As soon as the sun goes down on Halloween at Lake Valley Manor, bodies sprout from the ground, giant tarantulas crawl on the roof, pumpkins talk, and creatures of the night welcome visitors and hand them lollies.
Every year, hundreds of scared locals dare to step on the Lake Valley Drive property on October 31 dressed with costumes and ready to trick or treat.
With only a few days left for Halloween, Mandurah’s biggest Halloween display is in the making, with nearly 500 hand-packed lolly bags ready to go.
Lake Valley Manor started four years ago, when Halloween enthusiast Nikki Hine decided to bring the American tradition to Lakelands.
“I've loved Halloween from the very beginning, I remember when I was younger I went trick or treating and no one really enjoyed it, no one really liked the idea of trick treaters going around and I thought 'well, if no one else is going to do it I want to do it',” she said.
“So I started with something small at the front door, and I got really positive feedback from that and we've just built it up and up and now it's actually got the name, Lake Valley Manor, and we're just building on that.”
Ms Hine said her family found it odd at first, but joined in once they saw how popular the display was.
Last year alone, Lake Valley Manor attracted more than 450 visitors from Lakelands and beyond, and Ms Hine hopes to reach the 500 mark this year.
“Each year the numbers keep growing,” she said.
“Last year we had 450 people rock up over the course of the night, we're planning over 500 this year.”
Visitors this year will be able to enjoy lolly bags as well as a free sausage sizzle.
However, for the Hine family Halloween isn’t only one night a year.
When Halloween queen Nikki Hine isn’t caught up in university assignments and deadlines, she spends her time searching for new additions to the display.
Most of the items, which include electric chairs, a guillotine, coffins and a medieval torture rack, are handmade by herself since, according to Ms Hine, they are very hard to find in Australia.
“I plan this all year,” she said.
“All year I'm going around searching for ideas and inspiration and what else can I add to this.
“The actual day itself we start probably 6am setting up and we don't stop all day.
“Once we've finished with the display we go in and start getting our costumes ready.”
Ms Hine said they are running out of space on the front lawn and are even considering opening up a tunnel of horrors into the backyard next year.
The display will be officially open from 5.30pm on Halloween day.
For more information go to Lake Valley Manor’s Facebook page.
Marta Pascual Juanola
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
Photojournalist from Barcelona, currently based in WA. Five languages speaker: English - Català - Español - Norsk - العربية.
