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Frights and sights: Lincoln couple puts 22-foot pirate ship in front yard
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A Lee Enterprises, Incorporated newspaper. Majority shareholder: David Hoffmann, Hoffmann Media Group.
Editor's Pick Topical Alert Featured
Frights and sights: Lincoln couple puts 22-foot pirate ship in front yard
- Jenna Ebbers
- Oct 28, 2021
- Oct 28, 2021 Updated Dec 13, 2021
- 0

Rik and Jenny Gropp built a 22-foot pirate ship in their front yard for the first time this year, after more than a decade of entering intricate Halloween displays in a competition at Indian Cave State Park.
JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star
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Every year, millions of people carve pumpkins as Halloween approaches, but how did pumpkins become the holiday icon that we know and love today?
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A skeleton is seen aboard a 22-foot Halloween pirate ship docked in the front yard of Jenny and Rik Gropp at 3700 Worthington Ave.
JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star
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Watch now: Witches of Sterling ride to celebrate Halloween, community
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Lincoln's newest haunted attraction brings fright from the Bard
Nebraska high school bands compete in State Marching Contest
Over-the-top Halloween displays from across America
Over-the-top Halloween displays from across America
The celebration of harvest and the last days before winter dates back more than two millennia. Cultures around the world acknowledge this time in various ways: Some customs are based on religion while others are rooted in pagan lore. Over time, the marriage between these practices have led to what we see today: carved pumpkins, nighttime mischief, dressing in disguise, children begging for treats, and over-the-top Halloween decorations.
Stacker scoured the internet and accepted reader submissions to compile photos of 15 incredible Halloween decoration displays. These residents go through the time, trouble, and creative effort to convert their yards into jack-o’-lantern jungles, zombie zoos, or spook spectacles—and they do it for the joy of entertaining others.
Some of the Halloween displays unearthed are best viewed driving by at a slow crawl. Other display-builders provide a parking area so visitors can amble around, interacting with the inhabitants of the display (which may or may not be inanimate), and at least one display from this list involves walking through a maze. Most of these offer free admission, but in some cases, donations are gladly accepted, whether money is put toward charity or used to pay for the construction of next year’s event.
Read on for ghoulish Halloween displays from around the country.
You may also like: How Halloween has changed in the past 100 years
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Alex Sanchez // Facebook
Kenova Pumpkin House in Kenova, West Virginia
This Halloween spectacle is less about zombies and ghosts and more about the agricultural traditions of the area, both Kenova and nearby Ceredo. As part of the town’s C-K Autumn Fest, the display around this historic Victorian house at 748 Beech St. features scarecrows and contests, and 3,000 carved and illuminated pumpkins.
Frank Pierson // Flickr
Daniels' Halloween House in Warwick, Rhode Island
Mike Daniels has created what he calls the “epicenter of creepy Halloween displays.” Visitors can enjoy a light show synched to music and animatronics that creepily move (weather permitting). The full show, which serves as a fundraiser for the Spirit of Children foundation, runs Thursdays through Sundays at 69 Darrow Dr.
Courtesy of Daniels' Halloween House of Warwick
Scary Alice in Wonderland in Brentwood, California
A home in Brentwood, California, created an elaborate and haunting “Alice in Wonderland”-themed display in 2020. This scene featured an array of both familiar and unfamiliar characters taking part in a creepy tea party.
Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Adams family’s 13 Skeletons in Bridgewater, New Jersey
The tradition of the Adams family’s display at their 948 Route 202/206 home began with standard autumnal decor. One year, the owners incorporated skeletons—13 to be exact. They began with one skeleton, adding one each day and acting out a story, which led children who drove by daily on the school bus to believe the skeletons were alive.
This inspired the family to invent new stories for the skeletons to act out each year, a tradition that has spanned more than a decade. The family even published a childrens’ book based on the 13 skeletons in 2019 called “Circus of the Night.” For the entire month of October, visitors can view the storied display until 10 p.m., but there are also special times for attendees to see a show and explore the scene. Admission is free but donations are accepted.
13skeletons.com
Halloween on Ambush Lane in Churchville, New York
Tony DeMatteo of 15 Ambush Lane in Churchville, New York, creates an impressive family-friendly Halloween display for visitors to enjoy each year. The community can see the display for free, but the family asks for donations toward the Golisano Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and collect nonperishable food donations for the Open Door Mission of Rochester. The music and special effects elements of the show begin Oct. 22, weather permitting.
Courtesy of Pat Kirk 2020
Invasion at Area 51 in Lansing, Michigan
Jerry Jodliski’s Area 51-themed Halloween display featured a 9-foot-tall and 13-foot-wide spaceship with three 6-inch tall aliens, as well as a second ship that hung 25 feet above the ground. Jodliski, who says his displays take all year to develop, runs an annual festival called How-To Halloween, honoring the do-it-yourself spirit that many people recall from childhood.
