Fourteen-year-old Mason Louie takes great pride in scaring people for Halloween, but he reminds everyone that it’s all part of having fun.
“I think our first actual full-size display was where it was five years ago. We started with a little jumping spider from Party City or Spirit Halloween, and ever since then, we started expanding,” Louie says.
Louie says he used to be terrified of animatronics when he was younger, but once he started watching videos on how they worked, he became intrigued.
“We decided to have a graveyard, but then after, I started realizing that clowns were one of the biggest fears of people, so I decided that I’m gonna have a graveyard at the start and then a circus at the end. That way it would be a mix of the two things people are the most scared of,” Louie says.
His parents got him a controller and some pixels to do his display. Louie then used the wood shop at Maplehurst School to make the trees, spiders and tombstones. His friends also help out to jump out and scare visitors to the Halloween display.
He stresses the Halloween displays are strictly for entertainment.
“I like the reaction a lot, just because it really does show that people do appreciate this stuff. Halloween is the best because it’s the one time that you can scare people and they can have a good time with it without them getting mad at you,” he says.
“You’re not celebrating the dead or anything. You’re celebrating having fun, enjoying the scary movies and just having fun with your family.”
We’re expecting some warm temperatures for Halloween night. Environment Canada is currently calling for a high of 20°C in the Moncton area and lows of 7°C with a clear sky.
That’s also positive for Louie, because rain would have meant taking the display down due to electrical components and because the animatronics are not waterproof.
Last year, hundreds visited the Deerfield Drive home to experience the display.
Once the ghouls, goblins, clowns and other scary features are dismantled after Halloween, we asked if Louie would start planning for next year.
He told us on November 1, he’ll start working on his Christmas display. He does a light show in the front yard that features music.
