From a ‘monster house’ to a pirate ship, some Winnipeg homeowners go all-out on Halloween decorations

With the spooky season here again, some Winnipeggers are decking out their homes with elaborate, and frightening, decorations.

Towering inflatable ghosts, flying witches and zombie skeletons adorn the front and back yards of Brittany Goerzen’s house at 765 Stewart St. in west Winnipeg.

Goerzen has gone all out with creative adornments to bring the Halloween spirit, including creepy music, gargoyle pillars, hanging bodies, tech-controlled props and even a pirate ship.

“I have a little bit of everything,” she said. She’s converted her front yard into a corn maze and the backyard into a haunted house.

Her decorations include less-scary stuff for toddlers, like a pumpkin patch, with the creepier items in the backyard.

“So this section that’s behind me, I call it the chop shop. It’s a little morbid and gross,” she said. 

“We have a skeleton that dismembers bodies of all types and shapes and sizes … we have hanging zombies, we have body parts, we have buckets of body parts — it’s not for the faint of heart.”

Goerzen has been decorating her house every Halloween for the last six years, and she adds a few more surprises to it each year.

“I was born two days after Halloween, so it’s always been a huge thing in our family,” she said.

“My favourite thing’s kids’ reactions — the crazier [the display] gets, the better the reactions get.”

She starts collecting supplies at the beginning of September and starts setting up in the middle of that month. It takes about three weeks to complete, and another week to take it all down after Halloween, she said.

She opens her display to visitors from Oct. 27 to 31, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., and will accept the donations for the Children’s Hospital from visitors.

Over on Wardlaw Avenue, just off Osborne, Matthew Frechette and David Park have created a “monster house” that includes a cemetery, spooky witches and pumpkins — along with “fangs” along the front of the house that makes it look like it’s ready to devour visitors.

“We found some old plywood laying around, made some teeth out of it, used some old insulation and made some gravestones,” said Park.

In total, they only spent “about 10 bucks” to buy some paint, Frechette said.

This decor is intended to be more funny than scary, and the couple say it took them just six hours to complete it. 

“Halloween is our Christmas,” said Park.

“I’m really excited about it,” said Frechette, adding they plan a fire in the front yard and will hand out candies, including “the big chocolate bars.”

Meanwhile, at 172 Bridgewood Dr. in the city’s northeast, the Salo family always goes beyond when it comes to Halloween festivities