As the October breeze drowns out the heat, and the once green leaves discolor, families set out pumpkins and gords to recognize the season. For most, the fall spirit ends there; however, a few houses in Green take it to a whole new level. Passing on the wreaths and friendly ghosts in order to set up their blood-curdling decorations for Halloween. Front yards turn into imaginary cemeteries as residents arrange skeletons and tombstones, and the zombie apocalypse comes to life with undead figures surrounding the home.
Driving through the streets of Green, Halloween spirit is not prominent, but the houses that appreciate the holiday go all out. Decorations vary from lights and blow-up spiders, to mannequins with chainsaws and blood all over.
The intensity of these decorations tend to correlate to the age of the children that abide there. The families with adolescent children have cute scarecrows in their front yards, and dangling skeletons from their roofs. Those who have children that are older, have gory scenes, and decorations that shout at you when traveling towards the home.
Some of the best houses in Green are overlooked, and the work put into them is not thanked enough from the viewers.
The drive to decorate comes from the love of the spirit. Sage Fredrick ´26 explains that her family decorates due to her father being a “Halloween fanatic” and likes to go all out each year with lights and inflatables.
Horror movie fans can be found displaying their favorite characters in their front yard, awakening characters such as Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers.
The effort to create these scary scenes is not well known by many, from constructing mannequins based on vague instructions and trying to hang decor on a shaky ladder to spending hundreds, the steps to a horrifying house are not easy.
Putting together Halloween decorations is not an easy task. The construction of a singular dummy takes even expert builders about half an hour. This time adds up when you take into account the dressing, posing, and stabilizing each character. Additionally, lights and hanging decor is always a struggle. Balancing on a ladder while trying to hang a huge spider from your roof is not an activity for the faint of heart.
The holiday spirit is not cheap. The average American home is reported to spend almost $40 on decor, but these houses shriek at this statistic.
“I spent about $2k on decor this year alone,” Green Resident said.
Decorations commonly come from Amazon, Party City, or the infamous Spirit Halloween. These prices are heavily marked up, and the die hard Halloween fans swear by shopping for the following year on November first to get the best deals.
The effort put into these houses is spine-chiling, so we decided to highlight a few that stuck out to us!
House 1: This yard transformed into a cemetery for the spooky season. This scene is brought together by home made gravestones that have comical quotes on them such as, “any day above ground is a good day” and “RIP, she didn’t see it coming.” The homemade nature of the decorations alongside the skeletons climbing the house create the perfect display.
House 2: The massive Jack Skelington in this yard can be seen from down the street. There are so many unique decorations at this home such as the octopus spewing from the yard, the skeleton arch, and the numerous decorated pumpkins across the property. This home truly makes Green feel like Halloweentown.
House 3: This house has decorations wrapped around the front and side, but this graveyard is impeccable. The giant skeleton crawling out of the ground is an eye catcher, and the floating characters seemingly defy gravity.
Other house by the roundabout: The colossal skeleton is the center of this house’s decor.
House in Vivi’s neighborhood: This haunted home is covered in decor. There are countless undead characters paired along with clowns to spook trick or treaters in the following weeks.
Brennan Green: “I don’t notice any decorations in this town, my family doesn’t decorate for Halloween, more turkey day. The candy bowls that grab you when you reach in scare me the most”
Sage: “I notice the houses that do things for Halloween, when I’m bored I just drive around and look at them. My family does decorate for Halloween cause my dad is a Halloween fanatic and likes to go all out some ears. And none really scare me, I’m not a fearful person. We decorate with inflatables and we wrap colored lights around our bushes and around the house.”
https://www.consolidatedcredit.org/infographics/halloween-statistics/#:~:text=Average%20household%20Halloween%20spending&text=This%20year%2C%20it’s%20estimated%20that,Decorations%3A%20%2434.76
