Halloween superfans: Culture catching up
BUSINESS. A look at the locals who go all-out for Halloween, turning their lawns into spooky spectacles for trick-or-treaters.
| 31 Oct 2024 | 12:47
This home on Macopin Road in West Milford goes all out for Halloween. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Dozens of figures are set up in front of this home at Main and Clarkson streets in Newton. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Giant skeletons are popular Halloween decorations. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
This home on Macopin Road in West Milford goes all out for Halloween. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Dozens of figures are set up in front of this home at Main and Clarkson streets in Newton. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Dozens of figures are set up in front of this home at Main and Clarkson streets in Newton. (Photo by Kathy Shwiff)
Another house on Orchard St. in Warwick, NY uses colorful lights in addition to their old-school theme. (Photo by Aja Brandt)
The “Bates Motel’ on Howe St. in Warwick, NY has a porch lineup of classic Halloween movie villains including Mike Myers, Art the Clown, Leatherface, Chucky, Billy the Puppet, and more. (Photo by Aja Brandt)
Buried skeletons bust through the yard on Horseshoe Ct. in Goshen, NY. (Photo by Beth Quinn)
More from Horseshoe Ct., Goshen NY.
Musical skeletons are on display playing instruments in front of a house on Grand Street in Goshen, NY. (Photo by Beth Quinn)
A spooky cemetery filled with tombstones and a tunnel for brave trick-or-treaters awaits on North Church Street, Goshen NY.
A caged skeleton in red awaits at a house on Scotchtown Ave., Goshen, NY. (Photo by Beth Quinn)
This homemade cemetery display on E Main St. in Port Jervis, NY features a flag pole-climbing skeleton, jack-o’lantern towers, and Chucky doll on the porch to welcome trick-or-treaters. (Photo by Aja Brandt)
Small but scary, this little zombie is one of many creepy creatures filling the yard on Gariss St. (Photo by Aja Brandt)
’Skelly’ can be seen on display in front of a house in Port Jervis on Lyman Ave. (Photo by Aja Brandt)
Mak Ralston, a Halloween fanatic known as Haunt Former on YouTube, who posts Halloween videos year-round, has noticed the shift.
“There used to be a kind of a calendar as to when I would expect things to come out in stores,” he said, noting that orange and black and witches and skeletons used to roll in at the start of September, maybe mid-August.
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“Just married,” a skeleton couple sit in their classic car outside the house marked off with caution tape. (Photo by Aja Brandt) -
Around the corner on Welling Ave. in Warwick, NY, a creepy scarecrow awaits trick-or-treaters in the corn stalks. Beware of getting too close, or you will hear the calls of crows lurking. (Photo by Aja Brandt) -
This house on Orchard St. in Warwick, NY added a pop of color to their decorations with multicolor lights. (Photo by Aja Brandt)
“This year, I saw some stuff in stores for Halloween in June, early July,” he said. “It’s never been earlier.
“Some average people who aren’t as invested don’t realize that for people who are really committed to both Halloween and the horror culture, they’re in it to win it like all year,” Ralston said.“I can post a video about a horror movie or about a Halloween mask that’s coming out in October in February, and people eat it up.”
Nate Rambaud, known as That Guy Nate on YouTube, started his channel by posting videos of abandoned stores such as Toys R Us, a niche interest on the video-sharing platform.
Now with more than 440,000 subscribers, his bread and butter is a more spooky niche. He posts videos touring Spirit Halloween locations, which often occupy abandoned stores.
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A yard on Gariss St. in Port Jervis, NY features an iron-fencing display to contain zombies, skeletons and more, including a large-scale evil clown cut-out with a walk-through mouth at the porch entrance. (Photo by Aja Brandt) -
The Lyman Ave. decorations also include a fence full of dolls. (Photo by Aja Brandt)
Rambaud has been to more than 300 Spirit Halloween locations in all 50 states.
“Halloween is so easy to attach to. It doesn’t require anybody else whatsoever,” he said.
Christmas “kind of requires other people, your family.”
“You’re out buying stuff for people. And then kids sit around and wait for Christmas - that’s really all they can do for Christmas,” he said. “But Halloween - anyone can associate with Halloween and you can do it any time all the time.”
Why are so many people so wild about Halloween?
Perhaps it all has to do with a fundamental part of the holiday: children.
Jacob Humphrey, an artist in Texas, was out painting his fence recently when a girl walked by. She told him his house always has the best decorations.
“I didn’t realize kids memorize that. And that’s really kind of a badge of honor,” he said. ”Also, like, great, now I have no choice, I’m going to make sure I do a great job.”
Ralston recalled that growing up, he was the kid who carried around a skeleton instead of a teddy bear.
And Rambaud, whose videos showcase Halloween animatronics worth hundreds of dollars, remembers a simpler time from his childhood that helped spark his love for Halloween.
“My dad used to make what he would call a spook tunnel. He would take cardboard boxes, like refrigerator boxes, and he put them all together and made a maze that we had to crawl through,” he said. ”That was our little haunted house.”
To Humphrey, the holiday’s appeal can be summarized this way: “Halloween is an extrovert day for introverts,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you want to celebrate that?”