A family of Halloween-enthusiasts has turned their single-story suburban house into an incredible and horrifying mansion inspired by the Stephen King book and movie IT.
The homeowners, known to locals by their pseudonyms Mr. and Mrs. Strappleberry, took six months to complete the extraordinary transformation of their property on Pandora Cresent in Pacific Pines on the Gold Coast.
Mr. Strappleberry told Daily Mail Australia it’s the second year his family has created the Halloween extravaganza after initially celebrating the spooky season on a budget.
‘We put out a smoke machine and some cheap spider webs a few years ago and noticed how many families and children were out trick-or-treating,’ he explained.
‘It was wonderful to see excited kids out having fun, so we decided we could do more.’
The ‘Neibolt Well House’, inspired by the abandoned home where IT lived, features an incredible maze that wraps around the entire property, boarded-up windows, broken shutters, creepy vines, overgrown grass, and a dilapidated metal fence.
Other quirky features include a walk-through mine and a life-size figure of Georgie, who is caught by nightmarish clown Pennywise in the Stephen King story.
Mr. Strappleberry went on to explain the idea snowballed during last year’s attempt and they came up with ‘Panic on Pandora’ in three weeks.
‘We didn’t know if anybody would show, but ended up with more than 600 happy families and haunters,’ he said.
He knew this year’s Halloween house transformation would be even bigger.
‘We didn’t know what to expect that first year, but we said if we did it again we would plan, plan plan,’ he said.
‘Halloween is a 24/7 thing, ideas never stop. Planning takes maybe six months to narrow down what we wanted to create this year,’ he said.
The Hallows Eve visionary also explained knowing how much the local children love it is the best part.
‘We are firm believers to the idea that you should be the change you want to see in the world,’ the father-of-one explained.
‘Seeing the streets filled with children and families enjoying time together.. children genuinely excited, neighbors talking/meeting each other. it’s just an incredible atmosphere of the community coming together.’
While Mr. Strappleberry wouldn’t give away the overall cost of the project, he joked: ‘It was either a jet-ski for me or a Halloween event for everyone’, and said the family used it to scratch a ‘creative itch’.
He said he and Mrs. Strappleberry have a responsibility to inspire creativity in their young daughter.
‘The young are our future, and without imagination, our world has no future.’
Panic on Pandora is located at 17 Pandora Crescent, Pacific Pines, and will be open on October 31 and November 2 from 7 pm to 10 pm.
The entry is free.
This Article Firstly Published On Dailymail