A house in Barrow has shot to local fame with ‘hundreds’ of visitors coming to marvel at the brilliantly spooky Halloween display.
Reg Yarwood, who lives at Number One, Newbarns Court, has attracted quite a crowd with his seasonal decorations.
The tradition began in 2020 when the town put on a scarecrow display to keep spirits up as trick or treaters could not go door-to-door due to precautions put in place due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
“It’s gone from there,” Reg said. “We try to add something new every year.
“I love to see people stopping and looking at the garden when they walk past, and in the evening, cars will pull up to take pictures.”
At first, the house would see a dozen-or-so visitors on October 31 but Reg said he now sees hundreds of people on Halloween night.
“They turn up in cars and four or more kids will get out! We love it," he said.
With so many people visiting the house, Reg decided to raise some money for St Mary’s hospice.
He said: “We only put a collection bucket out for the first time last year and raised around £75."
He will be collecting for St Mary's Hospice again this year and is welcoming the charity to his home on Tuesday, when they will take pictures of his efforts to post on social media. Reg hopes to raise over £100.
Reg has been putting decorations up all week and tries to use as much free material as he can, making the ‘gates of hell’ out of scrap wood, and ‘hanging bodies’ out of black bin bags and gaffer tape.
“I’ve redone all my skeletons,” he said. “You cover them in plastic sheets or clingfilm, melt it with a heat gun, then paint it with a coloured varnish to make it look like burnt, rotten flesh.”
On Halloween night, traffic outside Reg’s house is ‘non-stop’ from 4:30pm to around 7:30pm. He estimates between 200 and 300 people turn up.
“The comments people make are worth it,” he said. “They tell me their children love it, and it is their favourite place to visit, I have cars pull up at the end of my driveway, and a load of kids will get out. It is an amazing feeling.”
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