Enthusiastic Utahns show their love for Halloween with skillful displays
Oct 31, 2022, 7:35 PM | Updated: 7:38 pm
UTAH — Some of Utah’s most enthusiastic Halloween decorators are showing off their love for Halloween with impressive displays for Utahns to see.
It takes a certain level of commitment to build a skeleton bride, stuffing her husband into a coffin, but it’s something Blake and Karen Christensen love to do during the spooky season.
“The jilted bride, right?” Blake said with a laugh.
“The crow’s nest up there, this is all completely from scratch,” Karen said, showing the display.
The pair are serious about Halloween at their Riverton home.
“It never fails thought that we’re always right up until the last minute, making final touches or props, and she says we’re never going to do that again,” Blake said.
“We’ll see,” Karen added.
Blake Christensen and Karen Christensen in front of their Halloween display. (KSL-TV’s Mike Anderson)
They are a part of Rocky Mountain Haunters. Anyone can submit their display for the Haunt Map that you can find on their website, but the real core members do much more.
Utahns can only get so far with Halloween City and Hobby Lobby decorations. That’s not what the Christensens do, and that’s not what the group Rocky Mountain Haunters is all about.
“I learned how to fiberglass for the first time,” said Remington Sorenson, another member of Rocky Mountain Haunters.
People like Sorenson are always learning ways to make it all better and more impressive, like with his Nightmare Before Christmas display in Murray.
“This all started about seven years ago. I decided I wanted to make Oogie Boogie,” he said.
Remington Sorenson showing off his “Nightmare Before Christmas” display. (KSL-TV’s Mike Anderson)
The skills members learn at group meet-ups over the summer. Sorenson said that his first piece quickly blew up to so much more, partly thanks to some neighbors.
“They came over, and they’re like, ‘it’s so cool to have the Halloween guy living in our neighborhood.’ I was like, ‘I kind of want to be that guy!'” Sorenson laughed.
Sorenson started putting up the display in early September. At night it’s more impressive, drawing around a hundred people a day through October, he said.
“A lot of people ask us if we keep it up for Christmas, but uh, I can only handle one holiday a year going this big,” Sorenson said.
It is a lot of work. It’s very time-consuming, but the Haunters all seem to enjoy it for similar reasons.
“Sometimes we think we’re a little bit crazy, ‘why am I doing this, why do I keep doing this?'” Karen said. “Because it’s exhausting, but once it’s set up and the people start enjoying it. It makes it all worth it.”
