Halloween decorations occupy every inch of the yard: skeletons, werewolves, creepy dolls, and more. It is like Christmas but replaced with zombies and clowns. Screams fill the air as children walk through the House of Horror on Logan Drive. 

Halloween is a holiday that includes children trick-or-treating for candy and getting scared in haunted houses. For senior Austin Mulkey, the holiday has been a family favorite.

“I’ve always loved Halloween, my parents love Halloween,” Austin Mulkey said. “We decided to combine our love of Halloween and make a haunted house.”

Austin Mulkey could not have done it all on his own. With their joint love of Halloween, the Mulkeys and their neighbors, the Bartletts, crafted the haunted house together.

“It started with them hanging a skeleton from their fence between the houses, so it’s waving at our house,” Austin Mulkeys’ mother, Kelly Mulkey, said. “It’s waving back and then it turns into creepy characters and stuff.”

Creating a haunted house requires a significant amount of time, effort, and money. From planning out a spooky design to assembling all of the terrifying elements, the process takes a dedicated team to make sure everything comes together seamlessly. This level of commitment is displayed by the Mulkeys and the Barretts every year.

“It’s a very long process, a lot of planning. It can get very expensive and honestly kind of stressful sometimes,” Austin Mulkey said.

It is not just putting the display together, but maintaining it. One unexpected problem that sparked up this year were people inconsiderately touching the props.

“This by far has been the worst year that we’ve had the problem of kids touching props,” community member Jaimie Barlett said. “No matter how much we can promote that we don’t want them touching the props, they are still going to touch the props. You still have to be calm when approaching them.”

The community helps improve the display with suggestions and through polls. On the House of Horror Facebook group, Kelly Mulkey posts polls to help improve the Halloween experience.

“One of our questions was ‘What do we want to see more of’ and the biggest response is zombies and clowns,” Kelly Mulkey said. “So what did we do this year? We listened. We added a zombie area and extended the circus tent.”

The people who visit can help in different ways than just suggestions. Even though the display is free to the public, people have made donations.

“We are on track for six hundred dollars this year so far,” Kelly Mulkey said. “This is kind of our busy time where we are going to see more of those donations. We can donate to our foundation of choice this year.”

This year’s charity of choice is Forever 20 – The Nicholas Wayne Foundation. They help provide scholarships for students who are interested in cybersecurity and also actively promote mental health.

“Forever 20 benefits students in helping to pay for the cost for those who are interested in cybersecurity,” Kelly Mulkey said. “Students who are looking for scholarships or if they need assistance for paying for some of the fees and stuff associated with the IT, cyber security specific field.”

It all started with the Mulkey’s and Barnett’s love of the holiday. However, the House of Horrors couldn’t continue to expand and flourish without the help of tech support and the love and generosity of the community.

“Everyone in our Facebook group saying how much they love it and how they will be back next year to see it again, it keeps us going,” Austin Mulkey said.