This is Halloween. This is Halloween.
As 2020 has without doubt been the most frightening, anxiety-inducing, existentially dreadful year of many of our lives, it only makes sense mentally to embrace the scariness of it all during the time of year that celebrates all things spooky. In Dallas, Steven Novak did just this with a yard display so grisly that the police were called…multiple times. [Featured image via facebook.com/StevenAllenNovak]
Halloween hits people differently. Strolling through any given neighborhood during this time of year conveys residents’ various ways and degrees of celebrating the holiday. Some lack interest, cutting their lights and maybe leaving a bowl of candy out for hordes of trick-or-treaters. Others partake in the festivities of the spooky season playfully, by adorning their porches and doorways with an illuminated jack-o-lantern, hanging cobwebs, and perhaps a store-bought witch a la Casper, The Friendly Ghost.
As delightful as these latter displays are, it’s a rare treat to come across an unbridled commitment to the macabre aspect of Halloween. That is, decor similar to scenes portrayed in horror classics such as Hellraiser, Halloween, and The Shining. Those homeowners whose interpretation of All Hallow’s Eve is less Monster Mash, more Marilyn Manson.
East Dallas local, Steven Novak, is that guy.
“I’ve always been up to hijinks like flying ghosts or 7-foot tall snow sculptures of myself, so if I was gonna do Halloween, it was obvious that it should be hyperreal,” Novak told the Dallas Observer. “No lights, fog machine, or camp … something that would really freak people out walking by in the dark. So I whipped up some dummies and slung 20 gallons of blood all over.”
One look at Novak’s front yard, and you realize it’s no joke. His display has not only garnered attention from local media, but local PD as well, is a full-on bloodbath. One look at the display, and you can kind of see why.
The gruesome scene features a slew of slain corpses from his walkway to his roof, where a hanging dummy has evidently suffered a severe sword wound to the back of the head. Just below, a splayed corpse lies off the porch, its head smashed by an industrial safe, creating a rather large splatter of cornsyrup-soaked blood.
“I’m most proud of the wheelbarrow tipped over by the street full of Hefty bags, looking like a failed attempt to dispose of the dismembered bodies in the middle of the night.” said Novak. “A kid walked by and asked me what happened to them; I said they ate too many Skittles.”
Novak’s cursed exposition has garnered international attention. Even local PD stopped by on multiple accounts to commend his decorations:
“Neighbors told me cop cars were in front of my house a lot during the day,” he says. “I was only home twice to receive them. They told me they thought it was cool and that they were only there because they were required to reply to complaints from the sergeant.”
“They were in formation at the door and when I opened it they asked me if it was all mine. I asked, ‘You mean the blood and the bodies? Yeah, that’s me.”
