Two houses are waging an All Hallows Eve war to outdo each other’s spooky and bloodcurdling decorations. However the participants say it’s not about who wins, it’s about offering a frightful time to those who come knocking Halloween night.
John Dalby and his friends are new to the neighborhood, but have taken on the decorating challenge from the veterans of the block - the Heitmans.
He said the Heitmans came by one day as he was putting out some various knick-knacks to up the creep factor and asked “Is that all you’re going to put up?”
From there the arms race was on. Soon came the cemetery with bloody bones poking out of fresh graves. Creepy caskets with severed limbs cover the front lawn. A skull-faced angel of death hangs above the doorway. Cobwebs cover just about every bush. A special touch that Dalby is particularly excited about is a spectral clown attached to a zip line that swoops down onto unsuspecting candy cravers.
While Dalby and his family and friends have been setting up a frightful display, the Heitmans’ house is all about Hollywood Halloween. Mark Heitman is a Halloween hobbyist and loves to decorate realistic and horrifying masks and heads to go with his realistic spooky scenes.
He has been making his own Halloween creations since 1977. Growing up in Cameron, he and his friends would take a dollar to the store for Halloween merchandise and then build or paint what they needed to make their own spook houses. He said their imaginations ran wild after watching classic horror monsters like Frankenstein and Dracula in the movies.
“In a small town, it was all the fun you could ask for,” Heitman said.
He compares this time of year to Christmas. The entire family comes over for a big meal and to help out with the trick or treating.
“The saddest thing is when it’s over,” he said.
He and his family have invited trick-or-treaters to their home for the last 19 years and every year there’s something new - except the man on the porch
Every year there’s a man lying in the glider porch swing with gruesome red blisters on the side of his face. It’s a dummy with a mask of course, but Heitman’s wife Dawn says one day they’re going to have a real person inside the mask and give regular visitors to the Heitmans’ Halloween the fright of their lives.
This year the Heitmans will decorate the front walk like a medieval castle with a row of glowing bug-eyed skulls leading the way to the front door.
On Monday, Heitman showed some half-finished heads for creepy new dummies he plans to showcase on the big night, with realistic candy eyeballs his son Ian ate with disgusting glee. He said has only just begun to prepare and said he has a lot to do before the big day.
The whole idea is to provide a fun and safe place to trick-or- treat at time when people are scared to take their children door to door anymore. The Heitmans sometimes hand out candy to 75 children on Halloween and welcome any that come to their door from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Heitmans have been decorating for so long that some parents remember being brought trick or treating when they were children. The Heitmans have candy for all, as well as passes to the local roller rink for a few lucky children.
Heitman’s son, Ian, is looking forward to the big day and says he isn’t scared of anything. Well, except for the Grim Reaper that jumped out and spooked him last Halloween, but he says he’ll be the one doing the scaring this year.
Dalby and his friends and family are prepared to give visitors an adrenaline pumping Halloween fright. They have installed red flashing strobe lights to highlight the graveyard and they have purchased three fog machines and 90 pounds of dry ice to help set the mood. He and several others will even be part of the scene.
A witch will stir a bubbly brew while a mummy lying with the caskets is ready to jump up and chase the living. There are several other surprises, but knowing about everything that lies waiting in the dark makes for boring fright fest. A heaping helping of candy awaits whoever makes it through the graveyard, but use caution. This house is not for children susceptible to nightmares.
The community is invited to come enjoy the fun. The homes are in Oakwood Court but everyone is asked to park on the adjacent Twelve Oaks Drive to avoid ruining the mood with headlights. The Heitmans will answer the door from 6-9 p.m. and Dalby said he would keep the show going until around midnight.
kchandler@temple-telegram.com
