Local Wasilla man creates a spook-tacular display for Halloween

For a lot of people, the holiday season is the time to shine with brilliant light displays and creative, fun winterscape displays to brighten up the dark December nights and really get people into a festive mood.

But there are some spooky souls who prefer a more ghoulish and scary scene to get into the spirit of the night dedicated to fright.

Paul Wood is just one of those people, and his yard on Williwaw Way in Wasilla is a testament to his love of all things Halloween. With tombstones and animatronic monsters, a giant winged monster that defies any kind of label, and creepy spider webs galore, there is something for everyone.

Wood has been creating spooky designs on his for years, and says it grows with every Halloween, just like his need for more batteries.

“I had to buy 1000 batteries this year for everything,” he said of the mammoth display.

He said that he tries to make his displays different every year, but what he needs, often resorts to a very Alaskan approach by looking out his back door.

“You’d be amazed what you have you already own that can be adapted.”

So why does Wood go to so much trouble for Halloween? In a word, “fun.”

“People don’t even put a pumpkin out anymore,” he said.

So what about that other holiday? Wood says he does also decorate for Christmas, but perhaps not to the epic scale of his Halloween display.

“I had to cut way back after my electric bill jumped a couple hundred dollars,” he said. But he will be gearing up for Christmas nonetheless, just as soon as the goblins and ghosts are packed away for another year the day after Halloween.