Paul Venturella’s Halloween obsession began with a simple pumpkin on the porch about 15 years ago.
It’s been a downward slide ever since for the Provo resident.
He now spends much of the year preparing Halloween decorations and props for his yard with a 70-member Utah group called the Rocky Mountain Haunters (www.rockymountainhaunters.com).
Venturella’s obsession is so extreme that storing the tombstones, ghosts, ghouls and skeletons takes up his entire garage and much of his attic, a sore point with his wife.
“Cars have never seen the inside of the garage,” he said.
And his home on the west side of Provo (he asked that his exact address not be published because he can barely handle the crowds as it is) has become a major Halloween destination.
Last year, on Halloween night, he hosted about 1,300 kids. In the past, Venturella has spent almost $500 on full-size candy bars and hot chocolate for his trick-or-treaters. He’s thinking he might have to cut down a bit on the treats.
The Provo home features about 20 or 30 tombstones enhanced by fog machines to create atmosphere. There are a number of animated props, some operated with windshield-wiper motors, and more sophisticated ones using pneumatic air compressors that allow a skeleton to sit up in a coffin
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For Rocky Mountain Haunters, Halloween is more than a hobby – Salt Lake Tribune