Jerry Jodloski // Instructables
Halloween House of Rockville Centre, New York
The occupants of the Halloween House at 200 N. Forest Ave. have been decorating the home each October for more than three decades, according to Mike Slade, who has lived in the home since he was a child. Slade says the decor has become scarier and more elaborate over the years. The display in 2018 featured a terrifying scene of zombies.
Courtesy ot the Halloween House of RVC
The Mains home in Vancouver, Washington
Stretching across four properties, the Mains’ 4616 Northwest Franklin St. home is famous for 12-foot pumpkin monsters and skeletons, a 15-foot scarecrow, and a 7-foot dragon, among countless other creepy creatures. In the week leading up to Halloween, from 7–9 p.m. on weekdays and 5–9 p.m. on weekends, visitors can swing by the display for spooky music and special effects.
Courtesy of Jim Mains
The Magical Light Shows in Tracy, California
The Magical Light Shows at 15 Phillips Ct. is a free music-sequenced light show that has been featured on “Good Morning America.” The display features more than 70,000 lights and other special effects. Although the display takes place at a family home, it is part of a business that provides custom light show installations and other services.
Tom BetGeorge // Magical Light Show
Pumpkin House in Westchester County, New York
A farmhouse in Westchester County, New York, had more than 100,000 visitors in October 2013. The 25-day exhibit showcased about 5,000 decorated and lit jack-o’-lanterns.
Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Angelo’s Monongahela in Monongahela, Pennsylvania
In 2019, Washington County restaurant Angelo’s II (111 Third St.) attracted national publicity with a larger-than-life “Ghostbusters”-themed display for Halloween. The restaurant’s owner Ryan Dzimiera said he and his uncle came up with idea around Easter of that year, and that the giant tentacles were custom designed for the building.
Courtesy of Angelo's II
The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze in Croton-On-Hudson, New York
The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze is a serious fall event held in the historic Hudson Valley, where pumpkin carving is done by bona fide artisans. Held in the Museum of Pumpkin Art at 525 S. Riverside Ave., the show features more than 7,000 illuminated jack-o’-lanterns. The show runs on select dates from September through November. There is an admission charge; tickets can be purchased in advance online.
Courtesy of Historic Hudson Valley/Tom Nycz
Michael Myers’ house in Chicago, Illinois
The house where all the slashing happened looks peaceful and a bit ordinary — on the exterior, at least—as it stands today in California. But viewers of the Halloween horror film series know the place a bit better as it looked in the John Carpenter films. Chicago resident Alex Sanchez built a facade resembling the film’s house and stood it in the yard in front of his own home on Moody Avenue near Montrose Avenue.
You may also like: The best streaming services for football in 2021
Alex Sanchez // Facebook
Halloween House in Oceanside, CA
The display in front of Cameron and Rachael Denning’s Halloween House at 1050 Bells Dr. is filled with mostly handmade decorations. An entire garage at the Dennings’ home is completely devoted to Halloween decor. “Scary Circus” is 2021’s theme, with the couple’s daughters dressing up as acrobats and their son costumed as the strongman.
Courtesy of Cameron Denning
The Ethical Life podcast: What are the ethical pitfalls of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas?
Cries of the dead. Strange sightings. Here are 12 haunted sites in Lincoln.
Temple Theatre
This 1908 postcard view of the then-nearly new Temple Building on the southeast corner of 12th and R streets shows the building much as it looks today.
Paranormal guru Dale Bacon, in a 2001 talk at the Nebraska History Museum, told a story of a construction worker's accident and that he is thought by many to be haunting the theater. But Bacon's theory was that the energy of the stage performers may be causing the haunting.
A drama major very active in the theater in 1987, Bacon said, was rehearsing a tap dance routine when in the balcony area he heard someone applauding his performance. He couldn't find the person in the balcony, then began to hear the sound of his tap dance routine on the stage. However, there was no one around. A voice asked him to try one more time, and the drama major performed it perfectly. At the end, he again heard someone clapping.
Some say Dallas Williams, theater department head at UNL until 1971, was the ghost, because his favorite spot was to the right of the sound booth in the balcony. Other people in the building in the 1930s and 1940s reported dancing lights and flames.
Julie Hagemeier, theater department general manager, said in a 2000 Daily Nebraskan article that a girl haunts the prop attic. When a show crew took apart various dolls in the prop shop to make the type of prop they needed, they left the attic messy. "When the crew returned to the locked attic … someone had aligned the dolls' parts and placed the matching heads with the bodies."
Courtesy photo
Neihardt Raymond Hall
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Honors Program and its students are moving to a new home in the fall of 2019. After being housed in Neihardt Hall for much of its existence, the Honors Program will transition to the Knoll residence hall — a bigger, newer facility.
Journal Star file photo
Ferguson House
According to a DN article on Ferguson House, it is thought to be haunted by its original owner Myrtle Ferguson.
