It’s that time of year again — when the paranormal takes centre stage across North America, and the macabre, spooky and downright terrifying become part of family fun.
That spirit has arrived in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where residents have filled front lawns with elaborate Halloween displays. Skeletons, cobwebs, ghouls and grim reapers share space with creative, personal touches unique to each home.
J.P. and Corri Konik, who live on Sentry Circle near Garrison Village, have been decorating for Halloween for more than 10 years.
J.P. said they usually welcome 50 to 100 trick-or-treaters, though last year’s turnout dropped because of bad weather.
Their display includes tombstones featuring contemporary celebrity figures such as U.S. President Donald Trump and the Undertaker, a dead, skeletal Maple Leafs fan waiting for a Stanley Cup win, and an elaborate pergola entrance with severed hands (obviously fake), bats and chains (also all obviously fake).
When The Lake Report visited on Monday, the couple said the setup was only about 40 per cent complete.
“I still have animatronics that need to come out, I have fog machines, black lights, strobe lights — I still have a lot of stuff as far as that goes,” J.P. said.
He and Corri treat Halloween like their “birthday and Christmas,” putting in extra effort each year to get into the spirit.
“I love the whole thought of the one day of the year that you can scare kids, kind of have a good time with it as far as that goes, and you’re not going to get in trouble for it,” he said.
The most popular features among trick-or-treaters are a werewolf and several clowns that greet visitors on the front step. J.P.’s favourite, Hugs, jumps out when people get too close.
Come Halloween night, Konik says he hopes his lawn decorations offer the community a frightfully good time.
“I think everybody should have a good scare, said Konik. “It gives you that little jump of energy, that little heart flutter that you need in your day-to-day life.”
Other Garrison Village-area residents agree, though everyone has their own spin on it.
Gordon Stratford and his wife, Lyn, have lived in Garrison Village since 2016, but Gordon said they have been doing these Halloween displays since 1981, when they were first married.
Their display features a series of small pumpkins ascending up both sides of their stairs plus, yes, some skeletons and ghouls.
But the standout feature of their Halloween display are the white sheets that flutter like ghosts over both sides of their front porch.
“If you came 10 years ago, there weren’t as many scary creatures as we have right now,” he said. “This year, we tried to put in the spooky curtains, which is something Lyn came up with.”
He also said that each year the display changes “a little bit.”
Gordan also said the flapping sheets look really good in a strong breeze or a storm: “It looked like one of those dark Halloween nights.”
For the Stratfords, there’s a strong element of costume and set design that inspires the display every year. For Lyn, doing something like this comes naturally to her.
“(Lyn) has a theatre background,” said Gordon. “So, putting together a Halloween spread like this is just part of what she does.”
The candy is also a favourite feature of the holiday. Not unlike the Koniks, they said they had 35 kids last year and 80 the year before, and they are giving out Ferrero Rochers, potato chips and Reese’s Pieces.
But ultimately, the goal of these displays for both the Koniks and the Stratfords is to make people happy. Gordon said he knows he sometimes gets the intended response, which is why they keep doing it year after year, decade after decade.
“I think we’ve have some positive response so far,” he said. “People are asking, ‘What are you going to do next year?’ They thank us because some of them come quite a distance to find places that their kids are going to enjoy.”
