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Photo by John Henry

One of the many gruesome displays for visitors' amusement.

Photo by John Henry

Dana Dyer has been constructing his haunted yard at 1755 E. 1310 Rd. for 12 years. He sets up his collection of ghoulish figures and horrific scenes for trick or treaters to brave their way through come Halloween.

On the street

What do you like most about Halloween?

It’s the one night of the year I get to be a pirate.

— Katie Beall

More responses

The first thing you notice in Dana Dyer's haunted back yard is a skeleton suspended by its arms, staring you down from behind rusty bars. Around the corner stand Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a torture chamber - "You've got to add a little political humor," Dyer says. A few steps later, you're in a tavern filled with pie-eyed pirate skeletons. And beware of Shadow, Dyer's black cat, who might cross your path.

Dyer's neighborhood horror show, located at 1755 E. 1310 Road, is 12 years in the making, and boy, is it creepy.

With bloody mannequins glaring at you amid head-laden pikes and scattered body parts, his gruesome Halloween display conjures up both terrible nightmares and hilarious satire. A knife-wielding clown somehow seems in place a few feet from a jumpsuit-clad Elvis Presley corpse, who teeters on a toilet, surrounded by empty pill bottles.

"Once I started, I just kept going at it," Dyer said. "If I stopped now, I think the neighbors would be disappointed."

It's a labor of love for the burly Dyer, 54, who began assembling this year's display in the summer. He welcomes - but doesn't charge - visitors who dare to enter the macabre yard. He does it because, well, it's fun. He expects to tear down the exhibit a few weeks after Halloween.

The haunted yard began a dozen years ago with a small display of faux tombstones and jack-o'-lanterns. Then came the fake rats.

"Then they starting coming out with bigger rats," he said. And don't forget the killer clowns.

He first set up his shop of horrors in the front yard of the house he shares with his mother, Gladys. She made him move the display to the half-acre backyard.

"He's going to stay out of the front yard," she said adamantly. She said his creativity fuels the annual display: "He should have been an artist."

Since he began building the attraction, Dyer has added a 7-foot-tall haunted dungeon, a bloody butcher shop (complete with shrink-wrapped body parts for sale) and a graveyard of the damned. The little cemetery includes headstones for historical and fictional characters, ranging from voodoo queen Madame Laveau to Josef Stalin, as well as famous horror flick characters and noted vampires.

Dyer has fun with the cemetery: "I try to come up with occult and historical trivia" to include on the headstones he makes. He said he is considering creating a plot for Quantrill's raiders.

The scary spread is a hit with neighbors, despite the spooky tunes from horror movies and heavy metal rockers Rob Zombie and Type O Negative, which blare from a boom box.

"It's quite a deal. He works hard on it," said Jimmie Brumley, who lives across the street from Dyer. "I'm just proud for him because he works so hard on it."

Brumley's wife, Nelma, said she enjoyed every facet of the haunted yard. She commended Dyer for providing neighborhood children with a Halloween destination. "He just does it for the kids and the neighbors," she said.

Gladys Dyer said the display has grown in recent years. For Nelma Brumley, Dyer's creation is something everyone can enjoy.

"We take it for granted because we live here," she said.

Over the years, Dyer has amassed a collection of ghouls, mannequins and other items sure to shock thrill seekers. But he's not sure what the future holds. "I've probably taken it as far as I can," he said.

But some brave local children might beg to differ.

"You get some kids who think it's not bloody enough," Dyer said.

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