BUCYRUS—The Chad Durham family doesn’t have any skeletons in their closet.
They display dozens of the bony bodies in front of their two-story home at 844 Rogers Street – all part of a haunting Halloween scene sure to draw double-takes during the day and spook passersby at night.
“A lot of neighbors when we first started setting it up were like, ‘We were afraid you weren’t gonna do it this year,” said Chad’s wife, Amy, since the lawn art and LED lights didn’t go up until Oct. 1. “Everybody likes it though. They say it looks really nice, and that’s so cool.”
The front yard has been converted into a ghoulish graveyard anchored by a lighted “horse-drawn” hearse and corpse. But the cobweb-covered fence is just temporary – designed by Chad to surround the cemetery and the not-so-friendly souls lurking inside.
“Whenever I see stuff, I just take pictures and get ideas,” said Chad, whose children – Natalie, 15, and eight-year-old Owen – also take part in the five-year-old tradition. “It’s a family thing, decorating. We all do it together. I like to mix the old stuff with the new.”
Many of the pieces, including the carriage driving skeleton, are animated, their moving mouths and flashing red eyes glowing in the dark. A fog machine adds another eerie dimension, while light timers ensure that the entire over-the-top attraction is lit up from 7:00 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.
Inside, the home is just as frightening for first-time visitors who enter at their own risk. Film villain Michael Myers masks lining the living room mantle. Spiders that jump up with the push of a button. And life-size animatronics like the talking Wacky Mole clown in the corner.
Amy has added her touch, too, with blood-stained tablecloths fashioned from cheesecloth and fake blood and dining room curtains laden with shadowy hand imprints. She’s also painted bottles and porcelain dolls and applied Mod Podge to used books – perfect accent pieces for the ghoulish theme.
But Owen, who admits he’s “obsessed” with Halloween, is clearly the catalyst for the annual undertaking that started out with a few skeletons. “I like Halloween, and it’s fun, and it’s scary, and it’s my favorite holiday,” said the second-grader as he held up a pair of Uncle Charlie and Hugz the Clown dolls sold exclusively at Spirit Halloween.
This year, Chad said, Owen literally sprinted through the parking lot of the seasonal store on opening day, then begged his parents to take him back week after week. He knows “witch” way to go through the aisles scouting for costumes, props, and new animatronics, then normally whimpers when it’s time to leave.
Owen, who will be begging for treats disguised as the “Sam” character from “Trick’r Treat,” even decks out his bedroom for Halloween, complete with a creepy T.V., skeleton bird, and old movie reel.
He often curls up there at night to watch Halloween videos, no matter what time of year.
Chad has even made special trips to Akron and Columbus to pick up vintage blow mold ghosts and one-of-a-kind décor. He also spent three weeks perfecting this year’s fence project, building the four-foot-tall posts out of wood and foam boards and cutting PVC pipe to resemble the wrought iron railing.
The DIY’er, who also hits the after-Halloween sales, has been known to doctor up box store items with a touch of spray paint. And he’s already brewing up ideas for next year, like adding a coffin and some larger monuments to the growing graveyard collection.
“You gotta’ do something different every year,” said Chad. “I don’t know when it’s ever gonna end, though. I guess when we run out of places to store it.”
