HOUSES OF CHILL REPUTE LOCAL RESIDENTS TAKE PRIDE IN TURNING THEIR HOMES INTO HAUNTS.Byline: Addison Pate Staff Writer HANGMEN WAVE from the trees. Gravestones litter yard after yard. Monsters lurk in the dark. What is it about Halloween that turns simple, ordinary people into creatures of the night? What prompts neighbors to transform homes into ghoulish ghoul n. 1. One who delights in the revolting, morbid, or loathsome. 2. A grave robber. 3. An evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believed to plunder graves and feed on corpses. creations even Clive Barker wouldn't dare to dream? The reasons are less twisted than the spooky decorations. ``We love horror movies and we love Halloween,'' says Elissa Heinzel of Sherman Oaks with a chuckle. She and her husband, Mike, are celebrating their eighth year of turning their seemingly quiet home into the Van Noord Haunt. The Heinzels plan to raise heart rates with their live electric chair, creepy pet cemetery and haunted tunnel. For others, like Brian and Samantha Berkson of Winnetka, decorating their home is not only a chance to enjoy their favorite holiday, but also a time to spend with family and friends. ``It's a regular family event,'' says Samantha of their elaborate maze of rooms showcasing scary delights. Not only is their 3-year-old daughter, Cydney, now involved, but aunts, uncles and even the grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl take part in the show. This year's Berkson Haunted House A haunted house is defined as building that is believed to be a center for supernatural occurrences or paranormal phenomena.[1] A haunted house may contain ghosts, poltergeists, or even malevolent entities. includes an eerie swamp, Monster Mash party room and a fortune-telling werewolf werewolf: see lycanthropy. werewolf In European folklore, a man who changes into a wolf at night and devours animals, people, or corpses, returning to human form by day. . Just be sure to seek your fortune before the full moon rises. Agoura Hills neighbors Kurt Pearlman and Mike Sugleris started their haunted-house tradition for their kids. ``I wanted to give my children something to do on Halloween besides get into mischief,'' says Sugleris, who asked Pearlman two years ago to join him in his creepy creations. This year's house features several scary devices including a graveyard of not-so-dead people - so be careful where you step. Another group is eliciting screams to scare up to find by search, as if by beating for game. See also: Scare money for a good cause. Robert Murphy There are several notable personalities named Robert Murphy or Bob Murphy:
A haunted attraction or dark attraction to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club Girls Club is a 2002 American television series created by David E. Kelley, who was also it's producer and executive producer. Only two out of a total of thirteen episodes created were broadcast on Fox Television in the United States and Global Television in Canada. of Burbank. ``We get service hours and the Boys and Girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. Club get much-needed money, so it's a win-win for everybody,'' says Murphy. Each of the past two years has raised more than $800 for the organization, which makes Tim Murphy - father of Robert and donor of the space for the haunted house - proud. ``It's a dad's dream,'' says the elder Murphy, ``to see 10, 12 high-school kids doing something they enjoy and raising money for a charity.'' This year's haunted house contains a series of variously themed rooms, ranging from a web-covered area with monsters lurking to a bedroom scene featuring a severed human body that just won't die. And be sure to watch where you walk in the swamp, or you just might become a permanent addition to the horror. The thrill of the haunt AGOURA HILLS The Pearlmans, 5933 St. Laurent Drive. Entrance to hell, a crematorium cre·ma·to·ri·um n. pl. cre·ma·to·ri·ums or cre·ma·to·ri·a A furnace or establishment for the incineration of corpses. crematorium Noun pl -riums or , and a haunted cemetery full of spooky sounds and scary fog. Open Halloween. The Suglerises, 5927 St. Laurent Drive. Creepy creatures, spooky spirits, frightening ghouls and more. Open Halloween. ARLETA Ray Magdaleno, 8971 Gullo Ave. A bizarre and mysterious glowing tunnel makes a creepy graveyard. Open Halloween. BURBANK The Jacksons, 2506 N. Myers St. Wolfman, Dracula and more with a fog-filled cauldron and alien lab. Open Halloween. Tim and Robert Murphy, 425 S. Orchard Drive. Ten high-school students create a 20-room house of terror. All donations go to the Boys & Girls Club. Sunset to 10 p.m. Oct. 26-27 and Halloween. CANYON COUNTRY Ken Yanecko, 26405 Misty Ridge Place. An ordinary suburban garage mutates Mutates Undergoes a spontaneous change in the make-up of genes or chromosomes. Mentioned in: Antiretroviral Drugs into a haunted house; fun for all ages. Open Halloween. The McCutcheons, 26434 Misty Ridge Place. Monsters lurking in the fog, alien parts scattered about, moving severed limbs and organs from early visitors. Open Halloween. GLENDALE Victor Ramirez, 1015 Gesell St. Skeletons and ghosts, spiders and rats, chopping blocks and an electric chair plus more ghoulish delights. Open Halloween. GRANADA HILLS The Eysters, 17400 Flanders