By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Some Marion County residents go all out decorating for Halloween.

Denise Crabb’s front lawn at 314 Miller St. is decked out with a 12-foot-tall skeleton, Jack Skellington, Sally, and other characters from the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” a witch, a totem of pumpkins, five witches dancing around a cauldron, a dragon, and a graveyard.

Her favorite Halloween decorations are inside the front porch, she said. Those decorations glow in spooky colors because they are lighted by a black light.

Crabb’s thoroughly decorated yard is one of the more striking examples of people decorating for Halloween.

She and her son have decorated for Halloween for about 15 years, Crabb said.

“Every year it changes,” she said. “This year it’s gotten to be a lot.”

Her collection of Halloween decorations has grown so much over the years that she wonders whether she should find additional space to store the items.

She decorates more for Halloween than she does for Christmas.

“Halloween’s always been my favorite,” Crabb said. “I don’t do much for Christmas.”

Her love of Halloween decoration stems from her childhood.

“We weren’t allowed to do much of the Halloween stuff when we were kids, so as an adult, I just go crazy with it,” she said.

Luckily, her son, Jake, helps put up all the decorations.

Physician Amanda Baxa came home from work one day to find that the front of her house at 808 S. Roosevelt St. had been transformed by her children and mother, Peggy Kleiber, while she was away.

“It was very festive,” she said of the hanging decorations and spider web across the porch.

The sight wasn’t a surprise, though. Her daughter, Antonia, had called to tell her they were decorating.

“We wanted to make dad scared,” Antonia said.

The new outdoor décor didn’t scare anyone.

“I was happy they were having fun,” Baxa said.

This is the first year the Baxa house has been decorated for Halloween.

Just up the street at 804 S. Roosevelt St., Cindy Vinduska’s porch is lined with cute witches, metal pumpkins, and a scarecrow relaxing in a wicker chair.

“Mine is not really so much Halloween as it is fall,” Vinduska said.

When her children were growing up, the family carved pumpkins to display, Vinduska said.

She decorates outside and inside her house to celebrate fall, Easter, Christmas, and summer. Her summer decorations are frogs and ladybugs.

“Christmas is when I decorate a lot,” Vinduska said.

Every portion of the house has a different Christmas theme, Vinduska said.