Darren Mackenzie, 56, and Karen Pearce, 54, have transformed their family home in Yardley, Birmingham, into a haunted walkthrough featuring zombies, jump scares and screaming corpses, spending £20,000 on the attraction. The couple, who have been together for years, spent six weeks setting up the display, which includes 12ft tall skeletons and 50 animatronics.
The illuminated horror attraction sprawls across a 100ft garden and has already drawn more than 1,100 visitors in just two nights, raising around £1,000 for charity. Actors are enlisted to terrify guests as they navigate a haunted asylum and eerie church, surrounded by werewolves, skeletons and clowns.
From Curtain-Closers to Halloween Enthusiasts
Darren, who runs a garden centre, said: "This is only the second year but I've gone a bit mad this time and decided to go all out. We actually weren't big Halloween fans until a couple of years ago. We used to be the sort of people who closed the curtains and turned off the lights so nobody would knock on the door for trick-or-treating."
He added: "Now we love Halloween. We think our neighbours are ok with it, we've not had any complaints. But the parking can get a bit crazy. You wouldn't believe how much equipment we've got. We fill a 50ft shipping container when we pack it away. Fortunately, we own the shop next door and have plenty of storage space, otherwise we'd never be able to do something on this scale."
This year's additions include an eight-foot pirate ship, a 12-foot skeleton, and an eight-foot dragon on the garage roof. Darren noted: "It cost a small fortune but only costs £1 to run for three hours and it's all for a good cause. We've even got Michael Myers staring out of the bedroom window where I'm supposed to sleep. You get used to it eventually."
The Haunted Experience
Visitors are taken on a terrifying journey through Darren's garage and garden, encountering Dracula, a menacing nun, a woman confined within a coffin and clouds of swooping bats, before stepping into an asylum-inspired horror scene. Inside, zombies, dismembered heads and mechanical figures sway back and forth while emitting spine-chilling shrieks.
The fright fest continues outside, where skeletons, witches, gargoyles, enormous spiders, a full-sized Frankenstein and a Headless Horseman loom over a pumpkin patch. Karen, who works as a florist, said: "It has grown massively since last year. The response has been incredible. We had more than 700 visitors on Saturday and around 400 to 500 the previous night. The queues were huge."
Karen added: "A lot of the scares come from animatronics with motion sensors, but we also have people dressed up and hiding away to surprise visitors. We have severed heads and animatronic bodies that rock backwards and forwards and scream. Ultimately it's up to parents whether they think it's suitable for their children."
Community Support and Charity
All proceeds are being donated to CALM, a charity dedicated to mental health support and suicide prevention. Karen said: "We've raised around £1,000 for charity so far, which we're really pleased about. The more visitors we get, the better, because it's all about raising money for charity and giving people a good Halloween experience."
Local residents have taken to social media, claiming the attraction must be the "scariest in the UK." One person commented: "It's the best around. He goes above and beyond." Another added: "The whole area loves Darren. He has the best display, season after season, year after year." A third remarked: "Seen plenty of these across the UK but this looks to be the scariest I've seen. Top work."
The garden welcomes visitors every Friday and Saturday, between 7pm and 9pm, in the weeks running up to Halloween.
