Local house a popular haunt on Halloween

JUSTIN SKINNER

October 25, 2007

Kids looking for an extra scare while trick-or-treating can drop by the home of local resident Rachel Brown for a frightfully good dose of Halloween spirit.

Brown, who lives in the Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue area, has been running a special Haunt on the Hill at her home since she was a teenager. What started out as a relatively low-key affair a decade ago has grown each year to provide more chills and thrills for trick-or-treaters.

For Brown, it was a good way to inject some more fun into Halloween for kids in the neighbourhood while increasing her own enjoyment of the horror-themed day.

"I got bored of just handing out candy and I was too old to trick-or-treat, so this seemed like a good way to keep it fun," she said.

Her haunted home includes a foggy graveyard on the front lawn featuring hand-made gravestones complete with spooky lighting and a tombstone that bleeds from the letters. Other scares include a six-foot spider on a web, a mad scientist's lab in the garage, a coffin that opens to reveal a skeleton inside and more.

"I started small, but I found that I got more into it when I started and wound up adding one or two new things every year," she said, noting that she builds the pieces herself.

She has even put up a sign counting down the days to Halloween, which is surprisingly as big a hit with neighbourhood dads as it is with local kids.

"I think they're happy because they can look at it and see how many days they can procrastinate before getting their kids' costumes," she said.

Brown completes the scene by dressing up as Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family. Her family gets into the act as well, with cousins dropping by in costume to add to the frightful scene.

The Haunt on the Hill is a popular destination for local kids - last year, more than 350 trick-or-treaters stopped by on Halloween night - though it is more popular with some than with others.

"Sometimes, smaller children are afraid to come up to the house to get treats so I'll go down the driveway to give them candy, but overall the kids all seem really impressed," Brown said. "It's something I like doing and everyone seems to really like it, so I want to keep it going."

Brown will have her home, at 164 Old Forest Hill Rd., fully decorated come Halloween night. For a spooky sneak preview, visit www.hauntonthehill.com.