Neighbors driving by tend to slow down when they reach Jace Horton’s yard. It’s hard not to. With creatures pouring out of the windows, hiding under trees, popping out of bushes and pushing up out of the ground, the fantasy land looks like a nightmare mashup.
Horton takes his sons, ages 4 and 6, to the Halloween store every year where they start with picking out a mask. The rest of the lifesize characters are constructed with a PVC pipe frame as a foundation. The guys work together over the next few days putting the head on and adding lights for the eyes. They put on appropriate clothing to match the creature’s persona and finish by adding some type of hands or gloves.“We’ve added one or two every year,” Horton said. “Last year we did the mummy and the werewolf. We added Freddy and Jason two years ago.”
This week, the family was putting the final touches on a flying skeleton ghost that will go on top of the roof near a vampire that is perched perilously from a window above the front door. Glowing green lights draw attention to a giant spider underneath a cobwebbed tree.
“The fun part’s making them, because it gives my boys a project,” Horton said. “Both myself and both my boys will go outside every night and look at the ‘Halloween guys’ as they call them.”
All of them have been given names, from the mummy to the grave digger and the skeleton with chains. Even previous neighbors that have moved come back every year to see the latest addition to the Hortons' front yard inside the Lakes on Legacy community.
“My wife just wanted me to add that I’m not crazy or insane,” he said. “I don’t do anything with blood. I like to keep it kid-friendly. We want to keep them a little scary but nothing over the top.”
Janus Real Estate Group * Heather Anderson * 972-765-3773
