SKELETON CREW RESIDENTS HELP HAUNT LOCAL HOUSE FOR SPOOKY HOLIDAY.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

CASTAIC - There's a guy hanging from a noose from the streetlight at Wakefield Road and Cambridge Avenue.

That's standard fare around Halloween at Matt Crawford's house.

All week long friends and neighbors have gathered at Crawford's house to transform his yard and garage into the ultimate haunt, one that is open all of tonight and Monday, and is tailored to all ages. Last year, some 2,500 costumed revelers toured the spooky house, hundreds bringing food donations for the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry.

``This whole neighborhood really gets into Halloween,'' neighbor Dan Allen said as four men hoisted a blue tent into place.

Crawford has lived at the corner house for about eight years and has opened his garage as a haunt for four years, taking on a tradition his brother started. People come from all over the neighborhood to help, and when it's showtime, the monsters inside appear suspiciously tall ... about as tall as, say, Valencia High School's basketball players.

``These guys are great, and they have a great time,'' Crawford said of the helpers from the squad.

For the older trick-or-treaters, the monsters jump out of nowhere and deliver heart-stopping cries.

Radio headsets worn by the organizers help keep things a little less scary for the wee ghosts and witches.

``We give the no-scare alert,'' Crawford said. ``We tell the monsters to wave nice.''

The haunted house is a combination of imagination and professional studio work. The lighting is all Hollywood, thanks to the industry guy in the neighborhood, Richard Espinoza. The graves, mummies, detached eyeballs peering from bushes, spiderwebs, scary guys and other props are from Crawford's growing collection. A rickety black fence adds to the gloom.

On Friday, the crew was rushing to get things ready. School buses filled with kids slowed down to let the children gape; neighbors passed by, starting in anticipation.

``You won't see any of this from the street when we're finished,'' said Wade Jones, an emergency medical technician who works with Crawford, a paramedic.

Jones was preparing to rig a huge red drape around the front yard, hiding the graveyard, maze and other haunts.

``It's pretty spooky,'' neighbor Sally Ives said, riding her bike by Friday to check the progress. ``You don't know what's real and what isn't and all of a sudden someone comes at you.''

``She thinks it's scary,'' 11-year-old son Johnny said.

Patricia Farrell Aidem, [phone]

pat.aidem(at)dailynews.com

IF YOU GO

The haunted house will open at 7 tonight and Halloween night at Wakefield Road and Cambridge Avenue in Castaic. Bring a can of food or other nonperishable to donate to the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Above, an entrance to the haunted house is gravely disturbing; below, Matt Crawford, the house's owner, grins from beneath glass, ready to freak out visitors to the haunted house in Castaic tonight and on Monday night.

(3) A skeleton in his formal best lies in a lined coffin, clutching flowers, at the Castaic home.

(4) A phony hanging victim is fastened to a lamppost to frighten the haunted house's visitors this weekend.

David Crane/Staff Photographer

Box:

IF YOU GO (see text)