ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY, WHILE I PONDERED, WEAK AND WEARY...LONG I STOOD THERE, WONDERING, FEARING... DEEP INTO THAT DARKNESS PEERING... QUOTH THE RAVEN, `NEVERMORE!' - EDGAR ALLAN POE.Byline: Jacqueline Etcheverry Staff Writer Most of us are content handing out a few pieces of candy to adorably a·dor·a·ble adj. 1. Delightful, lovable, and charming: an adorable set of twins. 2. Worthy of adoration. 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. kids at our doors on Halloween night. But some Valley residents like to create a good scare, spending weeks - or, in some cases, months - turning their yards and homes into Halloween haunts. Most of the spooky spots are open free of charge for everyone to visit, if they dare. ``I didn't like trick-or-treating. Instead, I liked to run around and scare little kids,'' 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. resident Lee Seymour says. This big bully Big Bully may refer to:
``It's a stress-free way of showing off what I like to do.'' There's a graveyard, a walk-through maze and even an indoor jungle. His once-small project now takes nearly a year to prepare, and the whole family gets involved. ``My 9-year-old daughter took a severed head For the Australian electronic music group, see . A Severed Head is a satirical, sometimes farcical 1961 novel by Iris Murdoch. Primary themes include marriage, adultery, and incest within a group of civilized and educated people. to school for show-and- tell.'' Noah Korda of Van Nuys is decorating his property for the 16th year. ``Halloween is the one night of the year the spirits from the past can get together and roam around,'' said Korda. ``That's why you dress up like ghouls. It's to fool the spooks.'' His Grimmstone Cemetery provides a perfect gathering ground for the spirits, and he's inviting the living to join the party. Korda used to work in the special-effects industry, so expect plenty of surprises. ``It's a good holiday to show my creativity,'' he said. ``I've always been into the weird and unusual. So the way it's set up and the way my personality works kind of go hand in hand.'' While Seymour and Korda always liked the scary nature of Halloween, it was Calabasas Hills resident Karen Kennedy-Figueroa's fear of the holiday that inspired her to decorate for the occasion. ``I guess I overcame it by making monsters,'' she said. ``If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'' The monsters, covering her front yard, are really her husband Rik's clothes stuffed with newspapers. Trick-or-treaters are sure to be shocked when some spooks start to move - but don't worry, it's just Kennedy-Figueroa, family and friends dressed up. You might find them playing the banjo banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. , guitar, spoons and washboard. There's also a witch flying through the air, jail bars covering the front door and a giant spiderweb (tool) Spiderweb - A program for creating versions of Knuth's WEB self-documenting programs ("literate programming"). ftp://princeton.edu/. hanging in the trees. But that web isn't as large as the one in front of Ardyne Andrew Lindsey's Woodland Hills home. For 15 years, she's been handweaving her webs out of white yarn. This year the web measures a whopping 60 by 50 feet. So what's her technique? ``I studied spiders and how they make their web. I do it like a spider.'' Harv Morley of Canoga Park, a criminal justice professor at California State University Enrollment  , Long Beach, takes a break from correcting papers this time of year to work on his ghostly graveyard. Morley's creepy crypt is environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly, also referred to as nature friendly, is a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.[1] , since most of the props are made from cardboard boxes saved from the local market. ``I get up at 5:30 to pick up the boxes from Vons. They call me the Halloween Box Man.'' A little paint, and voila voi·là interj. Used to call attention to or express satisfaction with a thing shown or accomplished: Mix the ingredients, chill, and ! - the graveyard is set. On Halloween night, there are also flying bats, running rats and spooky lights to keep brave trick-or-treaters on their toes. Fog, scary sounds, special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. and gravestones will be spooking the kids at Van Nuys resident Mike Heinzel's Van Noord Street 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. . ``I give it a cemetery feel. Kids seem to like it.'' And though it takes him days just to set up, he says it's all worth it. ``I do it for the kids. I enjoy watching them enjoy it.'' If gravestones and ghouls aren't your thing, cruise down to Lynette Vartanian's Tingling tin·gle v. tin·gled, tin·gling, tin·gles v.intr. 1. To have a prickling, stinging sensation, as from cold, a