to pry the window open," he said.

The suspect tried to get away, but got stuck in the Halloween decorations. Piekutowski was able to hold the man until police arrived.

Officers took the suspect to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, St. Louis County Police Department said.

"Twelve o'clock at night, it's pretty scary," Piekutowski said. "You don't know what you're going to run into."