Valley couple’s Halloween obsession inspires ‘boo-tiful’ home of goblins, witches and more
A Valley couple who have an extraordinary appreciation for all things Halloween have devoted their home to the holiday for ghouls and goblins.
Harmony and Ken Anderson estimate well over 2,000 trick-or-treaters visited their Merced home last Halloween.
They went through 40 Costco-size candy bags, handing out just one piece of candy to each kid.
Cars line up as people stop to take pictures and video of the Halloween display the Andersons create each year at their home, which is located on Oregon Drive near Parsons Avenue in Merced. “We are known in Merced as the ‘Halloween home,’” Harmony said.
At night their house and front yard are lit up with LED lights coming from all the creatures and displays they’ve accumulated over the years.
There’s an army of life-size skeletons, witches, snakes, goblins, mummies and tombstones set up out front. There are two giant 12-foot skeletons hanging out on the roof with plenty of friends.
Ken, 49, works as a tree contractor and uses some of his cranes to lift some of the bigger decorations onto the roof. Two of the newest editions this year include a giant light-up witch that appears to be swooping down and a 12-foot inferno, which has a pumpkin for a head and an abdomen that lights up.
Harmony, 46, spends a lot of time looking for new decorations to purchase. She’ll wake up early in the morning when the new items go on sale.
“The witch and the inferno were the big things this year,” she said. “There’s a lot of Facebook groups, they’ll kind of give you a sneak preview, so I’m up at 3 a.m. shopping for it. I’ve been searching for the inferno for two years.”
The Anderson’s Halloween obsession started with Harmony. She grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness in Mariposa.
“I was raised in a religion that doesn’t celebrate any holidays at all, birthdays, nothing and Halloween, as a little girl, was always my favorite,” she said. “It was the only holiday I cared about missing.”
Harmony says as a little girl she was kind of exiled into the principal’s office at school while the rest of her class celebrated Halloween. “I didn’t care about not having Christmas and not getting gifts,” Harmony said. “I just secretly loved Halloween.”
It’s not longer a secret.
When she met Ken 10 years ago she confessed she was obsessed with Halloween. It didn’t take long for him to jump on board. The Andersons have been doing the outdoor decorations for the past six years.
The decorations don’t stop at the front door. The inside of the Anderson home is covered from ceiling to floors with Halloween decorations. There are pumpkins, bats, witches, skeletons, skulls and just about everything you can think of in every room.
Decorations months in advance
Harmony started decorating the inside of the house for Halloween after July 4., gutting the house of its usual decor.
“Even pictures of my kids, if they aren’t in costume, it gets put in the shed,” Harmony said. “There’s no shame. You won’t see anything in our whole house downstairs that is not Halloween.”
Every cabinet, every shelf, and the mantle are covered in decorations that light up or make noise. Even the fish tank has a jack-o-lantern and fish skeleton on the bottom. It’s almost surprising the fish aren’t outfitted with costumes.
“It’s just my favorite,” Harmony said. “People love Christmas, I love Halloween. I love the classic Halloween, nothing gory. I think it’s just the coolest holiday ever.”
Ken and one of his friends will start setting up all the outside decorations beginning in late August. It takes about two months to get everything set up. He has everything set up so he can turn everything on and off with his phone.
As Halloween approaches about 50 to 100 people will come by each night to check it out.
Kids and parents love it. They’ll walk through the yard to check out all the figures. Many of the spooky creatures talk, howl or bellow out an evil laugh.
The Andersons’ electricity bill in October is usually over $1,000.
“We were trying to do ‘less is more’ this year, but we failed,” Ken said. “It’s like ‘more is more’ is what we ended up doing.”
It’s not uncommon for the Andersons to find gifts left on their porch. People have left thank you cards, bottles of wine, cookies and bags of candy (which they really appreciate with all the trick-or-treaters).
“The more people liked it, the more we fed off each other and it escalated,” Harmony added. “Now it’s just a thing. It’s so rewarding.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