sharp slap, or excitement: tingled all over with joy. Brothers Creepy Carn-evil, complete with games and cotton candy, in Northridge. But keep your eye out for spooky clowns, devils and witches wandering the grounds. ``I'm trying to make it kid-friendly and yet interesting to older kids and adults as well,'' Vartanian said. For a scary Halloween night, try visiting any of these homes that have been spooked up by their owners for the holiday: CALABASAS Karen and Rik Figueroa's haunted home features monsters, a giant spider web, a flying witch, and live banjo and guitar players. Stop by Halloween night from nightfall to 10 p.m. 3818 Lost Springs Drive. CANOGA PARK Harv Morley's graveyard features flying bats, special lighting and a lifesize crypt. Visit Halloween night. 8111 Irondale Ave. NORTH HOLLYWOOD Schilling's Chilling Graveyard treats trick-or-treaters to lighting, sound effects sound effects Noun, pl sounds artificially produced to make a play, esp. a radio play, more realistic sound effects npl → efectos mpl sonoros , coffins and 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. . Open 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. 8052 Nagle Ave. NORTHRIDGE Lynette Vartanian's Tingling Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . Creepy Carn-evil features homemade carnival games
Carnival Games is a video game for Nintendo's Wii console. It is published by Global Star Software, which is a division of Take-Two Interactive. , creepy clowns and a fortune teller. Visit 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday. 9801 Sylvia Ave. RESEDA The Seiferts' ninth annual Haunted House and Graveyard features animated and live ghosts and goblins, a jailhouse, pirate treasures and creative pumpkins. Open 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. 6928 Yarmouth Ave. SHERMAN OAKS The Van Noord Street Haunted House celebrates its sixth year with a graveyard, audio and lighting effects, and lots of fog. Open 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. 5515 Van Noord St. SIMI VALLEY Lee Seymour's 17th annual Haunted House features a graveyard, a walk- through maze and an indoor jungle. Stop by nightfall to 10 p.m. tonight and Halloween. 3116 Rockgate Place. STUDIO CITY The 28th annual Hallowed hal·lowed adj. 1. Sanctified; consecrated: a hallowed cemetery. 2. Highly venerated; sacrosanct: our hallowed war heroes. Haunting Grounds features special lighting, sound and projection effects, including a phantom organist, shrouded shroud n. 1. A cloth used to wrap a body for burial; a winding sheet. 2. Something that conceals, protects, or screens: under a shroud of fog. 3. a. spirits and a talking statue. Stop by 7 p.m. to midnight Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. 4343 Babcock Ave. TARZANA Julie Baas-Rozell and friends present their ninth annual Halloween Haunt, focusing on the supernatural. There's a Celtic-influenced graveyard, featuring tombstones, ghosts, sound effects and fog. Visit 7 to 10 p.m. Sunday and Monday; dark to 11 p.m. Tuesday. 19351 Hatteras St. TUJUNGA The McKernin Mental Asylum features rooms of terror, a graveyard, ghouls and monsters. Not for the faint of heart. Open 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday. 7735 Wentworth St. VAN NUYS Noah Korda's Grimmstone Cemetery features a haunted graveyard and special effects. Gates open to the living, dark to midnight Sunday and Tuesday. 6706 Blewett Ave. WOODLAND HILLS Ardyne Andrew Lindsey's giant spiderweb is ready for viewing. 5854 Woodlake Ave. - Jacqueline Etcheverry CAPTION(S): 7 photos Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) Valley residents invite you into their Halloween haunts but enter at your own risk Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer (2 -- 3 -- color) Above, a skeleton emerges from a graveyard at the home of Mike Heinzel in Sherman Oaks. At right, in Woodland Hills, Ardyne Andrew Lindsey and son Chaz Andrew display their giant handmade spider web. Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer (4 -- 5 -- color) Karen and Rik Figueroa's house, above, features monsters, a giant spider web, and live banjo and guitar players. Below, Halloween enthusiast Lee Seymour displays items from his Massacre Room in Simi Valley. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer (6 -- color) Scary clowns haunt Lynette Vartanian's Tingling Bros. Creepy Carn-evil in Northridge, left, which will also feature games and cotton candy. Watch out for wandering devils and witches, too. Says Vartanian: ``I'm trying to make it kid-friendly and yet interesting to older kids and adults as well.'' Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News (7) Lee Seymour, left, joins other ghouls and goblins in the graveyard of his Simi Valley home. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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