As Halloween approaches, you might be wondering: Where are Fort Wayne's coolest spooky homes for trick-or-treating?
We’ve got you covered.
While many people go above and beyond when it comes to decorating for Halloween in the Summit City, two homes stand out in the pack in 2021 with their elaborate and creative displays, featuring everything from mechanical clowns to live actors and real funeral home coffins.
We sat down with the homeowners to get the inside scoop on their works of art, and what you can expect this Halloween.
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Shawna Stream-Dau and husband Roger Dau created the Halloween decorations at 4429 Indiana Ave.
House #1
Address: 4429 Indiana Ave., Fort Wayne, IN 46807 (the corner of Indiana & Pasadena)
Owner: “Witch” Hazel Stream
Decoration owners: Daughter of “Witch” Hazel Stream Shawna Stream-Dau, and husband Roger Dau
Interview: Shawna Stream-Dau and husband Roger Dau
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Halloween decor at 4429 Indiana Ave. in Fort Wayne.
Q: When did you start building the display?
A: We started building it about 10 years ago. It was really small in our front yard, and we kind of ran out of space. Then Hazel bought this house, and it had a wonderful front yard, so we asked permission to display here.
Q: What inspired you to put this together?
A: It started with the RIP tombstone purchased from Spirit Halloween. Then we bought this fence and bought a couple of more tombstones, and every year we make more stuff.
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Halloween decor at 4429 Indiana Ave. in Fort Wayne.
Q: Are you artists or work in a creative field?
A: We’re artists now! In college, I (Shawna Stream-Dau) did a lot of theatre and props. I was always more of a backstage person, so I do have a passion for props and costumes and things, and Roger is super talented being able to build things. People keep asking if he’s an engineer, and I say: He should’ve been.
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Halloween decor at 4429 Indiana Ave. in Fort Wayne.
Q: When do you start setting up?
A: This year, it took about five days for the set-up. As far as the build, we are still tweaking. But when we get a new idea for a piece/skeleton, we’ll start the process in May as far as “corpseifying.” (Learn more about the process here!)
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Halloween decor at 4429 Indiana Ave. in Fort Wayne.
Q: We’ve learned that the display is for sale this year. Why are you selling it?
A: Storage costs, set-up fees, ongoing maintenance. We have to hire movers now because it’s just the two of us. We’re going to keep the pirates and continue to add to that display. We decided that we wanted to focus our energy because we have so much going on. We both have ideas for new pirates to do and new mechanics to do. Like all great art displays or gallery openings it goes on, you take the museum pieces down and move them to a different place.
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Halloween decor at 4429 Indiana Ave. in Fort Wayne.
Q: How many visitors do you typically get?
A: Last year we had 1,500 trick or treaters. We just bought 3,000 pieces of candy for this year.
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Halloween decor at 4429 Indiana Ave. in Fort Wayne.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: We have live actors the evenings of Oct. 30
th & 31
st, and from 6-10 p.m. each night, the display is lit up, rain or shine. We also are taking donations of canned food goods for Harvest Food Bank as well as food for the pet pantry in Waynedale.
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Halloween decor at 4429 Indiana Ave. in Fort Wayne.
House #2
Address: 2912 Sweet Cider Rd., Fort Wayne, IN 46818
Owner: Mark Thompson & Family
Interview: Mark Thompson
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Halloween decor at 2912 Sweet Cider Rd.
Q: How many years have you been doing this display?
A: My wife and I are really into horror movies and haunted houses. We started dressing up about 22 years ago. It really took off to this scale when we lived on Oakdale near Foster Park. For 14 years, we lived down there, and we’re just constantly building on this. This is our first big display here at this house.
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Halloween decor at 2912 Sweet Cider Rd.
Q: How long does it take you to set this up?
A: It takes us a month to get everything out from our storage unit. We bring a truck in and start Labor Day weekend, and it takes us a month to get it up and running by October 1
st. It’s a family affair.
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Halloween decor at 2912 Sweet Cider Rd.
Q: Do you get a lot of visitors?
A: We’ve been getting 50-100 people a night (if it’s not raining) coming by to see the house and we chat. We do it because we love meeting folks and bringing the neighbors out. For trick or treaters on Halloween, if the weather is good, our record is 1,500 trick or treaters.
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Halloween decor at 2912 Sweet Cider Rd.
Q: How is the neighborhood response?
A: So far, the neighborhood response has been pretty awesome. All the neighbors really like it, and everybody’s been really great.
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A real coffin is part of the Halloween decor at The Thompson Family's home, 2912 Sweet Cider Rd.
Q: Do you have a favorite piece?
A: I love all of my children equally, but I really like the pirate display. Now, we have the castaways on the raft, and the guy that’s up in the crow’s nest that we haven’t had before. My real favorite—just because it creeps people out—is that we have real caskets in the garage, from a funeral home in Michigan that went out of business. People also freak out from the clowns. Our “zombie zone” is also cool, and I put a lot of work into the graveyard, so it’s tough to pick a favorite.
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The "Zombie Zone" Halloween decor at 2912 Sweet Cider Rd.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: We just love bringing the neighbors together. It’s fun to watch neighbors meet each other here because they’re all at our house. People just come out and say, “Wow, we love your house. Thank you for doing this.”