Those passing by Steven Novak’s Oak Cliff home this month can hear the eerie thumping beat from his front porch before spotting the 40 mannequins in hospital gowns surrounding his home. He loves to watch people learn the mannequins can move on their own.
The chilling display, featuring a crowd of floating mannequins positioned in front of a blinding white light, has gone viral on TikTok as the “Dallas Mannequin House.”
Leia Whitaker, 17, of Duncanville poses between two mannequins in Steven Novak’s front lawn as part of his Halloween installation along Lansford Avenue, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 in Oak Cliff. Whittaker first saw the house on TikTok and traveled from Duncanville to see it in person.
Chris Swann/The Dallas Morning News
Scarlet Willis, 10, of Oak Cliff swings in the front lawn of Steven Novak’s home donned with mannequins as part of his Halloween installation along Lansford Avenue, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 in Oak Cliff.
Chris Swann/The Dallas Morning News
A driver passes by Steven Novak’s mannequin house along Lansford Avenue as visitors take pictures in the front yard, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 in Oak Cliff. Novak says the house draws hundreds of visitors every night.
Chris Swann/The Dallas Morning News
In October, Novak’s front yard becomes a house of horrors featuring outlandish and gory decorations. He considers it a free art display. He isn’t a big fan of generic Halloween decorations. Store-bought inflatable ghosts and plastic cemetery headstones don’t captivate him.
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“I’m defying Halloween, and I’m demonstrating that it can be original and awesome,” he said.
Hundreds of visitors line Novak’s street in their cars each night to get a glimpse of the haunting display. Novak said his initial idea was to recreate the rapture. The story grew from there.
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Dallas resident Steven Novak is known for his eclectic Halloween decor. This year, he created the viral mannequin house in Oak Cliff, drawing in hundreds of nightly visitors from around Dallas-Fort Worth.
Chris Swann, The Dallas Morning News
The mannequins encircle and face the house, giving the illusion they are floating toward a beaming LED light on the porch. With the help of a friend, Novak created a creepy, hypnotic track that plays on a loop. Fog machines add to the atmosphere, while programmed motion sensors trigger select mannequins to turn around.
Novak bought 40 mannequins, dressed them in hospital gowns and gave each a hospital bracelet with a name inspired by an ex-girlfriend. He needed enough mannequins to stand around his home to block the light from blinding his neighbors or drivers passing by.
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“I want it to look realistic,” he said. “My house is part of the prop. It’s a scene happening at my house. It’s not some random thing that’s just happening in my yard.”
Novak works as a safecracker, but Halloween lets him express his artistic side and dabble in some engineering. His previous displays included campy scenes like a crowd of dismembered bodies lying around a woodchipper spraying pools of fake blood and a hazmat crew standing in spilled neon green toxic waste.
(left) Steven Novak points to a torso segment of what will become a motorized mannequin in the shop of his home in Oak Cliff. (Right) Name tags are placed on mannequin’s wrists.
“When I started doing Halloween, it just gave me an excuse to do something big. I’m an artist, so I’m always making stuff inside, paintings, machines, tools,” he said. “Halloween gives me a public stage. I don’t really even like Halloween. So when it comes around, I’m like, ‘I got to do something.’ ”
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Remnants of his past Halloween displays decorate his garage, where he installed the mannequins’ mechanics. He documented the creation of this year’s display on TikTok. He said he got the idea to make mannequins move from a comment and uses the hospital gowns to cover the wiring.
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His TikTok showing the full display has gotten more than 3 million views.
“People love it,” he said. “I was hoping they’d be a little more upset. I mean, they are mesmerized and a little creeped out. But, what I’m surprised by is in previous years, people would come out and check out all the gags and split. This year, people are sticking around.”
Steven Novak poses in front of his mannequins encircling the front porch of his house as part of his Halloween installation along Lansford Avenue, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 in Oak Cliff.
Novak is often asked how his neighbors feel about the displays and how much his electricity bill is. He said when he moved into his home, he warned his neighbors about the yearly occurrences. Their response to all the commotion has been positive, he said.
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Novak does expect his electricity bill to go up this month, but isn’t worried about costs. He turns off the LED lights every night after the crowds disappear.
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Novak’s decision to tone down the blood and gore has drawn a different response this year. He isn’t sure whether it’s the social media buzz or the display’s haunting allure, but crowds are lining the street to see his home.
He plans to keep the mannequins out through Halloween, or until he has the energy to haul them all away.
“I think I’m hitting on something visceral that I didn’t expect,” he said.
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Mannequins are seen encircling the front porch of Steven Novak’s home as part of his Halloween installation along Lansford Avenue, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026 in Oak Cliff.
Chris Swann/The Dallas Morning News