MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- One Green Country couple is prepared to give their neighborhood its spookiest Halloween yet.
Thomas and Melody Banneck want to make Halloween special for their community.
“There’s a lot of places you can go to have a cute Halloween ... we tend to be a little bit more on the scarier side.”
It started with innocent decorations a few years ago, and grew into the neighborhood’s designated Halloween house.
“It’s been growing and growing. We get more kids, more families coming in. At first I was like, 'that’s a lot of effort to put into a house for Halloween,' you know?”
Neighbors were skeptical at first.
“Most people do the lights, maybe the jack-o-lanterns outside, but seeing something like this was really cool. It was a change, you know?,” said neighbor Mason Whitlock.
There are skeletons climbing the house, enjoying a drink from a fountain and even breaking into a window above a headless man ready to greet you before any piece of candy.
“It takes about a week to put it together once it’s all built.”
But Thomas Banneck says you have to see it come alive at night.
“I did a demented clown for a couple years that was really popular with the moms especially. And by popular I mean 'no, not really,'” he said.
Before children hesitantly climb the daunting driveway for a spooky good time, Thomas makes sure it’s OK with their parents to mess with them. He said not a single parent has ever said no.
With no kids at home, the project is about a lot more than fun for the couple.
“Some of them don’t even have costumes when they come, so for the large part, this is the highlight of their Halloween.”
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