Our homes transform and change throughout the year. They’re a reflection of our daily habits, our personalities and beliefs.
While Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years tend to take the majority of our decorating efforts throughout the year, Laura Hagan focuses on the spookiest holiday of them all, Halloween. Where others may set out a jack-o’-lantern or maybe a few ghost decals — she has spent the last 30 years building up an army of spiders, skeletons, and all manner of horror decor.
While many of us enjoy hanging a few cobwebs, Hagan’s devotion to Halloween goes far beyond the ordinary.
A longtime resident of Kessler Park, she has amassed a collection of decorations so large that it must be contained in its storage unit for the other 11 months of the year. Come October, though, all limits are off, and she spends about two full weeks shuttling her decor into her home to bring her vision to life.
“I love fall, and it’s a huge part of fall for me,” Hagan says. “I love dressing up for Halloween. I love the scary movies, and I just like getting to have the experience of living Halloween in my house and a reminder of the season every day.”
It’s not just for the trick-or-treaters though — although they certainly enjoy it — it’s just for her love of the holiday, through and through.
“I totally do it for me.” Hagan laughs. “Some years I have a Halloween party, but a lot of years I haven’t. It’s 100% for my enjoyment on the inside.”
The first indication of Hagan’s obsession is the outside. An array of tombstones litters the yard, draped in cobwebs and bathed in purply blue light that gives the entire scene an eerie glow. Ghosts peek through windows, rattling chains click across handrails, and it’s all tied together with flickering jack-o’-lanterns lining the walkways. But it’s when you first take a step inside that the full extent of Hagan’s Halloween spirit becomes clear.
The front door opens into a living room that has been completely overtaken by Halloween decor. Black cat statues perch on her mantle, underneath them a crackling fire licks around a stone skull. Cobwebs cover every surface they possibly could, and a mummy hangs upside down from the ceiling, looming over all guests.
This isn’t, however, some cheap House of Horrors. Hagan has taken the time to actually decorate and make cohesive scenes that come to life without the sense of unease. Hagan knows this feeling very acutely, saying, “It’s not a haunted house. It’s Halloween decorations, but it’s not scary.” It’s much more a “Tim Burton Goes to Pottery Barn” than a true horror show.
No surface is left untouched. A glass cabinet near the entrance might house some cut china pumpkin plates, but a quick look closer reveals that they share the space with severed fingers resting in wine glasses. It’s this blend of kitsch and macabre that sets Hagan’s home apart.
As Hagan points around to all the different objects, she remarks on how it all came to be.
“When I was thinking back on it, it was like the first Halloween items that I got, I started collecting them from Pier One. And then Target started doing more Halloween, and the next year I started buying their stuff,” she says. “It just started with a couple items, then I got more and more.”
Even the bathroom doesn’t escape the full Halloween treatment. As odd as it sounds, the bathroom wound up being one of her favorite spots in the home to decorate. The scene inside is one of ritualistic horror with fake blood streaking across the mirror with strange runes and candles forming a circle around the tub, inside which is a human-shaped body bag.
Every inch of the house feels completely alive with Halloween energy, and every turn reveals something new, right down to the bloodied butcher knives dangling from the kitchen ceiling, and a massive silk and paper spider stretching its legs over the dining table.
Hagan, of course, embraces the theatricality of it all. Each year, she puts on her costume to match her home’s haunted style. While she may get a bit of help and direction here and there from friends and family, the vision is uniquely her own.
After living in this home for over 20 years, her collection has only grown larger and more elaborate with each passing year. Hagan remarks that one of her favorite items in the entire assortment is a set of black vases.
“My mom bought me some black McCoy vases,” she says. “She didn’t buy them for me for Halloween, she just knew that I liked black. I found a way to really utilize them with my decorations, and now that my mom has passed away, it’s like she’s a part of my Halloween decorations.”
Although this was to be Hagan’s last Halloween in this house — she’s moving to a new space — she’s already planning her next big decorating project. She’s enthusiastic about having some new spots and spaces to fill. Wherever she goes, one thing is certain: Halloween will follow.
