‘He’s awake!!!’ Monster House rises from slumber in Everett

EVERETT — At night, 3003 15th St. sports a sinister facade.

From the street, two upstairs windows become reptilian eyes and the front porch eaves sport a sharp-toothed maw.

The Delta neighborhood’s “Monster House” is the work of owners Cameo and Nick Beedle who love the Halloween spirit. Or is that spirits?

She let neighbors know on social media that their home was rising from its off-season slumber.

“He’s awake!!!” her post read.

“The minute a leaf hit the ground I got my pumpkin spice latte,” said Cameo Beedle, 28, who wore a jack-o’-lantern shirt and a headband with two bats flying from it.

Every fall for the past eight years, they transform their 1910-built home into a nightmare scape. Their front yard becomes a graveyard, with an enormous spider web descending from a tree.

Animatronic figures of Beetlejuice, a cauldron, a clown, a girl in a coffin, a person in a furnace, a pirate, a growling wolf rug, and a skeleton skulk the walkway to the porch, waiting to frighten wary trick-or-treaters.

“The kids are brave because we keep it spooky,” Beedle said. “We love seeing the costumes. We love getting pictures with them. We love hearing them scream, ‘Monster House!’”

Trick-or-treaters may adore them equally because the Beedles dole out full-size candy. In past years, they have given 350 pieces away. Last year, during the pandemic, was a low, around 100.

For this Halloween, they have stocked up on 500 pieces — an assortment of chocolates and fruit-flavored bites — in hopes of setting their new record high. His favorites are Milky Way and Snickers; hers are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, or any combination of chocolate and peanut butter.

Don’t worry, the candy isn’t from last year’s post-Halloween sales. Their collection accumulates throughout October, when they look for lower prices at Costco. It’s a reminder to Nick when he “sprinted” door to door trying to fill a pillowcase with sweets.

Last year, they made a candy chute from their porch down to the walkway, just one more part of an elaborate holiday setup.

Animatronics are just the large pieces in a vast holiday decoration collection the Beedles have amassed. Both come from families who loved to adorn their homes in the season’s themes. Nick Beedle’s family put on a haunted house in their Snohomish home.

Halloween is a cherished time for Cameo Beedle because it’s close to her mother’s birthday, and the day she died in 2016. Her mother bought Cameo’s first decorations, a Celtic cross and a gravestone that was swiped.

“It just reminds me of my mom,” she said.

The window eyes were a gift. They weren’t sure what to do with them, aside from the obvious, until they saw “Monster House,” an animated movie from 2006 that gave them the idea to make teeth for the front porch.

Cardboard from moving boxes was cut into identical shaped triangles. They have since made different-sized teeth.

A playlist they assembled sets a soundtrack for Halloween visitors. It starts with “I Want Candy” and gets more ghoulish with heavy metal and scary movie music as the night darkens.

When it comes to carving pumpkins, they do “traditional” jack-o’-lantern faces out of gourds from Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm near Maltby. They’re nothing fancy, but they do the job.

After all, their house is the largest decoration.

Ben Watanabe: bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3037; Twitter @benwatanabe.