Halloween decor sets a mood

Before nightfall, Linda Tuttle will pull on a witch's costume and plop down in the woods next to her house at 5417 Hanover Park Drive. There, she will hand out bags of candy and cups of cider to the young and not-so-young who come to admire her spooky decorations.

At the Tuttle household, diaphanous ghosts, some with glow-in-the-dark green faces and hands, sway from the trees. Witches abound, and a headless figure stands guard near a cauldron, where orange lights emit an eerie glow. A ghoul dressed in black clasps the mailbox with bony, fleshless hands.

Tuttle is one of millions of Americans who dress up their yards for Halloween. In 2006, Americans spent an estimated $5 billion on Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation. A good chunk of the money went to decorations.

Tuttle has been decorating for Halloween since her children --now 35 and 27 -- were small. Every year, she tries to add something new. Neighborhood children, children who ride the bus past her house and even UNC School of the Arts students come to her house to see the latest. She made the fabric ghosts and painted the figures of four witches and a grim reaper that stand in the yard. She has to apply new coats of fluorescent green paint to her ghosts almost every year to keep them glowing properly.

Her husband, Mike, leaves her to her own devices except when she talks him into climbing a ladder for her to hang decorations. She is the one who doles out the treats.

"When the candy runs out, that's it," she said.

At the Hrabovsky household at 5120 Carversham Court, it's husband Michael who decks out the yard with creepy things. Skeletons rise from graves marked with such names as Noah Moore and Barry R. Bones. One has the tattered garb and eye patch of a pirate. Another figure wears muscle but no flesh over his bones, and holds his severed head in his hands. Bats and skeletons hang from trees, and a fence of staked heads runs along the lawn.

"This is his thing," said Michael's wife, Lisa. "He loves it." So do their three children, ages 14, 13 and 9. She laughed and said she had forbidden her husband to buy more decorations for the yard, so now he has moved some inside.

The display of 18 Halloween-theme inflatable decorations at the home of Lisa and Darren Hawkins was inspired by the spectacular Christmas display they put up each year.

"Just by the nature of the beast, we have branched out into Halloween," Lisa Hawkins said. "We're decorating addicts." At Christmas, they string 55,000 lights that are synched to music, and they maintain a Web site, www.lightaholics.com.

"If you ever see our Christmas display, this will make a lot more sense than it does right now," she said. Unlike some parents, they don't decorate just for their children, who are 27, 16 and 13.

The displays at their house at 1005 Hazelwood Drive -- some of them stand 12 feet high and measure 12 1/2 feet wide -- include three grim reapers riding motorcycles; a hearse with a rearing black horse, a skeleton driver and a pop-up ghoul in a coffin; a haunted house in which ghosts dance merrily; and a yellow-fanged reaper with claws and red eyes. A ghost bursts from the eye socket of a green skull, and a teddy-bear pirate rises from a pumpkin.

The couple chose inflatable decorations because they make a big impact and are easy to disassemble. "Because our Christmas display is so intense, we need something that can come down fairly quickly," Lisa Hawkins said. "On November first, we've got to start putting up Christmas things."

Bettie and B.J. Carmichael of 1718 Burke Mill Road also decorate at Christmas. And Halloween. And Valentine's Day. And St. Patrick's Day.

You get the picture.

"This started quite a few years back," Bettie Carmichael said. "People keep telling us how much they appreciate it." Their own twin daughters and granddaughter are grown, but they enjoy the children who come to visit at Halloween. "They can't wait to see what we put up next," she said.

Pumpkins dominate their decor this year. A pumpkin flag flaps from a pole, and pumpkins perch by the front door and on benches. A pair of ghosts and a skull guard a rock garden planted with wood and plastic pumpkins. A smiling black cat decorates a wreath on the door; another sits atop a brick wall. The yard has more cats, skeletons, ghosts, a mummy and Frankenstein.

Sandra Fletcher and Elizabeth Howard have been decorating at Halloween for nearly 30 years, the last 18 at their house at 2730 Melinda Drive.

"It's because we love Halloween," Fletcher said. "A lot of people bring their kids now that used to come by when they were kids." Fletcher and Howard lean toward decorations that are cheery rather than creepy. Grinning ghosts and pumpkins dangle from dogwood trees, and their geese statues wear black hats and orange capes dotted with witches. Scarecrows perch on hay bales, and ghosts guard the door. Signs warn about the presence of spiders. But it's not likely that anyone will miss the giant inflatable spider in front of the house.

In Rural Hall, several blocks of Broad Street become a mecca for youngsters seeking treats as the town's police officers slow traffic and children swarm the sidewalks.

The house at 7810 Broad St. sets a grisly tone with a giant inflatable spider that looms above the porch. A bloody hand, a remnant of the spider's last meal, dangles from its mouth. Another spider dangles from a rope, and a third creeps down a tree. Bats flap in the breeze, and gravestones stand on the lawn.

People block traffic to take photos of the house, said Cindy Gwyn, whose husband, David, is responsible for the display. Halloween is his holiday, she said. Her husband dresses in costume, as do her two sons, ages 20 and 13.

"We say we do it for the kids," she said. But she knows her husband will continue to decorate after their children are grown and gone.

"He's the biggest kid of all."

■ Janice Gaston can be reached at 727-7364 or at jgaston@wsjournal.com.

Boo!

Here are some of the yards where Halloween reigns:

• Linda and Mike Tuttle at 5417 Hanover Park Drive

• Lisa and Michael Hrabovsky at 5120 Carversham Court

• Lisa and Darren Hawkins at 1005 Hazelwood Drive

• Bettie and B.J. Carmichael at 1718 Burke Mill Road

• Sandra Fletcher and Elizabeth Howard at 2730 Melinda Drive

• Cindy and David Gwyn at 7810 Broad Street, Rural Hall

• We also spotted some spiffy decorations at these houses:

• Karen and Shawn Jacobsen at 818 Miller Street. An inflatable black cat looms above the carport, and pirate skeletons, with their toothy rat companions, ride skateboards. A series of signs amid gravestones warn those who might dare approach: "Turn Back Now." "Enter if You Dare." "Be Very Afraid." Frankenstein and a zombie seem to be clawing their way from the earth, and a blow-up Dracula pops up from his gravestone at regular intervals.

• Patti and Scott Sturdy at 800 S. Hawthorne Road. Gravestones cover a side yard, and red-eyed skulls glow from the windows. Ghosts with wispy fabric bodies drift through the trees, and a gargoyle glares malevolently from the roof. Spiders crawl up the front of the house, and one of them has caught a skeleton in its web. Trick-or-treaters enter the yard through an inflatable haunted house.

• Marty and Nancy Russell at 224 Barney Road off Old 311 in Horneytown. Fifteen to 20 inflatable figures dot the wooded lot, and ghosts, skeletons and Frankensteins hang in the trees. Ghosts ride a carousel, and a witch emerges from a pumpkin. A line of grinning skulls and a mummy tied to a tree guard a graveyard. Bats and witches zoom about inside glowing globes.

COMPILED BY JANICE GASTON