THUNDER BAY – Ray Landgraff and his family have unleashed the spirit of Halloween on Northwood.
It's been a spooktacular hit.
Thousands of fans of the macabre have flocked to the Landgraff's Westbury Crescent home over the past couple of weeks, eager to experience the elaborate Halloween display, filled with intricately carved pumpkins, headless horsemen, demon dogs and ghouls and goblins of all shapes and sizes.
By early Friday evening, more than 800 people had trekked through the socially distanced display that day alone, some dressed in costume a day early, all wearing masks to keep COVID-19 at bay.
It's a lot of work, said Landgraff, but it's also raising money for a good cause, the KOA Care Camps Trust, which aims to help children with cancer spend a few care-free days at a sleep-away camp, a chance to forget about their disease for a couple of days.
“I had a sister die of cancer. She was my older sister, Barbara, and I wanted to do it to help people with cancer, so I figured we'd do it for kids with cancer,” Landgraff said.
There's something special about this time of year, he added.
“I just love Halloween.”
The steady stream of visitors that poured through the Haunted Yard were a generous bunch, the donation box taking in nearly $1,300.
Among those who dared venture into the Haunted Yard was Samantha Moir, who brought five-year-old Kaitlin Moschuk to see the elaborate display.
They'd already visited a number of homes on Friday night and said the Haunted Yard was by far the best they'd seen.
“It's something to do. It gets you in the Halloween holiday spirit. We like to go around and check out all the houses every year, so this is something we often do,” Moir said.
“These were the recommended houses on the social media postings. There was lots of hype about this property and we were excited to come. We're just really amazed at the work that they've done.”
They weren't sure what to expect before they arrived – and then proceeded to go through multiple times.
“We started at another house first and were a little bit let down, but this one is absolutely amazing. It's the show-stopper one. There's just so much to see. There's so much work put into it, you can see this family put their heart and soul into it.”
It was tough to pick just one thing she liked best.
“I think it was the jack-o-lanterns, probably the most.”
“Me too,” piped in young Kaitlin.
“I thought that was a pretty amazing display to look at.”
Landgraff said the Haunted Yard will be open through Saturday night.
