GALION — Marian Walker is the queen of Halloween.
Her Galion home, inside and out, is decked out in Halloween. Big time. From the pumpkin family perched on the front porch bench to the “You’ll Be Sorry” entryway and every room beyond, tricks and treats abound. A haunted house that’s been decades in the making.
It’s called “Marian’s Manor.”
“I don’t know how it evolved. It just got bigger and bigger,” said Marian, who usually dresses the part for first-time visitors in a witch’s hat and spider web necklace. “I like to have people come over and tour the house. They seem to enjoy it, really.”
The spook-tacular display is a mix. Vintage villages and wooden witches, haunted heads and howling wolves. Every room in the two-story home has a unique Halloween theme created by the queen herself, sure to startle, and sure to leave visitors spellbound.
Marian admits that Halloween has always been her favorite holiday, from the time she went begging for treats as a youngster growing up in Pittsburgh.
“I just always liked trick-or-treat night and all the costumes” she said. “I read ‘Nancy Drew’ as a kid and I like the colors of fall.”
About 25 years ago, her fascination with the frightening kicked into full gear. At the time she was already decorating the house for her card club, which she typically hosted in October, as well as her husband, Charlie’s, poker night. Then she hit the box stores and went big time.
The Halloween hunt was officially on.
Marian sought inspiration from Halloween editions of magazines such as Martha Stewart Living. She visited Haunted Houses, like the one formerly in Chatfield, and acquired some of their masks. And she scouted gift shops and Halloween stores, adding pieces to her ever-growing collection.
Friends and relatives were quick to jump on the bandwagon, too. Her daughter-in-law found a headless horseman, while a creepy shower curtain and blood-stained rug were a gift from her sister-in-law in Cincinnati. Friends bought her birthday gifts in the fall.
Marian has taken photographs of her entire display, so she remembers where to assemble and plug in the pieces each year. She begins the massive makeover in September, dragging the boxes and bins from storage and washing the Halloween dinnerware first. She’s always done by Oct. 1, with a few tweaks after that.
There’s not much counter space in her kitchen this time of year since the island is covered in a bowl of brains and the catch of the day. Dracula’s crypt lurks at the foot of the master bed. The downstairs bathroom, complete with a talking skeleton mirror, is infested with rats.
A witch on broom flies by a tree in the front yard. Out back is the “Poltergeist Patio,” a cemetery and the “she shed,” which Marian has transformed into a gruesome “Homeopathic Healing Center.” A bridge leads to what might be lurking on “The Other Side.”
While the family room features friendly ghosts and goblins on the mantle, the “Sleepy Hollow B & B” upstairs cleverly encourages guests to please book “A Head.” The library is one of Marian’s favorite rooms, with hidden clues based on the “Clue” board game.
“People who come like to guess in the Clue Room where I have the weapons hid,” she said, pointing out the dagger and pistol. “They like looking at all the lighted villages too, and they like to see if I have anything new when they come back each year.”
Natalie Salvatore and her family have been regulars at Marian’s Manor for 14 years now. They originally made the trip from their home in Avon, Ohio, to trick-or-treat in Galion as well as visit her grandmother, Vee TyRee. The manor is always a must stop.
“It’s been a tradition for quite some time,” said Natalie, who now makes the trek all the way from Nashville, Tenn., and joins friends from Medina and Columbus for the tour. “It’s amazing. Everything is so cool, from the tiny villages to the grandiose displays.”
Each fall the Walkers and their four grandchildren dress in costumes for their traditional Halloween photo. One year they posed as scarecrows, another as characters from The Addams Family. The family photo is always the cover of their official Halloween greeting card.
Because Marian Walker isn’t spooked by All Hallows’ Eve, and her husband doesn’t mind the bones and broomsticks, cobwebs and corpses. It’s October, and Marian’s Manor is once again a “Whooo’s Who” of happy haunting for young and old alike.
