Haunted with love
Roy Jebson poses for a photo with the Halloween decorations on display on the front lawn of his Sixth Street SW home Thursday afternoon. Several homes in the area go all out each year to make sure Halloween is a great experience for kids of all ages.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Halloween around Medicine Hat and Redcliff.
Tombstones, pumpkins, skeletons and other assorted decorations related to the season are popping up in front of homes, catching the attention of people of all ages.
Roy Jebson is one of those homeowners. His home on Sixth Street SW features several spooky pieces, including a spirit and a bat that move on a motorized clothesline, a grim reaper that sways as a result of a house fan, and a wooden pirate ship operated by a literal skeleton crew.
“I made this (the ship) for a playhouse for my granddaughter,” he said.
Jebson said he worked for “a little bit at a time” to set up his decorations, but when he set up his display last year with a cardboard pirate ship, he said he received so many compliments he was inspired to do it again.
Linda Cotten of Redcliff also gets into the Halloween spirit decorating her Third Street SE home in Redcliff since 1985. The front yard features more than a dozen inflatable decorations, from a black cat to the Headless Horseman.
Cotten says she gets positive feedback from the community about her decorations.
“They say ‘Mrs. Cotten, we love your house’,” she said. “The kids here have been asking ‘Mrs. Cotten, when are you putting up your decorations?’”
Both Cotten and Jebson say the kids in their neighbourhoods motivate them to decorate their homes.
“Kids need to have something fun,” said Jebson.
“I just love the expressions on their faces when they see all of the decorations,” said Cotten, who says she is expecting lots of children at her door on Oct. 31. “It just makes me so happy.”