A woman known for her extravagant Halloween decorations has created one of her biggest displays yet, despite facing deeply personal challenges. Louise Towler, 36, has overcome an emergency hysterectomy and several other health issues, leaving her “really poorly”. However, with the support of her husband, Vinny, the selfless mum remained determined to put her Halloween display together because she refused to “let anyone down”.
Couple’s dedication to spooky displays
The couple, who are parents to four, dedicate weeks every year to building a spooky Halloween display. Last year, the parents, who have been named Merseyside’s “Halloween couple,” sparked fears that after moving from Newton-le-Willows their displays would come to an end.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case and the community around their current home in Haydock received an over-the-top spectacle themed around Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. People travel for miles to admire the family’s displays which also raise thousands of pounds in aid of presents for children for Christmas every year.
Ghostbusters theme chosen by poll
Louise told the ECHO: “People don’t expect the same thing every year. We’re always asking in the group what we should do next, so this year we did a poll.
“We never tell people what we’re doing until it’s all put up. This year, we’ve gone with Ghostbusters. We were going to do Hocus Pocus, but when we watched the film, there wasn’t really much to build.”
Health struggles and recovery
The road to building this year’s display was particularly difficult for Louise who faced personal struggles. She said: “It’s been really hard this year. I had an emergency hysterectomy and I’ve been really poorly, with lots of other health problems.
“I’ve been in and out of hospital since May. We honestly didn’t think we’d pull it off this year.” Vinny was tasked with creating most of the displays while Louise focused on recovery.
She said: “My husband has done most of the hard work, while I’ve been doing the 3D printing and painting. We bought a car this year - the Ecto car from Ghostbusters. It’s silver, and he’s had to wrap it and weld it.
“We made the wings using expanding foam and fibreglass. Everything is made from expanding foam. We started right at the beginning of August.”
Community support and donations
Although she toyed with the idea of cancelling this year’s display, the thought quickly disappeared. She added: “So many people comment on our Facebook page, and people come to see us and get really excited.
“They say they can’t wait to see it, so we just thought we’d try to do it this year even if it didn’t work out. We wanted to at least try.
“Because we’d got so far with everything, we thought we might as well carry on. My garden is full of it all as usual. We know how excited everyone gets so it’s nice that we didn’t let anyone down.”
The display is finished and yet another showstopping spectacle with floating ghosts, a fully decorated Ecto car, monsters, lights, spooky decorations and much more for visitors to discover up close. As always, the family will accept donations that will go toward organising presents for children for Christmas.
You can visit the house at 303 Park Street, Haydock, St Helens WA11 0BG. You can donate to the Christmas fundraiser here.
