HALLOWEEN HAUNTS: A Little Yard to Work In
by Rami Ungar
October third is sunny and warm as I step out onto my front porch, but with my neighbor’s condo abutting my tiny yard, I’m covered in shade. I start piling plastic skeletons and felt spiders with posable limbs on my porch, then grab poles from the garage and attic. Then, over the next hour, I pose the skeletons in my yard and wrap the spiders’ limbs around the skeletons. By the end, there’s a tableau in my yard, one with several skeletons being attacked by giant spiders, and a skeleton playing Lizzie Borden watching from the side while wielding an axe.
Hey, I’ve been to that house and experienced paranormal activity. I’ve studied the case. And I bought a foam tombstone with her name on it at a Halloween-themed event I vended at once. Lizzie Borden will always have a special place in my twisted little heart, as well as in my yearly Halloween display.
As I finish up my work, I take photos and make a silly little video to post to my social media later. And I think to myself, “Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, it might be my best work yet.”
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When I first started doing Halloween displays in my yard four years ago, a couple of months after I moved into my condo, I didn’t exactly plan it out as I did it. I just had a bunch of random bits and bobs my mother passed down to me (she loved decorating her house for Halloween when we were kids), and some other stuff I got from the Halloween sections of big box stores, and I wanted to set them up. I think the only considerations I made were how to make some of the ghosts float (I ended up buying a couple of shepherd’s hook-style flower hangers from the garden section at Lowe’s) and how to arrange my spooky collection on the dirt so they at least looked appealing to the passing eye.
It wasn’t much, but I was proud of it. After all, I’d never had my own yard to decorate for Halloween before. And while it was just a small patch of dirt by my front door, it was mine to do with as I pleased. To decorate for October as I pleased. And that meant the world to me.
I did the same thing the following year, taking out old decorations that were nearing their expiration dates and putting in new ones as I found them. I even found some pieces that scared my neighbors when they walked by at night, like a ghost which I hung from an extra-tall shepherd’s hook. (It was impossible to keep up, but man, did my neighbors and I get a kick out of it!)
And then, midway through that October, I came across a news report on YouTube that really spoke to me. It was about a man living somewhere north of me in Ohio who would fill his yards with dozens of skeletons every October. Each year, he would do a different theme for them, but always putting a hundred and ten percent into each display. And it worked, because he got onto the news for it.
That video inspired me. I saw what he was doing with his skeletons, and I looked out at my own little patch of dirt. I didn’t have the same amount of space as he did, but I could do something similar, couldn’t I? And so, even before the month was halfway over, I started planning for next October.
When the time came, I was ready. I went to Lowe’s to get posable skeletons, as well as PVC pipes and zip ties so they could stand in my yard. I then fished some old costumes out of my closet and bought some more online to dress the skeletons. And because I’d bought that foam Lizzie Borden tombstone earlier that year, I made sure one of those costumes was a Victorian style dress.
And then, during the first weekend of that October, I set up five skeletons in my yard. There was Lizzie by her tombstone, a Revolutionary War soldier standing at attention, two child-sized skeletons dressed as a pirate and a ballerina, and a ghoul with his arms outstretched, looking for people to eat. The theme was “Life in the Graveyard.” Or maybe I should have called it “Afterlife in the Graveyard?”
Either way, I loved it way more than my previous displays. Not only were the five skeletons visually striking, but it felt like they really represented Halloween while dressed in those costumes. After all, isn’t one of the best parts of Halloween putting on a costume and embracing a new identity for a little while? And besides all that, the orderly tableau, with its theme and preparation, felt like an upgrade. As someone who claimed to be a horror author, it just felt right to have a display that told a story. To have something that showed more forethought and work than just putting out some random bits and bobs and giving their arrangement some feng shui.
Even better, my neighbors loved it! They thought the skeletons were much more creative and impressive than the previous years’ displays, and came over to take photos. My next-door neighbor even asked me to take a photo of her standing in between the skeletons. I was all too happy to oblige.
That was last year. This year, as I said earlier, the theme is “spiders.” It’s a bit simpler than last year—the only skeleton wearing a costume is Lizzie Borden—but it’s also given me a chance to experiment with how I set up the skeletons and other elements. Last year, the biggest issue I had with my yard was how to keep everything upright for a month. Between vibrations from the road and the Ohio weather, those skeletons fell to the ground a lot.
I’m trying to fix those issues with a combination of PVC pipes, shepherd crooks, and even spikes in the ground. So far, they seem to be working, though Lizzie did have a bad fall on Friday night. And with all this experimentation, I am taking notes so next year’s display can be even better.
Yes, I am already planning for next year. I’m considering themes and thinking of ways to both improve my displays and fix any issues with them. How could I not? Not only is it a ton of fun to do every October, but people look forward to it. Especially my neighbors, who are now getting in on the fun as well. For the first time since I moved in, I’m seeing Halloween displays on their properties. One even has a spider web made of rope and what looks like a large, furry tarantula on their lawn!
Dare I take credit for inspiring them to get into the holiday spirit, like that guy with his dozens of skeletons inspired me?
Whatever the case, I know this much: for as long as I have a little yard to work in, I’ll make a new Halloween display every October. I’ll improve with every project and every experiment. And with each new iteration, I’ll look forward to sharing it, as well as my love of Halloween, with the rest of the world.
Rami Ungar is a novelist from Columbus, Ohio specializing in horror and dark fiction. He has published six books, including Rose, Hannah and Other Stories, and Symphony for Walpurgis. He is also the Chapter Coordinator for the Ohio Chapter of the Horror Writers Association, and loves hanging out with his fellow horror enthusiasts. When not writing or hanging out with other horror fiends, Rami enjoys reading, following his many interests, and giving his readers the impression that he’s not entirely human.
You can follow Rami on his website, https://ramiungarthewriter.com/, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, and YouTube. You can also find his work on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at other great book retailers.