An 1839 Milwaukee warehouse-turned-home to be featured in HGTV’s ‘Scariest House in America’

A Milwaukee home that was built as a warehouse for the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co. in 1839 will be featured in an upcoming episode of HGTV’s “Scariest House in America.”

Don Percy bought the vacant warehouse for $50,000 in 2013 and began converting it into a 9,600-square-foot home with one bedroom and 1½ bathrooms. In the “Scariest House” episode titled “Monsters of the Midwest,” Percy walks the show’s host, comedian and actress Retta, through his home.

The episode reveals that what appears to be an old, abandoned warehouse at 66th Street and Lisbon Avenue on Milwaukee’s northwest side is only half of the truth about the building. The first floor contains a series of 90-foot-long, dimly lit hallways connected by old wooden doors with cracked windows. The hallways are lined with tools and equipment you’d find in a garage or shed, a scene reminiscent of horror movies.

The second floor, however, looks as if someone plopped a Northwoods cabin into a warehouse — complete with a front door that leads into Percy’s 1,640-square-foot, fairly normal-looking living space with a living room, white-cabinets kitchen, bathroom and lofted bedroom. There even are cheerful yellow walls and hardwood floors. A door from the living space leads back into a more warehouse-like space that Percy uses as a gym and for entertaining.

On the outside of the building — but not featured in the episode — are some additions Percy made that caught neighbors’ — and the Journal Sentinel’s — attention in 2018: two nude, headless female mannequins affixed to the top front corners of the building. Percy’s sister gave him the mannequins as a housewarming gift.

But the scary stuff is inside, where Rhetta explains to Percy that if his house moves on in the “Scariest House in America” competition, he has a chance to win a $150,000 renovation from interior designer Alison Victoria. Rhetta selects a regional winner at the end of each episode, and the overall winner is announced during the show’s season finale.

The first season of “Scariest House in America” attracted more than 8.3 million viewers with four episodes, according to a news release from HGTV’s PR agency, Superjuice. The show is now in its second season.

The “Monsters of the Midwest” episode premieres on the HGTV network at 8 p.m. Oct. 10.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee home to be featured on HGTV’s ‘Scariest House in America’