![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Mannequins_OakCliff_Steven-Novak.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSteven Novak has gone viral for his eerie Halloween displays in Oak Cliff.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSteven Novak has gone viral for his eerie Halloween displays in Oak Cliff.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Provided by Steven Novak<\/p>\n
The King of Halloween<\/a> is back and bigger than ever. Oak Cliff\u2019s Steven Novak has gone viral many times for his eye-catching Halloween decorations<\/a>. This year, taking a sharp turn from his usual gore, he opted for an uncanny haunt that has already attracted international attention. <\/p>\n Pivoting from his notorious blood-and-guts displays, Novak has instead transformed his front yard into a surreal scene: 40 mannequins in hospital gowns (one of which he\u2019s animated to oscillate), seemingly transfixed by a 90K-lumen light and an ambient soundtrack with a low-level hum he created himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to take a break [from] \u2018How much more blood can I do?\u2019 If I kept going down that road, I\u2019d be chasing the dragon, so I had to step back and do something different,\u201d Novak, a locksmith by trade, explains. \u201cThe visual just popped in there. I didn\u2019t know there would be hospital gowns at first; I just knew it would be a crazy-bright light surrounded by people. It\u2019s going to cast shadows, and it\u2019s just going to look pretty. Plus, a sound like something is breaking in physics, like it\u2019s a portal or something.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sign up for the Arts & Culture newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Because Novak maps everything out via photogrammetry before he begins, he scanned his house and originally planned to have 60 mannequins in his awestruck horde. Only to discover (at $100 a pop), 40 figures were about all his budget allowed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just bought \u2018em all from Amazon,\u201d he says. \u201cI tried to find vintage ones but ran out of time, and I had to bite the bullet because they have to be identical. I had this fantasy that I\u2019d find an abandoned department store like Neiman Marcus<\/a>, but even those have mixed mannequins; they might be white in the women\u2019s section, and the men\u2019s might be grey.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Dressing his figures in blue hospital gowns, Novak\u2019s crowning touch was giving them bracelets with his exes\u2019 names. <\/p>\n \u201cJennifer, Dusty, Jessica, those are all my ex-girlfriends\u2019 names. The problem is I couldn\u2019t buy more mannequins to fill this up,\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s like a memorial, but I\u2019m old, and this is like one a year, so it\u2019s not that big of a deal. I\u2019m a gentleman.\u201d<\/p>\n Rest assured, his current girlfriend, Rose Cobey, is not referenced. However, she did influence him to pivot from his original idea to crash a helicopter in their front yard.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted a crashed helicopter, but Rose skydives, so she jumps out of helicopters and stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t want to walk past dead people hanging out of a helicopter with spinning rotors. It\u2019s a bummer because it would be the greatest photo op ever because you could jump in the pilot seat and be like \u2018URGH!’\u201d<\/p>\n The comparatively minimalist display he went with instead has proved more popular than he could have imagined. Lines down the block began forming the first weekend in October, and Novak finds himself standing outside greeting visitors until midnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something different about this, there\u2019s something newer,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s visceral, and it\u2019s almost putting them in a trance. People are facing it and become part of the horde. I\u2019ve had people stay out here longer than in past years because it\u2019s hypnotizing.\u201d<\/p>\n Novak has named the display \u201cThe Rapture,\u201d and its unnerving qualities are sucking viewers in. Although Novak has fleshed out the backstory to include his role as a doctor \u201cwith a terrible bedside manner\u201d who uses a machine that freezes patients, bystanders have drawn parallels to everything from the film \u201cI Am Legend\u201d to the weeping angels of \u201cDr. Who\u201d as potential sources of inspiration.\u00a0<\/p>\n Having typically spent $6,000 on his displays per year (this one came in at a cool $4,000), Novak already has his heart set on what he\u2019s doing for 2027. He\u2019s halfway through building a\u00a0\u201cGhostbusters\u201d-style<\/a> laser-shooting gallery featuring proton packs. Players will aim at an animatronic Zuul and two Terror Dogs perched on Novak\u2019s roof. When two cross streams, the entire display shuts down. At a buck-a-pop to play, it should also help fund his annual displays, a generous gift to the people of Dallas.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEven though it\u2019s derivative, I love \u2018Ghostbusters\u2019 so much,\u201d Novak says. \u201cI already started making the Terror Dogs, and I\u2019ve been working on figuring out how to do animatronics. I made the metal frame, and I have to learn how to do fiberglass sculpture \u2014 he\u2019ll move back and forth, and breathe, and roar at you. I was getting so close. I ran out of time this year, so maybe next year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n To join the uncanny Halloween hordes, find Novak\u2019s display at 1414 Lansford Ave. through November, or follow him on\u00a0TikTok<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/OakCliffHalloween_StevenNovak.jpeg\")
Planning a display takes massive efforts, and starts with an elaborate mock-up.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/HalloweenHouse_StevenNovak.jpeg\")
Novak has conceptualized a backstory for his display. <\/p>\n