St. Floating ghosts, coffins, tombstones tombstones a cellular phenomenon in pemphigus vulgaris; rows of basal cells of the epidermis remain attached to the basal membrane, reminiscent of rows of tombstones. , and an electric chair. Oct. 29-Nov. 1. NORTH HILLS The Tates, 15821 Mayall St. A graveyard full of monsters where some actually come alive. Open Halloween. Char Razoe and Steve Goodpasture, 9209 Woodley Ave. Through the fog and lightning, corpses, demons Demons See also devil; evil; ghosts; hell; spirits and spiritualism. ademonist one who denies the existence of the devil or demons. bogyism, bogeyism recognition of the existence of demons and goblins. , mad scientists and other lost souls await trick-or-treaters brave enough to approach. Open Halloween. The Greathouses, 9719 Saloma Ave. A homemade grave site with spider webs, strobe lights, skulls, the Grim Reaper and more. After 7 p.m. nightly through Halloween. NORTH HOLLYWOOD The Wheelers, 6434 Cleon Ave. Devils, ghosts, gallows GALLOWS. An erection on which to bang criminals condemned to death. , witches and more. The Orellanas, 13122 Ratner St. A handmade guillotine guillotine Instrument for inflicting capital punishment by decapitation. A minimal wooden structure, it supported a heavy blade that, when released, slid down in vertical guides to sever the victim's head. , spooky figures in the night and a mysterious graveyard with eerie lights. Open Halloween. PACOIMA The Gubins, 10300 Rincon Ave. A ghoulish-looking 1920s home decorated with spider webs, witches, skeletons and other scary-looking creatures. Open Halloween. PALMDALE The Gills, 1743 Dawnridge Court. Lighted figures, rats, fog and monsters in the night await you. Open Halloween. RESEDA Seifert's Graveyard, 6928 Yarmouth Ave. Six-foot ghouls, talking skeletons and a coffin that isn't quite ready to be buried. Open Halloween. SHERMAN OAKS The Heinzel Family, 5515 Van Noord Ave. A spooky tunnel leads you to a bone-chilling graveyard with vacancies available for some special guests. 7 to 11 p.m. Oct. 25-26, 4:30 to 11 p.m. Halloween, 6 to 11 p.m. Nov. 1. SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. The Seymours, 3116 Rockgate Place. Experience 1,000 square feet of pure terror in an all-new inflatable haunted house. Open 6 p.m. Oct. 26-27 and Halloween. STUDIO CITY Hallowed Haunting Grounds, 4343 Babcock Ave. The 30th annual manifestation of skeletal harpists, ghostly spirits, a fog-cloaked graveyard and more. 7 p.m. to midnight, Oct. 29-31. TARZANA Janet Baas, 19351 Hatteras St. A spooky, supernatural cemetery with ghosts, bats, hooded figures, unusual effects, all with a Celtic influence. VAN NUYS Grimmstone Cemetery, 6706 Blewett Ave. Noah Korda's haunted Halloween attraction, 15th consecutive year. Sunset to midnight Halloween through Nov. 2. Web site: www.inspiredillusions.net The Hernandezes, 15158 Sylvan sylvan emanating from or pertaining to woods. See also sylvatic. St. A witches' brew boils, a skeleton attempts an early rise from the tomb, and a zombie A computer that has been covertly taken over in order to perform some nefarious task. It is estimated that millions of PCs around the world have been compromised and, under the control of a third party, routinely transmit messages unbeknownst to the user. wanders the yard. Open Halloween. WINNETKA The Berksons, 20012 Chase St. A 200-foot path leads to nine different haunts including a swamp, a graveyard and a monster party room. Open Halloween. WOODLAND HILLS Ardyne Lindsey, 5854 Woodlake Ave. A castle entrance leads to a spooky graveyard filled with lightning, fog and a giant spider web. Open Halloween. Noctropolis, 20801 Burbank Blvd. A full-size mausoleum mausoleum (môsəlē`əm), a sepulchral structure or tomb, especially one of some size and architectural pretension, so called from the sepulcher of that name at Halicarnassus, Asia Minor, erected (c.352 B.C. , animatronic ghosts, an active volcano and more. Open Halloween. The House at Haunted Hill, 4400 Saltillo St. Floating ghosts, howling ghouls, swinging skeletons and more. Sunset to 9:30 p.m. nightly (to 10:30 p.m. Halloween). CAPTION(S): 7 photos, 2 boxes Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) HELL-RAISIN' HOMES Local residents create bone-chilling Halloween haunts (2 -- color) The Tim Murphy Dead Crew is ready to take you through the hidden mazes of its haunted house in Burbank. (3 -- color) Staples the Undead un·dead adj. No longer living but supernaturally animated, as a zombie. Cat looks for one of his nine lives at the Heinzels' haunted house in Sherman Oaks. (4) A ghoul looks absolutely frightful at the Rockgate Place Haunting, a house of dark mazes in Simi Valley. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News (5 -- color) Lou C. Furr guards the entrance of the Halloween cemetery built by Mike Sugleris and Kurt Pearlman of Agoura Hills. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer (6 -- color) Victor Ramirez's Glendale graveyard features chopping blocks and an electric chair - well executed! John McCoy/Staff Photographer (7 -- color) Fire and Grimmstone: Noah Korda's Halloween cemetery in Van Nuys rises from the depths for a 15th year. Box: (1) The thrill of the haunt (see text) (2) HALLOWEEN EVENTS |
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