Throughout the month of October each year, the Halloween-themed blowup decorations that rest in front of the Mastrocola home draw curious viewers from around Saugus — and beyond — looking to catch a glimpse of the Tim Burton-like absurdity.
“About six years ago, we put two big ones up and the families and kids would come by, so we just kept adding on because families would say ‘oh my God, we wait every year for October. What are you going to add this year?’” said Stephanie Mastrocola, an emergency room nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “We would just keep buying two at a time.”
Since that first Halloween, the decorations, which take about eight hours to place and set up each season, have only multiplied to the point where they now sprawl across the entire lawn, dominating nearly every square foot of neatly-trimmed grass.
On display are inflatable versions of the traditional spooky characters: vampires, ghosts, and ghouls, as well as pirates, witches, and even a giant trick-or-treating minion from the children’s movie, Despicable Me.
“The cars line up at night,” Mastrocola said with a laugh. “Families will pull over and get out to take pictures.”
As she stood with her husband, Tony, in their yard earlier this month — decked out for the holiday in a black dress, orange and black-striped tights, and dangling skeleton earrings (her) and a pumpkin-covered suit (him) — Mastrocola said it seemed more important than ever this year to give neighbors (and non-neighbors) something to smile about.
“I had a grandmother walk by me the other day and (thank me) for doing this,” she said. “She told me ‘there has been so much anger in the world this year, but I walk by this house every day and it just makes me smile.’
“That was the goal I wanted to achieve.”
Carrying on the tradition is the couple’s son, Joey, 11, who they said eagerly helps his parents pick out and set up new decorations every Halloween.
“He’s always like, ‘Mom! Mom! There’s another car! We need to get another blowup,’” Mastrocola said. “He loves to do things for people, and he loves when people are happy.”
The Saugus family isn’t the only one going above and beyond for the holiday.
Homes across the North Shore this year have embraced the Halloween season with a particularly strong fervor, finding new and creative ways to deck out their houses and yards with spooky lighting, larger-than-life skeletons and spiders, and countless creepy pumpkins.
Mastrocola added that her family has no plans to stop putting up their own decorations any time soon.
“I’m going to continue to do it as long as I live here because it makes people happy,” she said.
