Happy Halloween… Decorations from New York to New England: Where Imagination and Size Go Beyond Mattering: They Reign!

/ Curt Mekemson
Remember when a well decorated Halloween house consisted of candle lit carved pumpkins welcoming trick or treaters? Things have changed. Halloween is catching up with Christmas in terms of decor. Who would have ever imagined being greeted on All Hallows Eve by Stay Puff the giant Marshmallow Man from Ghost Busters. Or Mickey Mouse’s country-bumpkin-pumpkin cousin, Dickey. We were in Red Hook, New York visiting with Betsy Bauer, a good friend of ours, when we came upon this giant marshmallow. “I just have to add this to my Halloween post,” I told Betsy.
This isn’t to say that pumpkins have gone out of style on Halloween. It seemed like every few miles of our leaf peeping trip we came on another ‘patch’ like this. The only things that seemed to outnumber them in New England were graveyards and Dunkin’ Donuts outlets. We flew past the graveyards; not so the Dunkin’ Donuts. Oink.
While on the subject of graveyards, they have become a go-to decoration for Halloween. These were part of an elaborate display at Fort Knox on Maine’s Penobscot River. Note the demon/devil horned tombstone in the back.
Its epitaph reminded me of Boot Hill in Tombstone, Arizona. The name suggested that D. Cade had been buried for a while. He was no longer fresh. Or is that flesh?
Skeletons competed with pumpkins in New York and New England for being the most common decorations. A kid’s party seemed underway here. There was even a dog skeleton that was excited about a game of catch. On our leaf peeping journey through New York and New England, we also saw cat skeletons, a horse skeleton, and several rooster skeletons!
Of course nothing can match a real graveyard for scary, especially at night— or with a little help from a photo ap.

I know something about scary graveyards. I was raised next to one and have blogged about the experience several times. To say it was overgrown is a serious understatement. During the day, it became a jungle playground populated with ferocious tigers, bone crushing boas, and half-starved cannibals. My brother Marshall and I played there often. Since it was within easy calling distance of the house, our parents didn’t worry. Either that or they were glad for the peace and quiet brought on by our absence.

Night was different. The Graveyard became a place of mystery and danger. Dead people abandoned their underground chambers and slithered up through the ground. A local test of boyhood bravery was to go into the Graveyard after dark and walk over myrtle-hidden graves, taunting the inhabitants. Slight depressions announced where they lived. Marshall, who at nine was two years older than I, persuaded me to accompany him there on a moonless night. I entered with foreboding: fearing the dark, fearing the tombstones, and fearing the ghosts. Halfway through I heard a muzzled sound. Someone, or thing, was stalking us.

“Hey, Marsh, what was that?” I whispered urgently.

“Your imagination, Curt,” was the disdainful reply.

Scratch, scratch!  Something was digging behind a tombstone and it was not my imagination. Marshall heard it too. We went crashing out of the Graveyard with the hideous creature of the night in swift pursuit. Wagging her tail.

“I knew it was the dog all of the time,” Marsh claimed. Yeah, sure you did.

