Where you’ll find it: 11 Weamaconk Drive, Englishtown, NJ
A dedicated decorator, 50-year-old Bob O’Brien is The Post’s haunted house grand-prize winner after snagging an honorable mention in last year’s contest. O’Brien, an automation systems technician, lives with his girlfriend, his son and his girlfriend’s two daughters, but the decorating responsibilities fall on him.
“It’s mostly my thing,” he says. “They look at me like, ‘Look at this old kook!’ ”
But the neighbors love it, and O’Brien, who estimates he has decorated for the past 20 years, starts planning months in advance. When his grill broke in March, it sparked the idea of a haunted cookout. The result is a complex scene made mostly of found and worn-out items collected over the months, along with skeletons and spooks he re-envisions each year. This year his ghoulish friends are seated around a picnic table O’Brien built, complete with table settings serving a meal of “brains” and “ears.” And the old, weathered gazebo they’re under provides the perfect spooky tableau.
“I love Halloween,” says O’Brien. “Everybody thinks Thanksgiving and Christmas are the best holidays because you get something. But on Halloween, you can do goofy things like this.”
Where you’ll find it: 20 Yorkshire Drive, Suffern, NY
It was Brad Yurcisin’s 10-year-old son Daniel who provoked this over-the-top shrine to the Tim Burton classic “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
“I saw it once or twice in the ’90s,” says Yurcisin, 41, a video editor, “but Daniel made me really love it.”
As a toddler, Daniel was enthralled with the film — so much so that he begged for an inflatable yard decoration of one of the characters. The family went shopping and came up empty-handed, so Yurcisin did what any self-respecting dad would do — he made Daniel an 8-foot version of Jack Skellington out of plywood. Needless to say, Daniel was ecstatic.
Every year since, Yurcisin has created a new addition for the yard, voted on by Daniel and his little sisters, Sloane and Scarlett.
Where you’ll find it: 11 Elm Lane, Greenville, NY
Halloween has always played a big role in the lives of Keith Krauss and his wife, Christine, both 45: The two wed — in costume — on Halloween in 1997.
Ever since, Keith has gone all out with spooky holiday decorations. The landscaper and prison maintenance worker spends $500 to buy new props and refurbish old ones. For him, the thrills make it worth the cost.
“We get a car doing what I call a drive-by, driving by slow [and close], almost every night,” he says. “Usually if I see a car, I’ll run out in the yard with a mask.”
Krauss also hosts a themed party every year. This year’s is “Carn-evil”: Creepy clowns welcome visitors with an admission cost of just “one soul.”
*The winner receives four VIP tickets to “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” in Times Square! Visit harrypotterexhibition.com for more information.
