Alex’s House of Horrors

Alex Rain held their first House of Horrors 25 years ago on Rochester Ave in Iowa City. Initially, there was just a small display in the yard to entertain the neighborhood kids and a couple of scenes in a haunted garage during trick-or-treating. Alex worked in theater throughout high school and college. They did everything from set and prop design to stage managing to directing and writing, and truly regret not pursuing that field professionally. Luckily for Iowa City, their love of theater and Halloween has caused Alex’s House of Horrors to grow grander each year, and their set and prop design talent truly began to shine.

As often as possible, Alex reclaims material for their creations from things that would otherwise end up in the landfill. They also reach out on Freeshare to ask neighbors for specific items they need for builds.

Alex suffers from Parkinson’s and, therefore, can’t work many days. This hasn’t set them back, as they now build props all year long when they are feeling well. They spent 590 hours in September and October alone. This includes the two or more hours a day that are required to set the haunted yard up for visitors throughout October.

 

Alex’s House of Horrors consists of two events: a haunted trail that runs in their front and back yard and a haunted house consisting of around five scenes through Alex’s home. Visitors can explore the trail with music, lighting, and visual effects from dark to 9:15 p.m. Thursday to Sunday nights for the entire month of October. The haunted house is a special event that runs during trick-or-treating only. During the big Halloween event, Alex entertains visitors who come for their treats. This year, they wrote around 100 fortunes and built a fortune-telling machine to distribute candy and spooky fun to those who came. Several volunteers, around ten this year, act and help run the event on Halloween. Although the haunted house is designed to be very scary, children are given the option to walk through without the actors jumping out and yelling if they prefer.

Alex’s work has inspired kids and adults to become more engaged with their neighbors during the Halloween season. In fact, two pre-teens have started to design and built props to help entertain their neighborhoods. Alex has also designed neighbors’ Halloween yards and built an elaborately decorated stand for a disabled neighbor to hand out candy for trick-or-treaters from.

This year, more than 220 kids and 150 adults came by Plum St., topping even their highest numbers from the original Iowa City location on Rochester Ave. Almost all of them braved the haunted house the year. Alex’s House of Horrors is a unique space where people from all generations can gather and celebrate their love for Halloween together during October. It has truly become a multigenerational neighborhood event, just as Alex had always hoped it would.

Neighbors have donated about $400 worth of cash and supply donations to Alex’s project this year. They are grateful for their neighborhood’s support and emphasize that building props and seeing the joy they bring neighbors fills them with unmeasurable happiness. Consider visiting Plum St. next Halloween!