It could have been a ghoul. We found this 8-foot tall fellow at the Two Cats Restaurant in Bar Harbor, Maine. He moved and talked.
The restaurant appropriately included a cat, as well.
Its arched back provided an obvious photo op. When I arrived, three 20-something young women were taking a selfie under it and giggling. A ubiquitous skeleton with glowing eyes was in the background.
Mr. Pumpkin head was also part of the show. He seemed to be making adjustments for a better fit. Off to his right was a skeleton dog wanting to play…
While I admired Mr. Pumpkin’s head, the dog lay down, without, I might add, the mandatory three dog turns. It merely stretched its legs out behind with a motor’s aid. Backward was lying down. Forward, ready to play. Clever.
I was standing hypnotized by Rover’s eyes when a loud bang made me jump. Mr. Pumpkin had ripped his head off his skull. I heard laughter up the road. The young women had stopped to watch my reaction. “You were waiting for that, weren’t you,” I accused them, and was greeted by more laughter. Some fun.
I’d be remiss in leaving the Two Cats Restaurant display without including this bony apparition crawling out of the ground. I think it lived on toes. Mine had retreated as far back into my shoes as they could go.
Peggy and I took a break from our leaf peeping and ghost seeking to admire Fort Knox on Maine’s Penobscot River. The massive structure was built during the mid 1800s but never actually saw any action. We quickly discovered that the state park that housed the fort, was also into Halloween! My basset hound, Socrates, once lived a few miles away in 1976. He hung out with my friend Morris Carpenter, the housing administrator for the Penobscot Indians, while I was off exploring the South Pacific for several months.
We were greeted by a large green spider. It made us wonder if a UFO had crashed nearby. Its color suggested it had been sucking the blood of little green men from outer space.
Peggy stopped to admonish a bad kitty that was growling at her at her and swishing its tail back and forth.
The cat responded by moving its head so it could determine whether Peggy was edible or not. Note the raised tail as well! Peggy vacated the premises.
This fellow greeted me when I entered the fort.
Peggy, claiming a family resemblance, insisted that I pose with him.
A number of other Halloween characters occupied the fort, including this angry vulture. “You promised me some roadkill. Where is it?”
Skulls glared out at us through windows.
Including a rather realistic looking one.
Wouldn’t want to meet up with this guy on a dark night. Or at high noon.
A downward trending series of rooms also contained spooky potential…
Especially when a dark, cloaked figure appeared and then disappeared…
Leaving the fort, dark cloudy skies and leafless trees added to the Halloween feel.
‘Eyes’ staring at us out of the night added a nice Halloween touch to one scene.
As for haunted houses, there were no lack of candidates in New England. The upper right window on this one made us look twice. The curtain appeared to be moving.
Turns out, the curtain was in tatters, which always serves as a sign of haunted for me. Or maybe what we were thinking of as a tattered, was the shadow of the creature that moved the curtain. A little horror movie music, please…
Blow-ups have become a common way of representing ghosts. At night, this one would appear to be floating on air. The blue-clothed witch in the background was prepared to grab anyone who escaped the sharp talons of the ghost. Beware trick or treaters. Whatever tricks you have in mind, will pale in comparison to what these two have to offer.
Another floating blow-up ghost. This time with a red-clothed witch as back-up.
An unholy trinity for sure. We thought of it as a diorama.
We were zipping down the road in Vermont when we flew by a comic-book-like wolf man and his faithful companion.
To conclude today’s Halloween journey through New England and New York, we are returning to a display we featured last week as a promo for this week. It was in the small town of Sciota, NY, near where we were staying in West Chazy. Remember the headless horseman? I couldn’t help but think, “Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well.” Isn’t the horse a magnificent beast! And check out the bone ax.
The yard featured what we considered one of the most unique and unusual Halloween scenes we would encounter. Another, more furry, wolf man can be seen on the left. There are also skeletons, tombstones, and the lurking figure of Death. His bagged prey was trying to escape. The horse’s tail (and horse) is off to the right.
Just across a small alley on the left, a sea captain with ghostly eyes steered his boat toward a waiting shark. That’s it for today. Peggy and I hope you’ve enjoyed our scary treat. Happy Halloween! Next week, we return to leaf-peeping.

38 thoughts on “Happy Halloween… Decorations from New York to New England: Where Imagination and Size Go Beyond Mattering: They Reign!”

  7. There’s something for everyone in this post, no matter your Halloween preferences. It’s all a little too much for me these days. Give me a homemade popcorn ball and let me bob for apples, and I’m happy! I did see a spider like your big green one last week — the first time I’d seen that particular lawn decoration. There’s always something new!

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    • Nothing wrong with popcorn balls and bobbing for apples, Linda, although I can only recall one time in my life, I bobbed for apples. It was at a church function in my youth. Might classify and more trick than treat if one had false teeth.
      My guess for the extravagance this year is that people just want to have fun.

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  9. Happy Halloween, Curt and Peggy! What great decorations and blow ups. My mother had huge ghost that went to my daughters class in Covid and then they through it out.. The babies would love it, darn it. Loved your post as always!
    🎃

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  11. Love Halloween! And growing up next to a cemetery! That is very cool. Years ago, my family would get on their bikes and rode a few blocks to an old cemetery. We had such fun riding there and discovering ! Happy Friday to you as well Wendy

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    • I did a lot of genealogical research in my late 60s. Peggy and I traveled to old graveyards all over the US. We had a blast searching for long dead relatives. Was always a kick to find them. Like a treasure hunt, LOL.

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  13. The house with the large skeleton helping the others on top was hilarious. I loved your personal story about living near the graveyard. The added ghouls and monsters you stated were an interesting way to get us in your head as a child.

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  14. Those skeletons were hilarious, Curt, and what a fun and creepy post for Halloween. I guess decorating has changed, and like you said, competing with the holidays. Our neighborhood was ‘dead’ again like the past few years. It’s so sad. I know little kids live on our block, so they must go somewhere else. But I remember when our kids were little, our neighborhood was teeming with ghosts and witches, etc. Thanks for sharing! Great pics! 🎃

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  16. That was fun. I love it when people go all out for Halloween. The headless horseman was fantastic. And a funny story from the graveyard next door. Imagining you and your brother running home, scared out of your wits, brought a smile.

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