Nightmare on Baum Court
Every Halloween, things that go bump in the night gather in a pocket of Windaroo.
On Baum Court, you’ll witness wandering ghosts through the windows, along with singing pumpkins and the gravestones of notables like Dobby the house-elf and Jack Skellington.
This display is the passion project of Marina and husband Dylan, who are both fond of mock skulls and all things spooky.
‘Growing up, I always wanted to celebrate Halloween or go trick-or-treating, but it wasn’t a big holiday in Australia at that time,’ Marina says.
‘Everything really kicked off when I started dating my now-husband Dylan, who was just as obsessed, if not more.
‘His parents kindly let us decorate their front yard back in 2013. Now, almost 10 years later, our Halloween display and our love for the spooky season has grown.
Marina and Dylan's handcrafted pop-culture tombstones.
Every year, Marina and Dylan try to make their display bigger, better and spookier.
Her favourite decorations are the pop culture-inspired tombstones in the front yard, which took more than 3 months to design, carve and paint.
‘Each one is unique and linked to a movie or TV show that my partner and I love, like Beetlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas,’ she says.
‘We’re both very creative at heart, which makes putting together Halloween displays the perfect hobby for us. I studied film at university, specialising in production design, while he is a professional audio engineer – his sound design really sets the mood for Nightmare on Baum Court.’
“After longing to celebrate Halloween growing up, it’s so exciting to play a small part in spreading the spooky season cheer for our community.”
— Marina
The latest additions are professional grade lights, smoke machines and a 3-metre tall animatronic prop.
‘We had lots of curious community members and parents with positive feedback,’ Marina says.
‘People may think Halloween is for kids, but we found that the parents were the ones who stopped and appreciated our display the most.’
Marina says more and more households in her area are participating in Halloween, leaving their lights on to welcome trick-or-treaters.
‘After longing to celebrate Halloween growing up, it’s so exciting to play a small part in spreading the spooky season cheer for our community,’ she says.
‘It’s very fulfilling to see the surprise and joy on people’s faces when they visit – it’s the same magical feeling as Christmas morning when you’re a kid.’
