With a nickname like the ‘Gargoyle House,’ it seems only fitting Bo Fric’s home would be a hot spot for Halloween traffic.
Fric says his home in Calgary’s Pump Hill neighbourhood (which earned its moniker for the statues atop it) has seen hundreds of visitors daily throughout October, and they expect thousands on the big night itself.
He was inspired by his neighbour, who he says has been going all-out for the holiday for years, but notes his house has been drawing bigger crowds because of its visibility off 14th Street.
“It was not really my plan to do this big haunted house. We just kind of bought a bunch of stuff and just kind of grew into what it grew into,” said Fric.
He and his wife have put out a box for donations for the food bank, already collecting enough so far that Bric says it has filled two rooms in his home.
Right after Halloween, it’s on to the next holiday. Fric says a U-Haul will cart off the spooky decorations to storage, and bring out the Christmas display items.
‘Harry Potter’ fans will recognize the Whomping Willow, recreated in southwest Calgary using a frame of pool noodles and lumber covered in papier mâché (hphalloweenyyc/Instagram)
Over in Oakridge on Oakwood Drive S.W., a Harry Potter-themed house — or really, two homes side-by-side — has been wowing families in southwest Calgary for the past few years.
Jo Alcock says the idea came about during a discussion with her neighbours during the pandemic.
“We started talking about how we always wanted to be one of those families that had a Halloween display that everybody remembered,” Alcock told The Homestretch.
Their display includes floating broomsticks, dozens of fake owls, and a giant replica of the ‘Whomping Willow’ that attacks a car in the series. They made the tree’s frame out of lumber and upward of 70 pool noodles, then covered it all in papier mâché.
“It’s a little bit of luck, a little bit of YouTube,” Alcock said of the building process. Add in her husband’s background in construction, their creative vision is brought to life.
The Savard family in Evanston keeps their display a surprise until it is set up on Halloween day (The Savard family )
But for others, it’s less about the whimsy and more about things that go bump in the night.
The haunted house the Savard family puts on in Evanston is so terrifying, Roberta Savard says they will sometimes see children burst into tears.
“We sometimes have to go out and take them and say ‘no, no, it’s okay, we’re just pretending,'” said Savard.
The family tries to keep the element of surprise leading up to Halloween, meaning all of the animatronics, projectors and fog machines are only set up on the day.
“Every year there’s a bit of panic, but it always gets done,” said Savard.
Buote says his fear house in Deer Ridge takes a year of planning, with the actual set-up lasting throughout the month of October (Adam Buote)
Adam Buote runs a fear house on Deer Ridge Drive S.E., where they scare up not only screams, but donations for a good cause.
“We got involved with the Calgary Food Bank and we said ‘hey, we’re going to put smiles on people’s faces and feed their stomach.”
Once they enter, visitors will encounter a number of a animatronics plus a few friends who volunteer as live actors.
“It’s a year-long activity when it comes down to the planning and everything, but it takes us a month from when we start setting up,” said Buote.
Braeden Robert says he has been setting up creative Halloween displays since he was just 7-years-old. (Braeden Robert)
Braeden Robert has been crafting spooky displays since he was seven years old.
Now located in McKenzie Towne at the corner of Elgin Street and Elgin Manor, Robert’s set-up has gotten more elaborate in the two decades since, with pieces added to the collection throughout the years.
“It’s not as expensive as most people would think. If you space [buying] it out over the course of 20-plus years, it’s a few hundred dollars a year,” said Robert.
Visitors start in the graveyard before continuing on through the creepy clown tunnel, naturally. Then it’s a quick pit stop in Frankenstein’s operating room before you’re on to the butcher shop and out through the witch’s hut.
“The story is kind of you start out sane, and you go insane,” said Robert of his haunted house in McKenzie Towne at the corner of Elgin Street and Elgin Manor.
The creepy clown tunnel at Braeden Robert’s haunted house in McKenzie Towne (Braeden Robert)
With so many over-the-top displays, the question becomes: how do you find them all?
Calgary realtor Elysse Bulloch created an interactive map several years ago, showing where to find the best houses (and best candy) on offer for the big day. It started in Bulloch’s neighbourhood of Thorncliffe and has expanded to include more pinpoints across Calgary, though Bulloch says it focuses more heavily on the northwest.
She says she saw a lot of dark streets on Halloween, and wanted kids to be able to find the best experience.
“It’s about creating community. After the pandemic, I kind of noticed this tradition was fading, and it was a way to bring it back,” Bulloch told Calgary Eyeopener.
“It was my favourite thing as a kid. We went out when it got dark, and we came back when our pillowcases were full. And I just want the kids in my community to be able to do the same thing.”
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