Haunting Halloween decorations cover the Grand Strand. Here’s where to find spookiness
In an empty lot beside his Carolina Forest home, David Parker has created spooky attractions for kids and adults.
Parker, who is in his 10th and last year of providing free haunting entertainment for folks, has expanded the attraction to a 3,000-square-foot spot that has grown each year. And one of the best parts of providing the Halloween entertainment is taking cash donations and giving 100 percent of the proceeds to a different charity each year.
“During the event, it’s the enjoyment of the kids coming out screaming and the parents taking photos of the kids coming out screaming,” he said. After the event, it’s awesome to see the donations collected, he said.
The haunted walk-through is located at 3356 Picket Fence Lane. Parker, along with the help of friends and family members, work for about a month to set up the attraction, which is full of animatronics, clowns, zombies, dolls and has an electrocution room. He said Halloween nights for the past nine years have averaged between 600 to 700 people.
Every year has a different layout so people do not know what’s next, he said.
This year, all donations will go to Meals on Wheels. The haunted house will be open from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Halloween night and will run through the weekend.
Other haunted attractions around the Myrtle Beach area include Dr. Screams on Highway 707, a haunted trail at Southern Palmetto Farms in Aynor, Haunting on 905 and Ripley’s Haunted Adventure.
Ron Byrd of Murrells Inlet has filled his yard with spooky decorations he has collected.
“I got a little bit of everything — werewolves, witches, ghosts, scarecrows, skeleton on a motorcycle, a few skeletons,” he said. “I started about two years ago doing this, buying little by little.”
Festivities in Murrells Inlet will ramp up Thursday for Halloween on the Marshwalk. Starting at 5 p.m., kids and adults may enter costume contests in hopes to win a grand prize.
In the Collins Creek Landing area of Murrells Inlet, Steve Watkins was inspired by all of the Halloween decor in his neighborhood — so inspired that he has spent the last year hand making decorations for his yard.
Watkins, who had decorating ideas from Disney’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” and haunted mansion in California, constructed a pumpkin king, black metal-looking gate made from PVC and candelabras.
The decorations from a distance look to be bought from a home decorating store, but the supplies actually came from a home improvement store and were crafted and carved, with some items taking dozens of hours to construct.
“It’s pretty at night when it lights up,” Watkins said. “I’m wondering what I’m going to do next year with my time.”
If you have any spooky Halloween decorations you would like to share, email photos and videos to sneditors@thesunnews.com.
This story was originally published October 30, 2019 at 9:55 AM.
