Meet Mr. Jack.

Mr. Jack?

Mr. Jack is my nephew (and therefore cousin to Young Will).

Over his 12 or so years (look, I love him but I'm not good with remembering ages), he's spent so much time with his folks (my brother and his wife) and me that he had no choice but to be a fanatical lover of monsters, magic and Hallowe'en!

He was stomping around doing impressions of all the classic Monsters when he was just learning to walk and talk -- a true son of the family madness. Mr. Jack helped me repair and make much greater that bust of Kong on our deck, most importantly by helping to cut and paint those foam teeth.

As he's gotten older, he's become quite the yard haunter himself. With his folks helping him along with their own great fanatical enthusiasm, he's been putting together displays which, had I done the same when I was his age, would have had me beaming with pride.

I'm mighty proud of him and his ma and pa.

So please be careful with these pics as they get passed around -- they're going into frames and permanently onto the walls of the S&P after this!

Yeah, it's hard to get really good pictures of dark, spooky Hallowe'en displays. But here's a bit of an overview of things as you first approach the yard. Graveyard, kitchen window (lights on!), googly eyeballs, porch, Green Ghost, and Jack's ever-morphing undead rock band (we'll get to them in a second).

Let's go to the graveyard first.

It's much cooler to see it in real-life blacklight but again, cameras... sheesh!
Not just one ghost but another ghost with his skeleton pal hanging from the same tree.

 Mr. Jack's been learning to use foam skulls, clays, paint and other things to make his own denizens of dread... and I love that each of these homemade beauties is adorned with a spi - bespidered!

 This guy (or girl, without high heels I can't tell) looks especially creepy to me. It's the rotted teeth, the mad eye, and yet another spider! -- just very effective. Of course, all graveyards must have graveyard rats:

It's like a zombified Chuck E. Cheese!

Moving to our right, we see my brother's balls googly eyeballs...

 ... plus a very grim Reaper. In real light, it's very moody and I can see a child wanting to stay away from this part of the house -- but they have to pass it in order to get to The Porch!

I had to take a flash shot as well, so you could really see the great pumpkin (ba-dump-bump!) placement on the steps -- steps which lead to some very cool Hallowe'enishness just to our left:

LOVE this Hallowe'en porch!

A mummy, a skeleton pirate, a grandfather clock, spooky family portraits... everything is perfect! Plus, Mr. Jack's piratical guest has a little buddy to hang with him -- literally!:

BESPIDERED!

After perusing the cozy livingroom scene, we turn to our right and find

MORE reapers (the being on the right looking suspiciously like a Dementor)!

So, it's back down the porch we go, and turning to our left at the bottom of the steps shows us

The Green Ghost!

I'm calling him that, even if it's not his real name; it reminds me so much of the little guy from the old Green Ghost Game that I can't help it. Too cool.

And speaking of cool, now that we've passed the verdigris vapor we come to the main act! Boils and ghouls, I present that afterworldly act of awesomeness, LEAN!

They began their coffinous career a few Hallowe'ens back as The Deadles (y'know, John, Paul, etc. and etc.) and were a big hit. But this year, Mr. Jack's musical horizons are broadening and he's decided to outfit them anew as a Queen (under)cover band, Lean.

 Here's lead singer, songsmith and keybone-ist Deady Mercury.

 And just like their real-life inspirations, Lean has only allowed one legendary performer to

collaborate with them -- the very thin white duke, David Boney!

Well, you've outdone yourself yet again, Mr. Jack!

 Thanks for the tour and the incredible decorating, prop-making and cool-idea-thinking!

Happy Hallowe'en, Mr. Jack! See you on the 31st!

Oh, and by the way, this post is



THRICE-BESPIDERED!