Houses throughout Suffolk will become haunted today as a handful of hyper-Halloween residents pull out all the stops to scare and entertain their neighbors.

Bill VanHorn and Danny Lester, childhood friends whose own children are now past trick-or-treating age, decided to cook up a little trouble for the neighborhood children in Kingsboro.

“Highland Haunts,” being held at Lester’s home at 403 Highland Ave., is the creation the two friends came up with using cardboard donated by Butler Paper, some volunteers and a little ingenuity.

“We decided we wanted to do something for all the other kids,” Lester said this week.

The maze warns people to “Keep Away,” but daring folks who go through will encounter frights in the form of animatronics and live volunteers ready to scare.

“There are 14 volunteers that are going to be scaring people,” VanHorn said. “We should have fun.”

Windsor High School has donated lights, props and costumes, VanHorn said. About $500 worth of their own props also will help with the haunting.

A station for kids not brave enough to go through will be set up. VanHorn said the maze is free, but donations will be accepted for a cancer charity, as both friends have had several family members fight cancer. They have not yet decided which charity to donate to.

At Mark Kinsey’s home at 804 Garden Lane, another haunted maze is entering its third year.

“It was really small the first year,” Kinsey said. “It was just a couple props in the front yard and two of us in costume just trying to scare people.”

The haunting doubled in size last year. “This year it really tripled in size,” Kinsey said. “It’s gotten much bigger.”

A mad scientist, zombies crawling out of a grave, a zombie-like nurse, a haunted tunnel and more are planned. Kinsey’s parents are even visiting from Florida especially to help out.

About a dozen people in various costumes will supplement the fear, as well as animatronic props, a graveyard, smoke machines and scary music.

“To exit, they have to go through a tunnel that was built inside the tent that’s going to have the flashing lights and the smoke and different surprises,” Kinsey said.

The event is free.

“I would like it to be overwhelmed with people,” Kinsey said. “If it goes well, we’ll ask for donations for charity next year.”

At 104 Dunbar Drive, Christine Santsaver, her boyfriend Russell Burtnette and her son Scott Santsaver are planning a huge Halloween display in their front yard.

“It’s something that he has been wanting to do for years,” Santsaver said of her boyfriend. “He had this plan and he knew exactly what he wanted.”

Burtnette built a fence, bought several animatronics and crafted his own headstones. A window display in the upstairs bedroom creates hauntings inside the house visible from outside.

Santsaver’s son built a cauldron and a carved and painted fire. Scary costumes on all members of the family will complete the display.

“It’s just really cool,” Santsaver said. “He’s worked on this all year.”