Morgan Hill neighborhoods are all dressed up in celebration of
Halloween
South Valley residents need not fear ghosts, goblins, zombies or witches on Halloween night. Why? Because they’ll all be busy haunting Skip Away Court and Lassen Way in Morgan Hill.
James Aguilera and about 10 of his neighbors on Skip Away Court not only decorate their homes in true ghoulish fashion for Halloween, they also stage some sort of “accident” on Halloween night.
Last year, a catastrophic car accident filled the center of their street and the victims weren’t fully dead. This year, a camping trip massacre is sure to scare the candy out of even the most hearty trick or treaters.
“I can’t tell you too much about the camping trip massacre, but I’ll tell you that it’s going to be good,” Aguilera said, smiling mischievously. “We’ve been decorating the neighborhood for about three years now, and parents have started dropping off car loads of kids. We love it. We have a great time on Halloween night.”
The houses lining the court feature smoking cauldrons, a grim reaper, severed heads, zombies coming out of their graves, skeleton brides and grooms, and sorry souls in stocks.
Aguilera’s 2-year-old daughter, Jolee, said the “bat guy” – a 6-foot bat baring its fangs and reaching for a victim – was her favorite thing on her front lawn, but she was sure not to get too close. She pointed it out from a distance.
Kyle Colbert, 4, is also a resident of Skip Away Court. He rides his scooter from house to house looking at all the nightmare-ish decorations, smiling to himself.
“I think it’s cool,” he said. “I like having this up all month.”
Not far from Skip Away Court is Lassen Way, where Bob Johnston and a few friends have been constructing a haunted graveyard for the past 10 years.
“I’ve got moving tombstones, zombies, creaking gates, talking skulls and a full-on thunder and lightening storm,” Johnston said. “We set it all up in one day and take it down the next day, so we just have everything up for Halloween night. It’s a blast. I’ve been doing this for so long now, it’s an obsession, and I can’t stop trying to figure out how to make it better.”
Johnston will collect donations from visitors to the haunted graveyard to send to the National Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.
“I want the kids to be able to come out and have a good time,” he said. “That’s what Halloween is all about – having fun and scaring yourself silly.”