"Tenants have claimed witnessing unexplainable appearances and lights turning off for years since then (her death). It is reported that people see a female figure who is believed to be Ferguson, roaming the halls of the house," the article says.
Lincoln Historical Ghost Quest offers events at the house.
COURTESY PHOTO
Nebraska Capitol
Dale Bacon told of the sound of a man's weeping heard in the southeast corner of the Capitol. He thought the haunting could be the result of "some pretty spirited Senate debate" pumping energy into the building. Security guards say they have heard strange things echoing into the hall.
From Hauntedhouses.com: "Halfway up the steps up to the 12th floor, people have suddenly seen a misty form free-falling down to the first floor, but disappears before landing. Witnesses have seen a black mist on various stairways throughout the building."
"There are also frequent reports of unexplained sounds including screams, crying, footsteps and disembodied voices speaking. A handful of visitors have noted seeing the spirit of a Native American man in the basement," hauntedrooms.com said.
AP file photo
Old Captain's Studio
The building at 48th and St. Paul now occupied by a law firm was once the home of a retired sea captain. The captain's ghost is now haunting the rented studio that was his last home on Earth, according to the book "Haunted Places: The National Directory."
"Tenants in the building have reported seeing his form on several occasions since his death," the book says.
Lancaster County Assessor's Office
Wesleyan
Nebraska Wesleyan relates the tale: "The legend of the ghost of Clara Mills started in 1963 on a chilly autumn October morning. … Coleen Buterbaugh, a secretary to Dr. Sam Dahl, was searching for a guest lecturer on the building’s first floor. … As she entered the office suite at the north end of the C.C. White Building, she found that all the windows were open and that the room was empty. After taking about four steps into the room, however, Buterbaugh had a strange feeling that she was not alone. She smelled a strong odor of musty, stale air, and noticed that it had grown strangely silent in the hall outside.
"Then she saw it.
“'I looked up and just for what must have been a few seconds, I saw the figure of a woman standing with her back to me at a cabinet in an inner office. She was reaching up into one of the drawers. I felt the presence of a man sitting at the desk to my left, but as I turned around, there was no one there.'
"Gazing out one of the large windows behind the desk, Buterbaugh noted that the scenery seemed to be that of many years ago. There were no streets, Willard Sorority that stands just across the campus was not there. Nothing outside was modern. Buterbaugh was frightened and left the room."
Clara Mills taught music at Nebraska Wesleyan for 28 years, until she was found dead in her office on April 12, 1940. Mills is buried in Wyuka Cemetary.
Journal Star file photo
Starship 9 site
Debris from the demolition of the Starship 9 theater lines Q Street in January 2007. Before the theater closed and was torn down, an employee told paranormal guy Dale Bacon that when workers are closing up, sometimes you can hear horses in the hallways and metal-on-metal pounding. Bacon researched and found that a stables and a blacksmith's shop were in the area in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The site now is home to the Larson Building.
GWYNETH ROBERTS, Journal Star file photo
State Penitentiary
Ghosts of Lincoln bus tour host Scott Colborn describes apparitions of prisoners trying to escape and a long-ago torn-down guard post that still tends to appear at times, according to a 2014 NewsNetNebraska article.
Journal Star file photo
Tabitha Health Care Services
"The residents and staff regularly hear children playing, running and giggling," according to a member of the Nebraska Paranormal society. Tabitha was once an orphanage.
Journal Star file photo
Robber's Cave
Robber's Cave, known as a hideout for outlaws but also a sacred place for the Pawnee, has had witnesses report hearing Native American-style chanting along with the sound of their drums. Others say that they have heard the sound of disembodied screams, crying, laughter and voices, according to hauntedrooms.com.
Mysteriousheartland.com had this to say of Robber's Cave: "In one room, a passage appears to have been bricked over, and many said they could hear the ghosts of Robber’s Cave moaning from wherever lay beyond it."
Journal Star file photo
Antelope Park
According to hauntedrooms.com, "the field that sits behind the caretaker’s house (at Antelope Park) is a particular hotspot for paranormal activity. Visitors have reported seeing apparitions that walk all the way across the field before disappearing into the woods on the other side."
Journal Star file photo
Memorial Stadium
“If you were a ghost, where would you like to spend your time?” Ghosts of Lincoln bus tour operator Scott Colburn said in a DN article. He used this logic to identify Memorial Stadium as the most likely place to have paranormal energy in Lincoln.
Journal Star file photo
Reach the writer at jebbers@journalstar.com
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Rik and Jenny Gropp built a 22-foot pirate ship in their front yard for the first time this year, after more than a decade of entering intricate Halloween displays in a competition at Indian Cave State Park.
- JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star
A skeleton is seen aboard a 22-foot Halloween pirate ship docked in the front yard of Jenny and Rik Gropp at 3700 Worthington Ave.
- JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star
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