SC teen sets up over 50 Halloween animatronics in yard. How to see them on Halloween
When driving down Cobblers Court in Carolina Forest, it appears to be a normal Myrtle Beach area neighborhood.
The yards are flat with a few cute Halloween decorations dotting the lawns. That is until Bodhi Pierce’s yard comes into view.
His yard has around 40 Halloween animatronics set up, with all of them lighting up and making noise from 6 to 8 p.m. at 5030 Cobblers Court. The 16-year-old has filled nearly every space possible with a Halloween decoration. When turned on, the cacophony of Halloween can be heard from down the block.
Neighbors Bob Desorcy and Hayley LaMarre across the street say they can hear them in the house. But they don’t mind. They’ve even agreed to let Pierce set up Halloween displays in their yard next year.
The Myrtle Beach High School junior has been collecting Halloween decorations for most of his life, but it started to become more of an “obsession” in 2021 when he began filming it. He’s posted over 800 videos on his YouTube channel, including unboxings, reviews and demos of Halloween animatronics.
“I started making YouTube videos about all of this and then it’s just gotten bigger and bigger,” Pierce said.
This year, he estimated he’s spent around $5,000 on the moving statues. He said a combination of money from his grandma and his earnings from a summer job helped pay for them.
While Pierce is able to finance the Halloween decorations, storing them is another beast. The garage is filled to the brim with cardboard boxes. Some came from Spirit Halloween others from Home Depot. There were pictures of Jack Skellington and scary clowns on the side of the boxes.
“It’s overwhelming,” said Sean Pierce, Bodhi Pierce’s dad. “It’s just like blahh,” he said shaking his head.
When it’s not Halloween, the decorations are still being used. Bodhi said he keeps an upside down scary clown in his bedroom and the Pierces keep some boxes inside with blankets on top to use as side tables.
Pierce said the animatronics are set up around Sept. 1 as that’s when the HOA allows him to do so. Any earlier and he usually gets some push back. It takes him a couple of weeks to get everything constructed and decorated the way he wants.
This year, he’s organized them into different sections. There’s a haunted circus in one corner, giant wolves hang out around the tree and a Wednesday Adams stands in the bushes.
His favorite animatronics are the ones that create jump-scares as he loves scaring people. It’s fitting that his dream is opening a haunted house one day.
“One day when I’m older . . . I’d like to find a cheap abandoned building and build it up, bring it up to code and put these guys in there,” Pierce said.
Halloween spirit runs in the family
Sean Pierce’s love for Halloween started early in life, as his birthday is Oct. 31. He passed the excitement for the spooky holiday on to his son.
Inside the Carolina Forest home, Halloween-themed prints hang on the wall and seasonal decorations have become permanent staples inside. Every Nov. 1 Pierce said he and his father take the day off to shop discounted Halloween supplies and celebrate the end of the season.
“Ever since a young age, he’s taken a fascination with Halloween,” Sean Pierce said. “It’s one of those fun things where we would go all out (for Halloween) but then (Bodhi) took it to the extreme.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
