CULLMAN, Ala. – Every October, the green glow coming from the corner of Seventh Avenue and Sixth Street Southeast in Cullman’s historic district can be seen from blocks away. Marcus and Jessica Loegler create a dramatic Halloween scene on their lawn for passersby to admire each year. This year, the eerie skeleton graveyard spans the length of the front yard with well over 50 assembled ghosts and ghouls, not including the numerous lights casting the green glow.
The Loeglers normally start setting up their Halloween decorations the first weekend in October, spending six or seven hours in their yard on the first day and about two hours a day for about another week and a half. They continue to add items sporadically until Halloween.
“We’re never done,” said Jessica Loegler. “We’ll continue to put things out every single day. We have several things that we don’t put out until Halloween.”
The pair started compiling Halloween specters and skeletons seven years ago. Many items come from www.crazybonezskeleton.com, which sells all kinds of unique posable skeletons.
Said Marcus Loegler, “It’s just grown. Every year we buy two or three new things and try to do things a little different.”
He bought the house in 1999 and the two were married in 2003. He said that they did not decorate for a few years.
“This neighborhood is really big into the whole trick-or-treat thing. You have St. John’s and East Elementary and on Halloween night all the churches and the school used to have trunk or treat, and everybody would empty into the neighborhood. When we were younger, we really weren’t into it. We were going to parties on Halloween night, so as the kids got a little bit older and we got a little bit more mature, we stopped going to parties and just started having people over to our house,” he said.
The Loeglers began decorating in 2014 for their kids, who are now 17, 15 and 11. Now, Marcus Loegler laughed, “They think it’s over the top.”
For many in the community, the Halloween scenes have become a traditional sight to see. The Loeglers have hundreds of trick or treaters visit each year.
“We spend a little over $400 just on candy and we almost run out every year,” he said.
Many people drive by the house taking pictures of the incredible scene. Jessica Loegler said she particularly enjoys seeing the reaction of the children who come by the house.
“There’s so many children that come to the neighborhood and they love it. I love that people drive by the house. We will sit out here on the weekends and count how many people drive by and slow down,” she said.
Halloween has been Marcus Loegler’s favorite holiday since he was a child, and the Loeglers still dress up every year to keep that Halloween wonder alive for themselves and their kids.
“When I was a little kid, it was magical,” he said. “It’s my addiction. Some people gamble, some people drink. For me, its Halloween.”
Copyright 2022 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
