Neighborly fright: Aficionado of Halloween decor gets some help

What's scarier than a clown?

A dozen clowns.

Southeast Missourians can find out for themselves the fear incited by the paint-faced jesters by driving down Brookwood Drive in Cape Girardeau, just beyond Dennis Scivally Park, and checking out Kevin Groves' elaborate Halloween display. It's not only clowns who lurk there, though they certainly are a major part of the spooky scene.

In years past, his homemade celebration of the macabre was more modest, relegated to his yard.

But this year, his neighbors invited him into theirs. And into their yards he came.

Kevin Groves poses for a photo in his Halloween-decorated yard Tuesday at 1719 Brookwood in Cape Girardeau.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

Customary tombstones dot the lawn of his neighbor to the left.

Just beyond them, a display of disembodied heads sit on top of a large wooden table.

Behind that, a skeleton-faced man made of PVC pipe and papier-mache stands, wearing a bloodied butcher apron and a jester apron.

To the left, a clown-masked prisoner stands near an occupied electric chair.

Farther, a giant, wooden, clown wears an evil grin and holds a slightly smaller clown in its green-nailed grips.

Kevin Groves poses for a photo in his Halloween decorated yard Tuesday at 1719 Brookwood in Cape Girardeau.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

And then Groves' lawn begins.

His yard is filled with more than 400 cornstalks hiding pumpkin-headed creatures he spent the better part of a year designing.

A homemade hearse with a skeleton chauffeur sits just beyond that.

His garage door has been transformed into a giant clown mouth, with eyes and nose on the roof above.

An older couple lives on the other side of his home. They also welcomed his display into their yard.

Kevin Groves poses for a photo in his Halloween-decorated yard Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.ANDREW J. WHITAKER

"I put the cute stuff there," Groves said.

When night falls, the display lights up. Strobe lights flash. Creatures lurch. The fog machines turn on. And the pumpkins begin to sing.

Faces projected onto pumpkins in his yard belt out "Thriller," "Monster Mash" and "Ghostbusters."

"It seems everyone likes the singing pumpkins," Groves said. "And the kids like the one clown that's puking into the barrel."

Groves is not limited by his creativity -- he has plenty of that to carry him through years of work, he said.

But his budget, he said, keeps him in check. Last year, when he built the hearse among other props and displays, his budget reached about $1,000. But this year was more modest, as he focused on building the papier-mache creatures in his cornfields.

And the corn, he said, came from a friend who farms, so he did not have to budget for hundreds of stalks.

Though Groves decorates for other holidays, it's Halloween that piques his interest.

"You can only put so many snowmen, reindeer and Christmas trees in your yard," Groves said.

Halloween, he said, has a wider variety of themes, from cute to gory -- and Groves' multi-yard display runs the gamut.

"There's just a lot more to choose from," he said.

When his children were young, he said, he would create smaller Halloween displays. They're grown now, and his new wife encouraged him to start the tradition again after hearing his friends discuss his old displays.

"I've kind of got a creative side, and she hadn't seen that side and she was curious as to what I can do," he said. "We enjoy it now because we got a lot of people that come over on Halloween and sit out and watch the trick-or-treaters."

His street has seen more traffic in recent weeks. He estimated 150 cars slowed to see his display Saturday.

"A lot of people get out and walk, show their kids this, that, the other," Groves said.

Groves said he would like to invite one and all to his display on Halloween night. He hopes to have a variety of visitors to his house, inspecting the yard and seeking candy.

Trick-or-treaters, he said, are new to his area. His neighbors said before he moved in five years ago, they never had children knocking on their doors.

"We do now," Groves said.

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

1719 Brookwood Dr., Cape Girardeau, MO