It’s almost the witching hour, as October rolls to a close Thursday and the attention of many turns to one of the most popular holidays of the year — all hallows eve. And, people such as Melissa Hales and Erica Flores wholeheartedly embrace the spirit of Halloween, and the decorations they display at that Sampson County homes is proof.
Nestled in a quaint curve along Autryville Road just off Pumpkintown Road is the home of the Hales family. Driving past their house, one can see a lot of Halloween decorations scattered all across the property. Ghosts ‘n ghouls, skeletons and spiders, witches and zombies, all these, and more, can be seen at every turn.
While the plethora of decorations are easily visible, even in the daytime, the difference, however, of seeing it at night is as if stepping into another world. Approaching the house at nightfall, the road is covered in dense fog pouring from their house. Once the fog is pierced, one is met with a scene of horror come to life.
Not an inch of their yard isn’t illuminated with eerie lighting. From the moment one step is taken on the driveway, the howling of endless animated Halloween creatures echoes through the darkness. The whole front yard, ever corner of the back patio and even the inside is covered head-to-toe is some form of Halloween decoration.
The sight of the Hales’ home is a horror lover’s dream come true, and the embodiment of the Halloween spirit made physical. Hales is at the center of it all, and her s her go all granddaughter, Kelsey, is the catalyst behind it all.
“Well, it all started with my granddaughter, Kelsey; she loves Halloween, and she loves the spooky stuff,” Hales attested. “She’ll be five next month, and she started three years ago, loving it. That started the decorating on the outside, but I’ve been doing decorations on the inside for a long time.
“I guess, what Halloween means to me and why I go all out, it’s just a fun time,” she added. “You don’t take it so seriously, and I do it for my grandkids. Lately, a lot of people in the community have noticed it, too, and they seem to like it as well.”
With the sheer number of decorations that Hales puts up, it’s no exaggeration to say it could take an entire dedicated team to get it all placed, but she does it mostly herself with help of just family. When taking on the task of decorating for Halloween it’s not an overnight job, though.
“It takes a month. I start the day the kids go back to school,” she said. “I start on the inside first, and then work my way to the outside. I do have help but I do it mostly by myself.”
Hales also mentioned that while it’s true their house is a bit out of the way, they do welcome trick or treaters who wish to visit them.
“Yes, we do take them, and they started coming last year a lot more,” she noted. “Being here, there’s not a lot of houses around, so we usually don’t’ get many trick or treaters. “I usually go with my grandkids trick or treating, and my husband, he stays home for the trick or treaters at the house; last year we got a lot of them.”
It’s not only the trick or treaters who are welcome, Hales said, offering that all in the community are welcome to come check them out as well. She did say that after Oct. 31, the decorations will go out until next year.
“The community just loves everything because of how it looks during the night time,” Hales said. “I’ve got lights around the trees so it goes from one side of the yard to the other side of the yard. Where we’re located, since it’s in the curve, people have to slow down to go by, and they always stop and stare at the decorations; I guess they just love it.
“It’s to the point where people ask if I’m going to put them up every year,” she added. “People look forward to it; they really enjoy it, and we encourage them all to come see it. Just remember, it’s in a bad curve, but I don’t mind anybody coming to check it out.”
While Hales has her decorations on a nice secluded country road, Flores’ yard of frights is near the center of downtown Clinton.
For any who have been between Sunset Avenue and PNC Bank, there’s little doubt that Flores’ house will be missed. At that corner resides a nice, white house with a fence surrounding it, and greeting passersby is everything from Frankenstein to Beetlejuice, skeletons and pumpkin heads, and everything one can imagine in between.
For Flores, the all-out yard decorations are her way of expressing her love for the holiday..
“I just love Halloween and the variety of decorations that exist for it,” she stressed. “It’s the fun of it all; there’s so much different stuff to see and show, plus it’s something that’s not all year long, so I go a little crazy with the decorations. I love the holidays, in general, because I go all out for Christmas, too, and I’m thinking of actually decorating the yard for Thanksgiving as well.”
Flores is nearly a one-woman army who sets up her mountain of decorations with no more help than what she gets from family.
“Well, some of it I got on sale from last year, and this year, but most of it is from what I’ve collected this year,” she said about how long she’s been collecting decorations. “As for how long it took to put it all up, I will say, maybe a good third to a half of it went up in two days. I usually work 13 days straight, so it’s really hard to do that, sometimes.
“When the storm came through, I took it all down, and then I had COVID for two weeks, and then I turned around and put it all back up in two days. Then, as the new stuff came in, I staggered it and put it up either after work or on a random day off. My husband did the guide wires, and a couple of them he helped me stand up, but otherwise, yes, I did it on my own.”
Much like Hales, Flores welcomes the community to stop by and see the decorations, but that’s not all, she’s actually got something extra special planned for those who visit during Halloween.
“I mean, having trick or treaters visit is part of what makes Halloween good so, of course, they can come by that night,” she said excitedly. “I’ll definitely have candy and treats and it’ll be all the good stuff. Some of the treats are going to be homemade, and they won’t just be for the kids either I’ll have some adult treats as well.”
“I’ll have some special boozy bags, where ID will be needed, of course, and some animal treats, and a lot more” Flores added. “So, what would I tell the community, about coming to see us, it’s to come in one gate and not the other. There’s not a lot going on in the back entrance on the side where the church is, and I don’t want people to come in both driveways to have a collision. I’m not completely sure where I want parking to be yet, but I’ll have signs up that day to let people know, and there’s always the empty lot next door in the church parking lot.”
Flores didn’t have a set time for when her festivities were kicking off but she mentioned it would probably start around the time other activities happen that night, most being between 6 and 8 p.m. As for how long she’ll be having her Halloween shindig, she said until the lights are off or the treats are gone.
“When I think about it, we’ll be right near Halloween in the Square, so people will probably go from that and then come here so I might need more candy,” she said laughingly. “I’ve already spent over $500 on candy, and that’s not including what I’m making myself, so needless to say, we’re going to have a lot but I might need more now.
“Either way, we just the community to come enjoy it,” Flores said. “Even if you don’t have kids, we have things for you, so come on out and have fun with us, no costume needed. Now, we did get, a lot of people asking if we were going to do like a walk through. I did not realize it would be such a big hit, so maybe next year we’ll do a walk through for Halloween since we’ve got a lot of feedback on it.”
Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-249-4231. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.