Valley residents create spooky scenes

Don’t visit the Marks house at night if you’re easily spooked.

Skeletons robed in white sheets dangle from trees, rotting corpses crawl from their graves and cobwebs covered in foul creatures line walkways while the sound of screaming children drifts through the home’s small front yard at the 1900 block of West Hackberry Avenue in McAllen.

Every year John Marks makes sure his property is filled with all things revolting by early October. Decorations sometimes remain there for months after Halloween — well through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

“It’s like The Nightmare Before Christmas,” John Marks said, referring to the 1993 stop motion fantasy film produced by Tim Burton. “It’s kind of weird. … Some of my neighbors freak out.”

The 29-year-old can’t explain his fascination with the spooky Halloween scene, but for the past six years, he has decorated his family’s front yard from top to bottom in dozens of decorations, even adding red food coloring to the home’s water fountain.

His prop collection has grown significantly over the past six years. Marks often enters and wins several costume competitions during the Halloween season, saving prize money to buy more items for the collection. On Nov. 1, he rushes to stores in search of discounted ornaments.

“I like to plan ahead,” Marks said. “I’m kind of, like, obsessed.”

He plans to recycle last year’s costume and dress up as the Grim Reaper again this Oct. 31.

Once he’s ready to make the house look normal again, he uses the items to decorate his backyard party house, where he celebrates the creepy occasion all year. The air-conditioned hangout, which features a dance floor and plenty of seating, has seen its fair share of Halloween-themed bashes. But Marks mostly likes the place because he gets to relax there.

“It’s my little escape,” Marks said.

The house hasn’t always looked so festive during the Halloween season. Marks’ parents, who previously owned the home, kept the charming little bungalow free of clutter and its front lawn neatly manicured. But when the couple divorced six years ago, they left their son the property and he was free to transform the place into a scary house of horrors.

“My dad likes a low profile,” Marks said. “But once the house was mine, it was like a slingshot effect. I went overboard.”

Now that he lives there with his own young children, he hopes they will embrace the tradition he began there.
“Once the kids get older, we can do it as a family,” he said.

Neighborhood trick-or-treaters usually flock to the Marks residence for a chance to check out the décor. But this year, they may have to look from behind the home’s gates — Marks’ wife is expecting a baby, and she will likely give birth the last week of October.

“We might be in the hospital,” Marks said. “It would be cool” if the baby was born on Halloween, he added.

‘THEY’LL JUMP’

Jesus de Lira also enjoys fixing up his garage for trick-or-treaters, though he isn’t quite as extreme.

“It’s nothing that we invest a lot of money in,” the 38-year-old said. “But every year it gets a little bit better.”

De Lira’s wife has a taste for scary movies and she began the tradition when they married eight years ago. Since then, the couple has decorated their home at the 2000 block of Crisantema Avenue in Mission.

Every year, de Lira dresses up as Jason Voorhees, a character in the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. Simply referred to as Jason, the character’s hockey mask and machete are his most recognizable images.

“I use a real machete and I slide it across the concrete,” de Lira said, recalling his guests’ reactions. “They’ll jump.”

Besides the fun of Halloween decorating, the de Liras also love the attention their home gets on All Hallows’ Eve.
“People don’t show up for candies anymore,” de Lira said, “but instead to see our spooky place.”

The couple generally sets up about two days before the holiday, lining the garage walls with black paper, setting up candles all around and hanging fake cobwebs from the room’s corners. On Halloween, they melt dry ice to create a dense fog, set up dim lamps to create eerie lighting and turn on a sound system to boom scary noises through the room.

“People come and they want a picture with you,” de Lira said. “It’s something you never expect.”

‘YOU NAME IT, THEY GOT IT’

It’s easy to see why Halloween decorators invest so much energy in adorning their homes.

In the end, it brings smiles to people like 73-year-old Andrea Perez, who said she loves driving by her mother’s house in October because a neighbor’s house there is “full of decoration.” The house is located along Taylor Road in Sharyland.

“They also set up for Easter,” Perez said. “It’s so cute.”

The woman said she looks forward each year to taking her trick-or-treating grandchildren to the house so they can enjoy the sight up close.

“It’s just beautiful,” the woman said. “You name it, they got it.”
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Ana Ley covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4428.